Courier: Pressure on Kyrgios in Davis Cup

US captain Jim Courier says he’d be feeling the pressure of carrying Australia’s Davis Cup hopes if he were in Nick Kyrgios’ shoes.

With the two countries to meet in the Davis Cup quarter-final starting on Friday in Brisbane, Courier said it could be tough for Australian No.1 Kyrgios without another top-ranked player in the team.

World No.16 Kyrgios will spearhead Australia’s singles with world No.79 Jordan Thompson the next best option due to Bernard Tomic’s unavailability.

Courier said that during his Davis Cup playing days there was always another singles star in the team to share the load.

“I can’t speak for Nick but I can tell you I got great comfort when I was playing alongside Andre (Agassi) or Todd Martin or Pete Sampras,” Courier said.

“I did feel there was some other cavalry and I’m not saying that Jordan isn’t cavalry because he is, but he doesn’t have the pedigree or ranking of Bernie (Tomic).”

The US will be headed by world No.15 Jack Sock, who moved above Kyrgios in the latest rankings, John Isner in addition to Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson.

Thompson said claims that he is an easy-beat will be the ammunition he needs to fire him up in Brisbane.

“It will yeah,” Thompson said. “I won’t approach it any differently; I always give it my best effort and 100 per cent and try to make it tough on them.”