And although the gap between Kyrgios and his compatriots at this level is great, the depth of emerging players led by world No.99 Jordan Thompson has event organisers excited.

Thompson will be joined by James Duckworth, Matthew Barton, Matthew Ebden and last year's runner-up, Luke Saville, for the $50,000 ATP Challenger at the Canberra Tennis Centre.

The international charge will be led by Argentinian talent Marco Trungelliti and Slovakia's Grega Zemlja, as well as challengers from India, Italy, Korea, Japan, New Zealand and the US.

"Australian men's tennis is in great shape," said Tennis ACT chief executive Ross Triffitt.

"You just have to look at some of the names; Jordan Thompson, James Duckworth and Matthew Barton have all posted grand slam results."

"It's great to see that these players are starting to get some notoriety on the circuit in the bigger events."

Former junior Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty's form has been strong after returning from her year off to play professional cricket.

The Queenslander reached the semi-finals at England's Eastbourne in June, but like the men Barty will have to face strong competition from local and international players.

Both from Japan, world No.117 Risa Ozaki and world No.161 Hiroko Kuwata will start as early favourites for the title, but will be forced to overcome top ranked Australian Arina Rodionova, ranked 184.

Rodionova will be looking to add to her successful 2016 campaign, which has included a doubles quarter-final berth in the Australian Open with sister Anastasia, Federation Cup, Olympic Games and runner up in Lexington, US.

Asia Muhammad from the US will be back to defend her title and Canberra's Alison Bai will look to take advantage of the home crowd.

"Alison had a great year last year," said Triffitt.

"She was actually our player of the year, improved her ranking significantly, and she's made the main draw so we're really excited to have Alison playing at home."

Although the Canberra International's prize money is eclipsed by tournaments based in the ACT later in the summer, Triffitt said this was the main event and a perfect way to kick off the Australian Pro Tour.

"This really is our marquee and it's like a mini grand slam, it's not often the men and the women play together."

The Canberra International starts on November 1 with qualifying taking place from October 29.