Nill, George and two dogs - Kyrgios clan off to Melbourne for Australian Open

Saddling up in the car on the way to the Australian Open are odd couple King and Quincy - one a placid golden retriever, the other a low-lying mini dachshund.

Their job is simple - to relax Nill and George's youngest son Nick in the early stages of his Australian Open campaign, a year on from the world number 47's last professional tournament.

"That's the main reason that I think I would go down, get the dogs down there, maybe cook a couple of meals," Nill says.

"Nick being home for so long and having the dogs around him all the time - when he was here he forgot himself I think, he just rolled around with the dogs.

"Suddenly now he's just without the dogs, he would feel really, I guess a bit lost. We'll take the dogs with us and he'll be able to see them for an hour or so - dogs are really good like that."

Nill has thought of everything to help her son ease back into his tennis career.

She even sent down a folder full of recipes with his manager Daniel Horsfall, replete with step-by-step instructions on how to maximise her son's vegetarian diet.

Horsfall is a key part of Kyrgios's tight-knit entourage that help him through each grand slam tournament. His older brother Christos is also with him in Melbourne.

Family is everything to Kyrgios, and the shutdown of tennis in 2020 has allowed him to move back into the comforting environs of his old home in Watson.

You can see why he opted to stay there surrounded by his nearest and dearest, rather than travel to contest the French and US Opens while COVID-19 swirled out of control around the world.

"It's comforting for him to come back, and now he has to go again and I think it'll take time for him to adjust again to that lifestyle," Nill says.

"It's the transition, you have to take it slow, you can't just be at home and then next minute you're out. You have nothing, all that familiar stuff is gone, familiar food, familiar smells, dogs or whatever is just suddenly not there."

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The Kyrgios home is a special place.

Photographs of Nick and his older siblings Christos and Hali cover the walls - old school pictures mixed in with framed and faded throwbacks of junior years spent playing basketball or soccer.

One room is devoted to Kyrgios paraphernalia - full of trophies, tournament accreditation passes and countless broken racquets accumulated over the last eight years as a tennis professional.

King and Quincy aren't the only pets - out the back is Kyrgios's pet macaw Buddy.

"The macaw lives to 100 you know so we have to write him in our will," Nill jokes.

Surrounding the ornate house is Nill's garden, full of rhubarb, pears, olives, limes, plums, tomatoes and herbs.

She takes pride in her garden and it offers an outlet for whenever Nick is playing a match - Nill can no longer bear to watch her son play live. Driving eight hours to Melbourne this weekend is more about seeing her son, than watching him play.

"I get too anxious that it overpowers my enjoyment when I'm watching him play, I would rather watch it as a replay," Nill says.

"When Nick played [on Thursday] I was in my garden. I don't like using gloves, I just like the feel of it, the connection. They all say if you can't find Mum then look for her in the garden.

"When he played that first match at Wimbledon 2014, I was cleaning. My house was spotless. You cannot get it out of your mind because you know it's happening, it doesn't matter what you do it's there until it's over."

That feeling of anxiety is set to return on Monday when her son takes on qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva in the first round. World number three Dominic Thiem likely awaits in the third round.