This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Thanasi Kokkinakis says he sees his Australian tennis pal Nick Kyrgios trying to improve his on-court behaviour despite receiving another code violation in Shanghai.

Kyrgios has been flirting with a suspension, receiving a second code violation warning in a week – for an audible obscenity – at the Shanghai Masters on Monday.

Nick Kyrgios picks up code violation for obscenity at Shanghai Masters Read more

The 20-year-old faces a one-month ban if he receives another fine for verbal or physical misconduct, with the penalty stemming from his distasteful sledging of Swiss star Stan Wawrinka at a tournament in August.

But, speaking at the launch of the 2016 Australian Open, 19-year-old Kokkinakis said he believed Davis Cup team-mate Kyrgios was trying to tone down.

“To be fair I’ve been watching him and he’s playing well and he’s probably a bit more switched on then I’ve seen him before,” Kokkinakis said. “He’s not going to change completely and not not get frustrated. But he’s toning it down a bit.”

The 19-year-old said while Kyrgios had been criticised for sometimes poor on-court behaviour, he was good for the game as fans loved watching him play. “If he yells, breaks racquets whatever, the fans love watching that. Even though it makes headlines, it makes it fun for the fans to watch. It doesn’t hurt the game too much.”

Kokkinakis, the world No76, was flying out of Melbourne later on Monday for his final three tournaments of the year; in Stockholm, Valencia and Paris. He is in the main draw in Sweden but must play qualifying in the last two.

Kokkinasis said he wanted to finish the year well to get some momentum ahead of the Australian Open in January where he will try to top his previous best of a second round showing.

“Third round is the next step,” he said. “I feel like if I have a good off-season and I’m ready physically I can beat a lot of the top players. The support here is unbelievable so I really hope that my first really big grand slam is at the Australian Open.”