Andy Murray’s dominant 2015 season was honoured on Sunday, as the Scot was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) for the second time in three years.

Also the award recipient in 2013 following his historic run to the Wimbledon title, Murray was named the British sportsman of the year once again. The 28 year old is the year-end World No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after posting a 71-14 win-loss mark and guiding Great Britain to its first Davis Cup crown in 79 years.

“Thank you very much,” said an emotional Murray. “I didn’t expect this. I dedicate my life to this sport and I work extremely hard every day to make you proud.”

Following a final run at the Australian Open – his eighth at the Grand Slam stage – Murray would claim his first tour-level clay-court crown in Munich. He immediately followed that with an upset win over Rafael Nadal in Madrid for his 10th Masters 1000 title and later notched No. 11 with victory over Novak Djokovic in Montreal. Murray would also enjoy success on grass, earning a fourth Queen’s Club title, en route to qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for an eighth successive year.

Countrymen Kyle Edmund, Jamie Murray, James Ward, Dominic Inglot, Daniel Evans and Davis Cup captain Leon Smith were in attendance as Murray won the coveted award with more than 35 per cent of the public vote. The Davis Cup squad also won Team of the Year. The Scot was presented with the trophy by Northern Ireland boxing legend Barry McGuigan, in front of a sell-out 7,500 crowd at the SSE Arena in Belfast. He received more than 1,000,000 votes in total, with rugby star Kevin Sinfield finishing second with 278,353 and heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill third with 78,898.

Murray is the fourth different tennis player to win the award in its 62-year history, after Ann Jones in 1969, Virginia Wade in 1977 and Greg Rusedski in 1997.

James Duckworth will make a fifth consecutive main draw appearance at the Australian Open after winning the Australian Wildcard Playoff on Sunday. The top seed was the last player standing in the 16-man draw after Benjamin Mitchell withdrew ahead of the final to be with his girlfriend for the birth of their first child.

“It would have been nice to win properly but that’s the way it goes,” Duckworth said. “I managed to get through a couple of tough matches [this week], especially the semifinal against Marinko [Matosevic]. I’d never beaten him before. I didn’t play so well the last four months of the year so to come here and win a few matches, especially some tight ones, some tight tie-breaks, really helps the confidence a lot. Hopefully I can use it as a bit of a springboard and start the year off well and have a good year.”

World No. 120 Duckworth reached the second round at Melbourne Park in 2012, ’13 & ’15, claiming a pair of five-set victories. He cracked the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time earlier this year, peaking at No. 82, following his first match win at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level in Indian Wells.

In the Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff, top seed Yoshihito Nishioka rallied past Chinese Taipei’s Jason Jung 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. The Japanese will make his Australian Open debut, contesting his fourth Grand Slam main draw. One of 10 players under the age of 22 in the Top 150, Nishioka reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final earlier this year in Delray Beach. The 20 year old also captured his second ATP Challenger Tour title last month in Toyota.

“I’m so excited that I can play main draw in the Australian Open, it will be the first time for me,” said Nishioka. “Entering the Top 100 was actually my goal for this year, but I didn’t make it. Hopefully next year I’m able to be in the Top 70. And I already won a first round match at the US Open this year, so next time I hope I can win a second round at a Grand Slam.”

Duckworth and Nishioka join former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, American teen Noah Rubin and France’s Quentin Halys among wild card recipients.

If you’re waiting for Roger Federer to ride off into the sunset, to fade into statistical obsolescence, don’t hold your breath. A look at his 2015 Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers stats shows that, at 34, he’s still playing some of his best tennis.

For starters, let’s zero in on a few key serving stats: in some respects, the World No. 3 has never been more efficient. This year he matched career marks in both first-serve percentage (64%) and service games won (92%), while setting a career-best in first-serve points won (80%). Not bad for a tennis tricenarian.

                                                                                                                                                              
BOLD = career-best, * = ATP World Tour leader

When it comes to the Swiss’ return games, while there were no career-bests established, Federer remains among the elite. For the 11^th time in the past 13 years, he finished among the top 10 in return points won off his opponents’ first serve (33%), and he won 27 per cent of his return games, good enough for eighth overall on the ATP World Tour.

BOLD = career-best, * = ATP World Tour leader

So how did this all translate on the court for the 24-time ATP Masters 1000 champ? A 63-11 year, six titles and a Top-3 year-end finish in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the 11^th time. Against Top-10 competition, he was 15-6, his only losses coming against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (five) and Stan Wawrinka.

BOLD = career-best