Chef de mission Petria Thomas backs Nick Kyrgios for Olympic Games bid

Three-time Olympic gold medallist Petria Thomas has thrown her support behind Canberra's controversial tennis star being part of Australia's team for the Tokyo Games - if he's playing well enough.

Kyrgios beat compatriot Jordan Thompson at Wimbledon on Tuesday night, setting up a mouth-watering, second-round clash with world No.2 Rafael Nadal.

It will be a fiery showdown after Kyrgios described Nadal as "super salty" on a podcast in May.

Thomas is Australia's recently appointed Commonwealth Games chef de mission and will spend the next three years ensuring her athletes have the best chance of success in Birmingham in 2022.

But before she jets to England, she hopes she'll have the chance to see Kyrgios strut his stuff in green and gold on the tennis courts of Japan.

Kyrgios famously had a falling out with former Australian Olympic chef de mission Kitty Chiller when she said his behaviour was unacceptable.

It sparked a rally of words (and tweets) between the pair that ended in Kyrgios making himself unavailable for the Rio Olympics in 2016.

But Thomas wanted Kyrgios to put his hand up for Tokyo.

He's ranked No.43 in the world and the second-highest-ranked Australian male, making him eligible to compete.

"I hope so. Nick's a very talented player, as we're all aware," Thomas told The Canberra Times.

"He has his challenges on and off the court at times, but he's a great talent.

"If he's still playing and playing at that very competitive level, you always want your best athletes to be representing Australia.

"You'd hope that would be something he would consider as part of his program."

Thomas also hoped the Australian Olympic Committee would want Kyrgios to be a part of the team.

While controversy is never far away from the mercurial Canberran, Thomas felt people were drawn to watching the unpredictable 24-year-old.

She said that had the flow-on effect of getting people to play the game as well.

"He's a colourful character, that's for sure, but there's no denying his talent," Thomas said.

"He's super talented and despite all the controversies that follow him around, people love to watch him play because you just don't know what you're going to get.

"That's great when you can get people interested in the sport and watching and hopefully participating themselves."