Kyrgios ups his quirkiness in time for Aussie Open

To the surprise of none, Nick Kyrgios' season had an inauspicious beginning.

Even before 2019 had truly kicked off, he suffered a spider bite over the holidays that pre-empted his lead-in training for what might be, could be, should be a sterling season for the still-just-age-23 Aussie.

Then he asked a chair umpire in his first round of 2019, in Brisbane, to have the unforced-error total projected onto the stadium's Jumbotron screen. He would beat Ryan Harrison but lose his second-round match to Jeremy Chardy.

Around the same time, Kyrgios published a since-deleted tweet that addressed an alleged lack of support for himself and Thanasi Kokkinakis from their compatriot, retired star Lleyton Hewitt. Kyrgios passed off the post as an obvious example of banter among countrymen and pals.

Kyrgios then appeared in a few exhibition events, taking out Rafael Nadal in the Fast4 in Sydney and lost to Bernard Tomic at the Kooyong Classic.

Since then, he has stabilized the, well, banter surrounding him. His heartfelt social post about Andy Murray's announced, yet-in-2019 retirement from the sport spoke volumes to his capacity for not just levity but gravity.

Whether he finds a way to keep his name in the papers into the second week at this year's first major event, that will be another story.

Kyrgios will begin his home country's Grand Slam tournament against No. 16 seed Milos Raonic, who is likewise in pursuit of a season of rebuilding.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9.

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