“Come on, Jimbo!”

Those were the words of encouragement from Rafael Nadal, who showed up in the stands of Court 14 on the Australian Open grounds, to the surprise of Jaume Munar. The young Spaniard was playing his first round Australian Open qualifying match. “Jimbo” ultimately prevailed against Andrea Arnaboldi, 6-2, 6-4, and moved on to the second round of qualifying.

“Having the support of Rafa is very special to me,” Munar told ATPWorldTour.com after the victory. “It wasn’t like I was expecting him to come see me play. I know it isn’t easy for him to get to a match with all the attention he draws, and despite all that he still managed to get up close to the court. It didn’t add any pressure to the match; it took some of the pressure off, actually.

“I get along well with Rafa and I also have an outstanding relationship with his team. We’ve all gone out for dinner several times. Tennis is an individual sport so it means a lot to have Rafa in the stands, as he’s someone close to me and that kind of support goes a long way.”

Nadal, who attempted to go unnoticed through Melbourne Park by wearing a towel over his head, had no problem embracing fans once he made his way to Court 14. The ATP World Tour No. 1 took photos with fans in between breaks on the far side of the stands, in an effort to avoid causing a commotion.

Despite his young age, Munar has been making critical decisions to advance his own progress. In 2017, Munar made a pivotal move, relocating from Barcelona back to his home island of Mallorca to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar. Munar said he made the change for several reasons.

“It’s important for me to be close to my family,” the 20-year-old said. “There was a lot going on in Barcelona, and there was a lot on my mind like friends, hanging out, living on my own … It was easier to be distracted. The lifestyle in Mallorca is totally different from Barcelona. I’m antsy; it’s hard to sit still so the calmer lifestyle in Mallorca benefits me. It allows me to be more focused on achieving my goals.”

At the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, Munar trains under the tutelage of Tomeu Salva, one of Nadal’s best friends and a current coach at the center.

“Tomeu is the kind of person who brings me peace of mind,” Munar said. “He knows a lot about the game from a technical standpoint. He also lived through what I’m going through now, having been ranked in the Top 200. So his life lessons are important. He’s close to Rafa, they’ve been close for a long time, so that helps even more.”

Salva was courtside when Nadal paid his surprise visit to Munar’s match and noticed his student’s positive reaction.

“Jaume was thrilled when he noticed Rafa in the stands,” Salva said. “And Nadal was just as thrilled to be there, and not just because Munar is in the academy. Nadal wants to follow his evolution; he likes to be involved with the young players as they come up. On top of that, both Rafa and Jaume are from Mallorca. He had an opportunity to see Jaume in match play, and Rafa took advantage of it.”

The relationship between Nadal and Munar has been a strong one for some time. The pair played doubles together on the ATP World Tour level at the German Tennis Championships 2015 in Hamburg. This past August, Munar celebrated his Segovia Challenger win by biting the championship trophy as a nod toward Nadal’s celebratory ritual.

Munar might be biting into a lot more trophies in 2018 if he continues to show the poise he demonstrated in his first qualifying match at Melbourne. The Spaniard is aware this is a key year in his career, and he’s put his academic studies on hold to focus solely on tennis.

“For six or seven months now, I’ve realised that tennis is my life, my job, my day-to-day work,” Munar said. “I think this semester will be the last one [with] my studies because I have to focus on what I do to make a living. That doesn’t mean I’m done with school, but the exams, the studying, they make me anxious. I was studying economics and I’ve put that on hold for now, but I know that at any time I can resume that.”

For now, Munar is focused on fine-tuning his game and tweaking small things, which he knows can end up making a big difference in the end. The move back to Mallorca, the harder training regimen and the hours put into analysing his game have helped him become the player he is today. Munar credits his team and his own approach for the positive results.

“There were things I wasn’t doing right, or not as well as I could do,” Munar said. “Like, I changed my diet and as a result, I lost a lot of weight. I’ve always been competitive and in the right state of mind but I lacked weapons from the baseline and it was harder for me to fire shots from there, especially in today’s game when you need heavy fire. We’ve focused on changing those things, and how to position myself more inside the court. Right now, I’m certain in what I’m doing. I’ve found a way to improve and I have these clear ideas of how to keep improving. The outcomes of matches depend on me, and not the other way around.”

If there’s one thing that’s clear in the early stages of 2018, it’s that Munar is forging a way forward.

Germany’s Dustin Brown received a standing ovation after he saved four match points on Thursday to reach the qualifying round at the Australian Open after a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(16) victory over World No. 248 Di Wu of China.

“I’ve only played a long tiebreak like that once in a final set. It was just a very difficult match. He started off so well and I realised I just had to get loose and swing,” said Brown, who led 4/1 in the tie-break. “I tried to make him think. He played unbelievable shots on my match points in the tie-break.”

Brown now plays 18-year-old American Stefan Kozlov, who beat Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.

Watch Live Streaming Of Qualifying From Melbourne Park

Australia’s John-Patrick Smith, currently No. 220 in the ATP Rankings, overcame sixth seed Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-2 for a final round test against American Kevin King, who knocked out Zdenek Kolar 6-1, 7-6(2).

Elsewhere, 25-year-old Barbadian Darian King is one step away from competing in a second Grand Slam championship after he defeated ninth seed Alexander Bublik 7-5, 6-0.

“It feels fantastic,” said King. “I haven’t been feeling very well recently, but everyone assisting me has done a great job to help me play this well.”

Sweden’s Elias Ymer, Czech Vaclav Safranek, Andrea Collarini of Argentina and Americans Denis Kudla and Mackenzie McDonald also progressed to the qualifying round for the major championship, which begins on 15 January. Sixteen matches were completed on day two of qualifying.

If Roger Federer is to capture his sixth Australian Open crown, he’ll have to go through a minefield to clinch his 20th Grand Slam crown.

Having taken part in the Australian Open draw ceremony on Margaret Court Arena Thursday night, the Swiss superstar watched on as he realised he’d need to potentially beat a resurgent Juan Martin del Potro, six-time former champion Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev and 2014 titlist Stan Wawrinka if he is to reach his seventh final at the first major championship of the year.

Federer’s first task will be to prepare to meet Slovenian Aljaz Bedene in the first round.

Speaking during an on-court interview, Federer said, “It’s great to be back. I don’t normally like going to draws, as they freak me out. I only like to see the draw sheet and see who my first-round opponent is.”

Federer beat his great rival, 2009 champion Rafael Nadal, in last year’s final 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

“It was an amazing final for me and an amazing moment in my life,” said Federer. “I had a great four to six weeks of tennis training, and many months before that to get myself ready for the training. I thought physically I would be ready, but my game and wins weren’t going to come.

“I was thinking perhaps I might get to the quarter-finals, semi-finals at best, then run into a red-hot Djokovic, Nadal or Murray and my game wouldn’t be good enough for that day. But it was, ending with the epic match against Rafa. The fifth set was perhaps the best set I played. It was the highlight of my year, beating my Wimbledon win later in the year.”

Nadal, as the top seed, opens his quest for a 17th Grand Slam championship against Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic. The Spanish superstar has a 51-11 record at the major, including two further runner-up finishes in 2012 (l. to Djokovic) and 2014 (l. to Wawrinka), and will be contesting his first tournament of 2018. Sixth seed Marin Cilic, also in the top quarter of the draw, will play Yen-Hsun Lu in the first round.

Grigor Dimitrov, the Nitto ATP Finals champion and third seed, who advanced to the semi-finals last year, starts against a qualifier with No. 17 seed Nick Kyrgios – who opens against Rogerio Dutra Silva – or No. 15 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga potential fourth-round opponents.

The third quarter of the draw features fourth seed Zverev, fifth seed Dominic Thiem and two players returning to competition after lengthy injury lay-offs: ninth seed Wawrinka and No. 14 seed Djokovic.

Zverev will face Italian Thomas Fabbiano in the first round with a potential third-round encounter with his older brother, No. 32 seed Mischa Zverev, on the cards. Djokovic, with a 57-7 mark at Melbourne Park and starts against American Donald Young, could then lie in wait for the World No. 4 German. Wawrinka challenges Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis in the first round, while Thiem plays Guido Pella or Argentina.

Del Potro, the No. 12 seed, who is competing at the major championship for the first time since 2014 and will return to the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings on Monday, faces American Frances Tiafoe in the first round. Seventh seed David Goffin, who finished as the runner-up at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, will play a qualifier, while No. 22 seed and 2016 semi-finalist Milos Raonic, a potential fourth-round opponent for Federer, faces Slovakian Lukas Lacko.

Main draw play will get underway at the Australian Open on 15 January.