After a long day at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, there are few things Grigor Dimitrov enjoys more than blasting some of his favourite music on the ride home.

For the Bulgarian, and the Brisbane courtesy car drivers, that’s meant plenty of American soloist Whitney Houston.

“Oh, my God. I didn’t know that thing was going to spread around that fast,” Dimitrov told ATPWorldTour.com when asked about his drive-home selection. “There’s just a couple of songs that I really like.”

Dimitrov said the tournament-provided drivers have been so nice to him on the rides back to his hotel that they’ve let him control the car stereo. “I appreciate moments like that. After a long, heavy day, you just want to like come in the car and just listen to what you really want to listen to, and it happened to be Whitney Houston,” he said.

The Monte-Carlo resident is rarely without music during the day, especially when he’s in the car. “Every time I step in my car the music starts right away. That’s the one thing that is super important for me in the car,” he said.

He also wakes up to music and falls asleep to it. “I listen pretty much 24-7,” Dimitrov said. “It’s just a part of me that I don’t think I can live without.”

The seventh seed, who faces Dominic Thiem in the Brisbane quarter-finals on Friday, is picking up where he left off last season. In July, Dimitrov was ranked No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Rankings but ended the year at No. 17 following an honest conversation with new coach Dani Vallverdu.

“I was just not playing good tennis. I think I was doing a lot of wrong things on- and off-the-court, so I think that cost me a lot of matches, a lot of tournaments, so to speak. But at the same time, I was never discouraged. I’m always open to trying something new. I’m not afraid of the work,” Dimitrov said. “As soon as I got Dani on board, things were starting to happen for us a little bit. We kind of sat down, and we were showing our true colours. And I think we came to a conclusion about what’s important is what’s ahead of us and the goals that we had. And I think so far everything has been going quite well for us.”

Dimitrov finished 2016 by reaching the China Open final in Beijing and the semi-finals at the If Stockholm Open. To return to the Top 10 in 2017, Dimitrov said, he’ll need to improve his consistency. The right-hander reached a career-high of No. 8 in August 2014.

“Consistency throughout the year. Playing good at the big matches, winning big matches… I think is pretty much the key,” he said. “Of course, you need to be healthy and everything else but I think if you’re just consistent, you focus on your own stuff, you have the right team around, with the right attitude, then everything is achievable.”

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Qatar ExxonMobil Open – Doha, Qatar

Defending champion Novak Djokovic held a kids clinic with 11 lucky Qatari youngsters.

World No. 1 Andy Murray and Djokovic officially launched the 2017 ATP World Tour season at the Museum of Islamic Art. Watch

Murray, Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga attended the tournament’s player party, where they were in the hot seat as Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares interviewed them for ATP World Tour Uncovered.

Malek Jaziri, Andrey Kuznetsov, Florian Mayer and Gerald Melzer were on hand to assist with the draw ceremony.

Brisbane International Presented By Suncorp – Brisbane, Australia

Stan Wawrinka showed no fear as he did the Gold Coast SkyClimb. Watch

Rafael Nadal made a new furry friend during his first trip to Brisbane: a koala named Dian. Watch

Top seed Milos Raonic took a ride on the CityCat to take in the Brisbane city sights. Watch

Kei Nishikori had his cooking skills put to the test as he learned how to make prawns on the BBQ on South Bank beach, while David Ferrer also learned to make a quick and healthy dish on stage in front of fans.

Grigor Dimitrov and Dominic Thiem participated in kids’ day activities.

Thanasi Kokkinakis met with the tournament ball kids and participated in a short drill with them before presenting them with their official caps.

Gilles Simon signed autographs and visited the Peugeot Mini Tennis activity.

Aircel Chennai Open – Chennai, India

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Roberto Bautista Agut, Damir Dzumhur, Guillermo Duran and Andres Molteni were among those to ring in the New Year at the player party at the official tournament hotel.

Bautista Agut and Steve Darcis were challenged in a cook-off as they made a pizza recipe from a book about healthy eating.

Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Duran and Molteni participated in the Play the Pros Kids’ Clinic.

World No. 1 Andy Murray continued his winning ways with a 7-6(4), 7-5 victory over Nicolas Almagro on Thursday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Scot’s win streak extended to 27 as he fought past the Spaniard and tricky conditions in two hours and nine minutes. Murray awaits the winner of the match between third seed Tomas Berdych and fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic also continued his impressive start to the 2017 ATP World Tour season by recording his 10th match win in Doha. The World No. 2 defeated 38-year-old qualifier Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3 in 91 minutes for a place in the last four.

“It’s same for both players, so there is not much you can do,” Djokovic said of the challenging windy conditions in Doha. “The force of the nature is like that. You have to accept and try to embrace it, really be one with the wind, otherwise it’s not going to be good day for you.

“I thought in terms of my performance, under the circumstances I put the level up again, which is great. So everything is going in the right direction.”

Djokovic will next face Fernando Verdasco, who withstood 13 aces from Ivo Karlovic’s racquet in a 6-2, 7-5 victory. Djokovic has an 8-4 lead against the Spaniard in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and won their most recent match 6-2, 6-2 in Doha last year.

“He’s a very complete player,” Djokovic said of Verdasco. “He’s got weapons from the forehand side, [a] big serve [and he’s] very strong.”

The top two players in the world practised ahead of their respective quarter-finals clashes, the Serbian tweeting:

Had a great warm up with @andy_murray today ?? pic.twitter.com/hM2sV06iSR

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) January 5, 2017

In doubles, Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin upset top seeds and World No. 1 team Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares to reach the final. The all-French duo saved two of the four break points they faced for a 7-6(3), 7-6(6) victory in 96 minutes. They await the winners of the match between third seeds Vasek Pospisil/Radek Stepanek and Nicolas Almagro/Fernando Verdasco.