Nick Kyrgios plans to have scans that will likely determine if Lleyton Hewitt needs to find a new Davis Cup spearhead for Australia's World Group semi-final in September.
"Scared" by the prospect of surgery, Kyrgios will have an MRI in London before hopefully pressing ahead with his 2017 season after a chronic hip injury, once again, cruelled his grand slam hopes at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios's campaign lasted barely an hour, with the shattered star retiring from his first-round match while trailing two sets to love -- 6-3 6-4 -- against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
The world No.20 Kyrgios conceded pre-tournament he was only "60-65 per cent" fit after aggravating the long-standing injury during an on-court fall at the Queen's Club lead-up event a fortnight ago.
The 22-year-old also retired during the third round at last year's US Open with a hip issue and was undermined by the same injury at last month's French Open.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Countryman Bernard Tomic bit the bullet and went under the knife for double hip surgery three years ago but Kyrgios is reluctant to go down that path amid locker-room talk that an operation seems inevitable.
"Probably not at the moment. I got too much stuff going on," Kyrgios said.
"I don't think anyone wants to go down the surgery route."
Kyrgios is keen to play the US Open before leading Australia into battle against Belgium on an indoor clay court in Brussels five days later from September 15-17.
"I had it right after Paris. When I initially got on the grass, I wasn't feeling my hip at all," Kyrgios said.
"The first set (at Queen's) when I played against Donald Young, it was fine.
"I was playing great."
A quarter-finalist on debut at the All England Club in 2014 before bowing out in the fourth round the past two years, Kyrgios admitted doctors advised him not to play this week.
"It's my favourite tournament. I do well here every year," he said.
"So it's tough for me to go out there and get beaten and pull out.
"It's not the easiest thing for me to do."
Kyrgios said he'd "probably get an MRI tomorrow" to determine the full extent of the damage, but conceded the prospect of surgery frightened him.
"I would do everything possible to avoid it," he said. "But I don't know.
"I'm obviously a little bit scared but I don't think I need it at the moment.
"Hopefully get an injection or something, do rehab, and get healthy.
"I can't really do anything. You know, it's just a bit unlucky what happened."
It's worrying times too for Hewitt, with the Australian captain now facing a moral dilemma of sorts as he considers what advice to offer Kyrgios.
Hewitt himself underwent a second bout of hip surgery in 2010 that proved career-saving before going on to end a seven-year, 15-match losing streak against Roger Federer five months later.
But with Tomic in Davis Cup exile, despite his impressive 17-4 record in the competition, the prospect of not having Australia's top two players in the team's quest to reach a first final since 2003 is not an appealing one for Hewitt.
