Cameron Pilley can't go anywhere without getting asked about his brother and he's considering carrying a watermelon at all times.

The Australian squash player and world No 20 became a YouTube sensation when he unleashed one of his world-record 280 km/h shots into the middle of his brother Morgan's backs, leaving a ''bloody, pusy welt''.

Pilley is in Canberra for the Australian Squash Open, which begins on Monday, but is more known for hitting his brother than his exploits on the court.

What started out as a bit of fun - if you call getting hit by a ballistic rubber missile fun - has since gone viral and had more than 480,000 hits.

It's a prank even the crew from renowned daredevils Jackass would be proud of.

''Everyone thinks [my brother] lost a bet or he was drunk or some sort of dare involved, but he's got a few screws loose anyway because he rides 24-hour mountain bike races, and one morning we went to training and on the way he suggested this brilliant idea of me hitting him with the ball as hard as I can,'' Pilley told The Canberra Times yesterday.

''It also came up because I got the world record [for fastest hit] two weeks previous to that, so that was kind of a hot thing, there were pictures of me with the speed record.

''... We did for a bit of a laugh to send to our mates and within a week it was 300,000 hits.''

If you're thinking of trying this trick at home, you might want to think again.

Morgan set off to Malaysia the following day and had to endure one of the worst flights of his life.

Apparently having a hole in your back doesn't help you sleep on a plane.

''We trained for an hour and a half on the squash court [after that] and he had this bloody, pusy welt on his back and the next day he had to fly to Malaysia for one of his races and he said it was the most uncomfortable flight of his life,'' he said.

But the fun and games didn't stop there.

At a tournament in Canada, with no Morgan in sight, Pilley was asked to unleash his furious power on an unsuspecting watermelon.

Where to next? Rockmelons? Pumpkins? Maybe it's best not to leave your car parked too close to the National Convention Centre in Civic.

''I always thought, 'I wonder if I could hit a ball through a passenger-side window of a car, but I haven't found an old car to have a go at ... I reckon I could put it through that,'' Pilley said.

Pilley is one of five Aussies in the field for next week's Open.

Unfortunately, four of them are on the same side of the draw and are pitted against each other in the opening two rounds - but it does guarantee an Australian will make the quarter-finals.

Pilley has been runner-up at the Australian Open before and at the 2010 Commonwealth Games won a gold medal in the mixed doubles and a bronze in the men's doubles.

The withdrawal of No.2 seed Peter Barker means Pilley is now seeded fourth.

He'll play fellow Aussie Matthew Karwalski in the first round.

-Sydney Morning Herald