WATCH: Umpire reminds Kyrgios of on-court microphones

Nick Kyrgios and chair umpire Cedric Mourier got off to an awkward start on Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Open. Opponents meet at the net before every match for the coin toss to decide who will serve first, and to go over some of the basics the players need to know—challenges, ice towels, and so on—mostly as a formality.

But Mourier gave a special reminder to Kyrgios and his third-round opponent Alexander Zverev. He told the players to be aware that there are microphones around the court that could pick up what they are saying during play.

Kyrgios has been surrounded by plenty of controversy since he broke onto the professional tour in 2013. The world No. 16 got the most heat for an incident involving microphones picking up his comments toward Stan Wawrinka in Montreal two years ago.

"I love that," Kyrgios told Mourier on Tuesday. "You probably didn't tell one person that today but you tell me."

Mourier admitted he had reminded some, but not all, of the players. It was not the first time that Kyrgios has objected to something Mourier did, either.

Last year in Miami, the 21-year-old disagreed with a code violation that Mourier gave him after the Australian hit a ball into the stands during a win over Andrey Kuznetsov, leading him to claim the sport was biased.

This time around though, Kyrgios played a fairly unobstructed match to beat 19-year-old Zverev, 6-3, 6-4 in their first meeting, and he was pretty happyabout it.

It is safe to say that the young duo, both of whom are expected to break into the Top 10 and possibly challenge for Grand Slams, will meet again and with more than a fourth-round appearance at the BNP Paribas Open at stake.

For now, Kyrgios has kept up a tradition far better than his on-court scuffles with umpires, that of beating top opponents on his first try (Zverev joins Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in that stat category).