“I’m a little tired of talking about 2015,” confessed Rafael Nadal in Doha, where he reached his first final of 2016.

Indeed, the Spaniard is eager to put behind him a turbulent 12 months, which saw him struggle to regain his best form after injury and illness had curtailed his 2014 campaign.

By most players’ standards, 2015 would have been considered a success – three ATP World Tour titles and a 61-20 match record. But the 14-time Grand Slam champion could only reach the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros and went 7-11 against Top 10 opponents.

With the 29 year old back to full fitness, Nadal and his coaching team – led by his uncle, Toni Nadal, with Francis Roig as his second coach – went to work in the off-season to bring his game back up to its highest level, making improvements and adjustments where necessary, but not at the cost of sacrificing Nadal’s trademark style.

“The pre-season has gone very well,” Toni Nadal told ATPWorldTour.com. “We have intensified the training both in the length of the sessions and the rhythm. As was the case at the end of last season, I think things are going very well. In fact, I think Rafael’s level is better than at this point last year.

“That he’s feeling good physically helped us more,” continued Uncle Toni. “For a long time we had to be careful with the workouts because there were various problems, but for a while now we have been able to do high intensity training sessions for as long as we want. I also think we have managed to get him back to playing aggressively, and that’s what he needs to do to play well.”

As well as prioritising good physical conditioning, honing a specific plan on the court was an integral part of the off-season strategy.

“The game today is very different from four years ago”, said Roig, who will accompany the team to Australia. “Now, the start of a sequence of play is vital and if you hit a bad second serve, you tighten up and right from the first ball you have lost the initiative.

“You have to adapt to what the good players are doing and, as he’s very good himself, we thought he could adapt and change certain aspects of his game and I think he is doing that.”

As such, balancing increased aggression with Nadal’s staple baseline play became the focus. “Now I see him play and know that he can win the point in many more ways,” said Roig. “Without losing his basics of playing one more shot, but also without retreating and letting the ball drop.”

Will see a new Nadal in 2016? “We’re not doing anything new,” explains Uncle Toni. “Rather we are going back to the things we did in 2008, 2010 and 2013, but which, for one reason or another – usually physical problems that stopped him from having continuity in his game – we could not do.”

Andy Murray has raised a total of more than £83,000 for Unicef, the world’s leading children’s organisation, through his Andy’s Aces initiative.

In September 2015 Murray, who was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December, announced that for every ace he hit until the end of the year, he would donate £50 to Unicef to support their work to help children whose worlds have been turned upside down by the conflict in Syria.

As well as asking his fans to donate to support the initiative, Murray’s sponsors – Standard Life and Under Armour, along with the LTA and ATP – vowed to match each donation Andy made, meaning every ace raised £250 for children in danger. Standard Life’s employees also got involved with the fundraising for Syria and the money raised was matched by Standard Life, adding £20,000 to the total. Additional funds were also raised through the Tie Break Tens tournament. The ATP ACES for Charity programme also donated £10,120 ($15,000). From 29 October 2015, all UK public donations were aid matched by the UK Government.

The total of over £83,000 could provide over 16,000 children with blankets to help keep them safe and warm.

Unicef UK Supporter Murray explained: “I remember watching the news last summer and deciding I wanted to do something to help some of the millions of children whose lives have turned upside down by the situation in Syria. It’s amazing that we’ve been able to raise so much, and I’m very grateful to my sponsors and fans for their help in this – I couldn’t have done it without them. I know how hard Unicef are working to support these children, and millions of others around the world and I’m proud to have been able to help.”

Unicef UK Executive Director, David Bull, said: “All of us here at Unicef UK are incredibly grateful to Andy for his continued support. Almost five years into the conflict, Syria remains one of the most dangerous places to be a child and millions of children have lost loved ones, homes and schools. Their world has been turned upside down by the conflict and humanitarian needs are becoming ever more urgent. The support of Andy, his fans and the wider tennis community will help us provide support for children who have lost so much.”

If you’d like to support Andy’s Aces, and Unicef’s work for the children of Syria it’s not too late. Text ACE to 70800 to donate £5 or visit https://www.justgiving.com/AndysAces

The ATP has released its 2017 and 2018 calendars on the back of a record-breaking season in 2015 that attracted a global broadcast audience of 973 million viewers, a 10% growth on the previous year.

Combined with the ATP’s weekly magazine show, ATP World Tour Uncovered, which drew a viewership of 60 million, ATP events attracted in excess of 1 billion viewers globally in 2015. The 2015 season also saw an all-time on-site attendance record, with 4.5 million fans attending ATP events across the season.

The 2017 & 2018 calendar represent a continuation of the current calendar, underpinned by the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, 13 ATP World Tour 500s, and 40 ATP World Tour 250s, with all roads leading to the spectacular season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

“Our current structure of tournaments, as well as this phenomenal generation of players, has generated a significant growth in audiences in recent years,” said Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President. “We’re delighted to have seen that trend continue in 2015, and to confirm our calendars through to 2018 as we look to ensure a period of stability and sustained growth for the Tour.”

While the cornerstones of the calendar remain the same, the ATP World Tour is set to expand into new markets, as early as 2016, reaching a total of 32 countries:

–       Bulgaria (Garanti Koza Sofia Open) will host its first ever ATP World Tour tournament in February following the relocation of the tournament in Zagreb, Croatia, to Sofia.

–       Mexico (Abierto Mexicano Los Cabos) will host a second ATP World Tour tournament following the relocation of the tournament in Bogota, Colombia, to Los Cabos.

–       Belgium (European Open) will host an ATP World Tour event for the first time since 1998 following the relocation of the tournament in Valencia, Spain, to Antwerp.

–       From 2017, a second grass court tournament will be held the week before Wimbledon, alongside Nottingham. A separate announcement relating to this tournament will follow in due course.

An updated 2016 ATP World Tour calendar, as well as the 2017 & 2018 calendars can be found here.

Top seed and four-time champion David Ferrer rolled past Australian qualifier Matthew Barton 6-2, 6-4 in 65 minutes on Wednesday at the ASB Classic.

The Spaniard, who owns more Auckland titles than any other player in the Open Era, winning in 2007 and 2011-2013, took a wild card into the draw after an opening-round loss in Doha last week. He was a perfect 11 for 11 on first-serve points in taking the first set, and would win 23 of 26 (88 per cent) in total in moving into the quarter-finals. Ferrer is now 17-2 as a top seed in Auckland.

Barton, who in his 13th attempt qualified for his first ATP World Tour main draw, then won his tour-level debut against American Steve Johnson on Monday, finished with six aces to two doubles faults.

Later in the day, second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga got a win on his first appearance in Auckland by defeating 2008 titlist Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4 in 67 minutes. The Frenchman now faces sixth seed Fabio Fognini, who needed just 47 minutes to outhit Dutch qualifier Thiemo de Bakker 6-1, 6-1. The Italian never faced a break point.

How narrow were the margins in the all-American battle between power servers John Isner and Sam Querrey? Consider this: there were a combined 52 aces and no service breaks until the seventh game of the third set. But in the end it was the No. 3 seed and two-time champion Isner that emerged victorious 7-6(8), 6-7(4), 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes.

Isner improved to 2-4 lifetime against Querrey, who has won 17 of 19 meetings with his countrymen since 2013 (including Challengers).

“It was obviously a very close match,” said Isner, who registered 31 aces. “I considered it pretty much a coin flip out here tonight, and I was fortunate to win.”

It was at 3-all in the third set that Isner finally scored the lone break of the match, and three games later he served it out, appropriately, with yet another ace.

Eighth seed Roberto Bautista Agut saved both break points he faced in downing Donald Young 6-4, 7-6(3) in one hour and 26 minutes. Lukas Rosol scored a 6-4, 7-6(5) upset of No. 5 seed Benot Paire.

Grigor Dimitrov continued his strong start to the 2016 season on Wednesday at the Apia International Sydney, out-hitting Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 7-6(2), 6-4 to advance to his second quarter-final in as many weeks.

Dimitrov, 24, had won their first meeting on hard courts at the ATP Masters 1000 Paris in 2014, while Cuevas prevailed last year on clay in the Istanbul semi-finals.

The opening match in Ken Rosewall Arena saw the No. 4-seeded Bulgarian take the 51-minute first set in a one-sided tie-break, denying the 41^st-ranked Cuevas the lone break point of the stanza. Dimitrov opened the second set with his only break of the match (1 for 9). It turned out to be the only one he would need in the one-hour, 37-minute victory.

Dimitrov reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane last week, losing to Roger Federer in three sets.

The 30-year-old Cuevas, who was making his third appearance in Sydney, failed to convert any of his three break-point opportunities.

Gilles Muller was leading No. 2 seed Dominic Thiem 7-6(2), 2-2 when the 22-year-old Austrian, who was coming off a semi-final showing in Brisbane (l. to Federer), retired with blisters on his right foot. Muller, a semi-finalist in 2015, has now dropped just seven points on his first serve over two matches, taking out a pair of hot young guns in Thiem and  Borna Coric. Muller, who also reached the fourth round of the Australian Open last year, could push past his career-high of No. 34 in the Emirates ATP Rankings if he goes on to win the Sydney title.

French qualifier Nicolas Mahut was a three-set 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 winner over No. 5 seed Andreas Seppi of Italy. Joining Mahut in the winners’ circle were Teymuraz Gabashvili (d. Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-3), No. 8 seed Alexandr Dologopolov (d. Alexander Sarkissian 7-6(6), 6-2) and No. 6 seed Jeremy Chardy (d. James Duckworth 7-6(5), 6-4). 

Watch live streaming of the Australian Open qualifying action.