Australian Next Gen start Thanasi Kokkinakis is set to play his first ATP World Tour singles match in more than a year at the Apia International Sydney next week after a confidence-boosting run to the semi-finals of the Brisbane International doubles. Kokkinakis is happy with how his right shoulder has held up in two doubles wins with fellow Australian Jordan Thompson in Brisbane this week, including Thursday’s 1-6, 6-4, 10-7 upset of top seeds and reigning Wimbledon champions Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

“The body felt good today,” Kokkinakis said. “I feel I am still five to 10 percent off. Getting the confidence back in the body is the biggest thing.

“I’m excited (to take the Sydney wild card]. I was trying to play here but I just didn’t feel I was quite ready. I’m trying to train as much as I can because I didn’t have a massive pre-season trying to get healthy. Had it not been the Australian summer I probably would have taken more time, but it would be tough to miss two in a row for me. I’m really keen to play.”

Kokkinakis, 20, said that his decision to enter the Australian Open later this month would depend on his his body felt after his singles return in Sydney. “Obviously I want to play but honestly it’s 50/50 at the moment because I know how much of a step up five sets is,” he said. “If I don’t play singles I want to play the doubles at least, maybe even mixed.

In 2015 the Adelaide native reached a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of 69 and finished (at No. 80) as one of four teenagers in the year-end Top 100. Kokkinakis underwent shoulder surgery on December 29, 2015. He did not play a tournament match on the ATP World Tour last year. His lone appearance came at the Rio Olympics.

Top seed Milos Raonic has delivered on his New Year’s resolution to move forward more in 2017, taking command at net in a 6-3, 6-2 opening-round win over Argentine Diego Schwartzman on Thursday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.

Raonic said that his decision to add former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek to his coaching team was based in large part to a shared belief that tapping further upside in the Canadian’s game will most likely come from more forays to the net. Against Schwartzman, Raonic ventured to net 22 times, winning on 12 occasions.

“I probably should have approached 12 more times and I probably should have won a few more,” said Raonic, who went 6/11 in the first set at the net. “I definitely want to, especially at the beginning, since obviously I didn’t take care of my serve so well. I hesitated, but also, with him, you’ve got to understand that he’s quite quick. So rarely do you get him sort of reaching for balls.

“If he’s able to get to the ball, it’s normally with two hands. So he can come up with some good shots, and he was able to do that today, passing some incredible backhands down the line. A few I should have made or should have covered better, I got a little bit lazy on. But I’ve got to put myself there to give myself an opportunity to get better at it.”

Raonic also hit 12 aces and won 75 per cent of his first-service points in the 69-minute victory. He broke for a 4-2 lead in the first set, then won five straight games after Schwartzman had broken serve in the first game of the second set.

“At the beginning I really struggled that first service game, and had another close service game before I started to get in on his games,” said World No. 3 Raonic, who will next face fifth seed Rafael Nadal or Mischa Zverev in the quarter-finals. “Then I could feel I started imposing myself on him. He started making some mistakes, and I was able to create some things, as well. I have to be glad with how I finished.”

Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov will face off in the quarter-finals after both advanced in straight sets.

Thiem saved all four break points against Aussie wild card Sam Groth to move into the last eight 7-6(5), 6-3. The fourth seed won only one point against the big-serving Groth’s first serve, but Thiem feasted on the Aussie’s second offering, winning 61 per cent (14/23) of those points.

Dimitrov, the seventh seed, converted all three break points against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut to advance 6-2, 6-4. Thiem beat Dimitrov in their only prior FedEx ATP Head2Head match-up last year in Acapulco.

On Court 10 of the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, the very same court he trained on during his first time at the tournament, Rafael Nadal practised on Wednesday afternoon, preparing for his second-round match against Mischa Zverev. In front of a packed crowd, the Spanish legend practised with Elias Ymer during a high-paced training session.

“The feeling is really good,” Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and coach, explained to ATPWorldTour.com in Brisbane. “Yesterday he played at a great level against [Alexandr] Dolgopolov, a good opponent… So far, things are going pretty good for us.”

After calling it a season after the Shanghai Rolex Masters in October because of pain in his left wrist, Rafael Nadal went to his hometown, Manacor, to prepare for the 2017 season. The Spaniard used the longer training block than usual to work on different aspects of his game.

“Having a longer pre-season allowed us to train in a different way,” said Toni Nadal. “Also we were lucky to train with some young talents from the [Rafa Nadal] Academy.That was really good for us because we were able to conduct different drills with them. It was really useful.

“Many times we have had to train carefully because of physical problems, something that hasn’t happened this season… So far, things are going OK but we have to wait a little bit.”

Toni Nadal hopes that injuries stay away from his nephew so he can fight for the biggest titles this season. “It’s pivotal to stay injury-free throughout all the season to be competitive,” said Toni Nadal. “Back in 2009, we had a knee injury. Rafa could have been World No. 1 because he was firmly on the top spot when the issues raised at [Roland Garros] and prevented him from playing Wimbledon.

“Right there our chances to finish the year as World No. 1 vanished. In 2012, the same. He reached the Australian Open final after having many problems against [Novak] Djokovic and he managed to close the gap again. He defeated Novak in Monte-Carlo and was playing to fight for a top spot, but physical problems hampered him again. All these things affect your work. Many times you miss tournaments and can’t play a complete season.”

The arrival of Carlos Moya to Rafael Nadal’s camp has been one of the new aspects around the current World No. 9. Moya joins Toni Nadal and Francis Roig to make the team stronger. Moya, a former World No. 1 who will join Rafa’s box during the Australian Open, will try to help the Majorcan achieve his goals.

“Rafa made the decision,” said Toni Nadal about Moya’s arrival. “I think this will work fine. When a new member arrives, he always brings something fresh, a different point of view. And I think that this will be good for Rafa.”

Toni Nadal also said he’s excited that both his nephew and Roger Federer will be returning to tour-level action this month after dealing with injuries last season.

“Their rivalry is not just a tennis rivalry, it is a clash about concepts of the game,” said Toni Nadal. “At the beginning it was a big No. 1 against a rising youngster who had a completely different game style. They played many big matches, especially the 2008 Wimbledon final, which is labelled by many as the best match ever played. Their rivalry is fantastic for the way both play and has brought many fans to our game.”

Shaking hands after a match is customary, but a selfie?

Horacio Zeballos may have started a new trend after being defeated by Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Wednesday: The Argentine asked the defending champion for a quick picture as he left the court.

“It was quite nice, a nice surprise,” said the Serbian World No. 2. “I think at the end of the day, two tennis players on the court try to outplay each other and win in the game of tennis. Once that’s finished, once you shake hands, you’re people… You’re a person, a human being. Of course you want to win. But once it’s done, it’s done. The past is behind you.”

Eehhh sorryy. Creo que tengo la mejor selfie del dia jejeje. Que groso Nole.un genio!! Y yo figuretiiii.. Me encanto!! pic.twitter.com/lMXDqKdcyl

— horacio zeballos (@HoracioZeballos) January 4, 2017

Zeballos’ tweet roughly translates to say: “Ehh Sorry, I think I get the best selfie of the day hehehe. How great is Nole, genius!! I loved it!!”

Djokovic, who goes on to face Radek Stepanek in the quarter-finals in Doha, said he had never experienced being asked for a selfie by a player he had just defeated.

“I think today’s selfie is a nice example about how one person and a player can leave whatever behind. It was just [a] minute or two after we shook hands. He was already over his lost match and he moved onto doing something different.

“I applaud him for that. I think it was a really nice gesture.”

Time will tell if other players pick up this friendly gesture after their matches. So if he didn’t start a new trend, at least Zeballos got a nice souvenir.

Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik, competing against a Top 10 player for the first time in his career, knocked out top seed and 2009-2010 champion Marin Cilic 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-5 on Wednesday in the Aircel Chennai Open second round.

Kovalik, who finished at a year-end best No. 117 in the Emirates ATP Rankings last season, withstood 18 aces from Cilic and saved nine of 11 break points for victory in two hours and 48 minutes. He goes on to meet Tecnifibre-sponsored Daniil Medvedev, who defeated eighth seed Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4, 6-3 in 86 minutes.

Elsewhere, third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas swept past Steve Darcis 6-2, 6-0 in 64 minutes. He will next face Dudi Sela, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Hyeon Chung.

In doubles, fourth seeds Nicholas Monroe and Artem Sitak defeated Konstantin Kravchuk and Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(5), 6-3 to reach the last eight and home hopes Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan topped Marcelo Demoliner and Nikola Mektic 6-4, 6-4 for a quarter-final meeting with James Cerretani and Philipp Oswald.