In 2015, the ATP’s next generation of stars made their move, with a slew of players aged 20 & younger cementing themselves in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

There was one riddle, however, that they struggled to solve: World No. 2 Andy Murray. The Scot prevailed in five of six encounters against the 20-under field last year, notching a trio of wins over Nick Kyrgios and beating teenagers Borna Coric and Thanasi Kokkinakis. With another teen, Alexander Zverev, standing in his path in the first round of the Australian Open, Murray is aware of the challenge in front of him.

“It will be a tough match,” Murray said at Melbourne Park on Saturday. “I know him reasonably well. I practised with him for the first time a couple years ago. I’ve seen him play a few matches since then. Obviously getting to play him a couple of weeks ago [at the Hopman Cup] was good. I also practised with him a couple of times during the week in Perth.

“He’s a big guy obviously for his age. Of the young guys coming through, by far the tallest of them, which has obvious benefits. At the age he’s at just now can cause a few issues, as well, until you kind of fill out into your physique. But he’s got a very good game. He serves well. For a big guy, moves pretty well too. He’s obviously improving all the time. He finished last year well.”

A four-time finalist at the first Grand Slam of the year, Murray finished runner-up to Roger Federer in 2010 and to Novak Djokovic in 2011, ’13 and ’15. Sitting one match win shy of No. 40 in 10 trips to Melbourne Park, the 28 year old is eyeing another deep run, but says family comes first. He and his wife Kim are expecting their first child.

“Most days I think about that. Just now it’s a big change coming. It’s very, very exciting. I’m sure everyone that’s had their first child would have thought the same thing with just a few weeks to go. Again, I’ve never been in this position, so it’s something new for me to deal with and handle, which is good. New experiences are always good and something to learn from.”

Murray admits that his off-season training was different than usual, following an extended 2015 campaign that included the Davis Cup Final. Despite not training in his usual base in Miami, the World No. 2 is ready to go.

“It has been different, that’s for sure. I’ve never finished the season this late. So I had to make some changes to what I did in December. I didn’t go over to Miami, which is the first time in a long time. I went over to Dubai and then came over here earlier than I had ever done before. So I made some changes. I feel prepared, but it’s just been different preparation than what I’m used to.”

Seeded second, Murray will open his Australian Open bid on Tuesday. A potential second round meeting against Adrian Mannarino or Sam Groth is in the cards, with David Ferrer and John Isner the other Top 10 seeds in his quarter of the draw.

The last time Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco met at the Australian Open, in 2009, the two Spanish lefties left it all on the court. The underdog Verdasco struck 95 winners, but Nadal battled for five hours and 14 minutes before securing an epic 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4 semi-final victory. Less than 48 hours later, Nadal would defeat Roger Federer for his lone Australian Open title to date.

“Obviously that match gave me the chance to win the only Australian Open that I have won,” Nadal said. “It was an unforgettable memory for me. I think the level of tennis was fantastic. There were some spectacular points. Many people always ask me about that match. It was a tough one, but a great experience.”

If Nadal hopes to double his Aussie Open title haul in 2016, he would be best served to conserve his energy this time around. The 29 year old is set to face Verdasco for the 17^th time overall in the first round.

“It will be a very tough first round,” noted Nadal, who respects the Madrid native’s power game despite leading 14-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. “It’s not a lucky first round for me, but not for him either. It’ll be a tough match. I need to be ready to play very good tennis if I want to go through.”

The Mallorcan has good reasons to be alert. He has lost five of his last six hard court matches played against lefties, dating back to 2014. Verdasco stopped him 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in Miami last spring in a slugfest lasting over two hours, while Feliciano Lopez, Michael Berrer and Martin Klizan have also beaten him in that span.

“I have played a lot against lefties, so we’ll see,” noted Nadal, who has carved out an excellent 76-12 record against southpaws at tour-level events. “Here it’s not about playing against a lefty, it’s more about playing against a player who has a huge potential, and is able to reach a great level of tennis. If you are not playing your best, it’s very, very dangerous match.”

As a new chapter is written at the Australian Open, all eyes will be on the proud nation’s native son Lleyton Hewitt when the tournament commences on Monday. With the former World No. 1 taking his final bow, big shoes remain to be filled as the Aussie standard bearer. One of Hewitt’s young pupils, Nick Kyrgios, is eager to assume that mantle.

Last year, the 20-year-old Canberra native became the first Australian man to reach the quarter-finals in a decade, since Hewitt himself did it in 2005. Kyrgios is hoping history repeats itself.

“It’s such a sad time, because one of the greatest competitors of all time is leaving our sport,” Kyrgios told the assembled media at Melbourne Park on Saturday.

“Last year I had a really good run. I just remember it being a roller-coaster couple of weeks. When I lost against Andy [Murray], it almost felt like I was exhausted – mentally and physically drained. Coming back this year, I feel like I’ve grown and physically made a lot of improvements. I feel as if I’m ready for whatever comes.

“I feel as if I’m more relaxed this year. I’ve got a lot more confidence in my game. I feel a lot more comfortable playing in front of the crowd this year. I’m definitely playing a lot better.”

As the spotlight shifts from Hewitt to the crop of young guns, Kyrgios is well aware of the expectations that await him, but the World No. 30 is ready to embrace his new role.

“There’s definitely a little bit more expectation. The crowd expects any Aussie to play their best tennis here. That’s fair enough. I think every Aussie should step up here and try their absolute hardest to bring the best out of themselves.”

Kyrgios opens his campaign against another young gun, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta. The World No. 67 is bidding to claim his first match win in his third trip to the Australian Open. “I played him last year in Portugal,” Kyrgios reflected on his semi-final clash in Estoril. “I won in a tight three-set battle. He’s more than capable of producing some really good tennis. He’s had a couple really good wins in Kooyong.

“I know he’s going to come out there and compete for every point. He’s a great competitor. I know what kind of style of tennis I need to play to win. It’s going to be a very exciting match.”

No. 29 seed Kyrgios and Carreno Busta will battle on Monday, with the match slated for not before 7:00pm on Hisense Arena. The winner will face either Yoshihito Nishioka or Pablo Cuevas in the second round, with sixth seed Tomas Berdych potentially looming large in the third round.

Kei Nishikori has plenty of reasons to love Melbourne. The top Japanese man has made the second week of the tournament every year since 2012 and advanced to the quarter-finals last year (l. to Wawrinka). Despite being thousands of miles from his hometown, the World No. 7 has drawn confidence from the sight of familiar faces in the crowd.

“I feel like I have a lot of support [in Melbourne],” Nishikori, who is 16-6 in the year’s first major tournament, said. “I feel like lots of Asians and even Japanese come to watch. So I feel very comfortable playing here. I hope I can win this tournament sometime.”

Nishikori’s ability to hit the ground running on the sun-baked hard courts of Melbourne could be an inborn quality, but it may also be attributed to the difficult route he took as a teenager. At age 14, Nishikori left the quiet, picturesque town of Shimane to train year-round at the IMG Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

“I think it’s important to come to the U.S. when I was younger,” Nishikori noted. “When you are young, you pick things up really fast. I got used to staying outside of Japan. It’s really important to learn English and to have good communication with everybody. I think it’s very important.

“It was really tough, especially the first couple of years,” Nishikori added. “I couldn’t communicate with anybody, even on the court. They were doing some drills and I couldn’t understand anything. I had some tough times. But after two, three years I got little bit more confidence to speak English. The culture is really different between Japan and the U.S.”

Nishikori made short work of that cultural hurdle, winning his first ATP World Tour title in Delray Beach in 2008. Overall, he has claimed 10 titles in four different countries (USA, Japan, Spain and Malaysia).

The World No. 7’s next challenge will be facing German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round of the Australian Open. Kohlschreiber, No. 34 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, narrowly missed out on being one of the tournament’s 32 seeds.

“It’s not going to be an easy first match,” Nishikori, who has never faced Kohlschreiber at tour-level, said. “He’s been playing a lot and he has a lot of experience. I’m not sure why he’s not seeded. I’ve been playing well, but it’s going to be an exciting first match.”

Twenty years ago, Lleyton Hewitt was about to make his name as the youngest ever qualifier in Australian Open history, aged 15 years and 11 months. Two Grand Slam titles and 80 weeks at World No. 1 later, he is now just 48 hours away from embarking on his final Melbourne campaign and a fond farewell to professional tennis, before stepping into the role of Davis Cup captaincy.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know how it feels,” admitted Hewitt to the assembled media at Melbourne Park on Saturday. “It’s a tad strange feeling, but I’m trying to soak it up as much as possible.

“I guess it’s different in the fact that if you do go out then, yes, it is the end. But you’ve got to try to block that out as much as possible. You could go through all the same emotions again two days later, as well. That’s going to be the tough part to deal with.

“I’ve tried to enjoy it as much as possible. A couple days out from a slam, you’re always a bit on edge, a bit nervous. I think that’s the same for every player. Doesn’t matter how many times you’ve done it, if it’s your first or possibly your last slam.”

As fate would have it, for just the second time in his 20 successive appearances at the Australian Open, Hewitt will face a fellow Aussie. The one other occasion came in the 2003 second round against Todd Larkham. Larkham got just two games. World No. 134 James Duckworth will be Hewitt’s opponent on Tuesday as he graces Rod Laver Arena for possibly the last time.

The 23-year-old Duckworth is someone Hewitt has mentored closely of late. Will all that advice come back to bite him? “We’ll see how good a student he is!” said the Adelaide native. “These guys, I speak to them all the time. Ducks was text messaging me yesterday morning before the draw was out.

“So, obviously I think both of us will look back on it. No matter what happens, it will be a satisfying enjoyment of going out there and playing against him. It’s his only opportunity to play against me obviously on a big court as well. I think later on in our careers, his career, mine once I’ve retired, it’s something that we’ll enjoy.

“It was always bound to happen, wasn’t it? Especially now that I’ve got a second hat on, a full-time job as Davis Cup captain. It’s awkward, but in another way it’s fun to go out there with Ducks. I’ve been helping him the past few years. He’s been part of the Davis Cup squad on a number of occasions. He’s a great kid. I think he’s going to push on the next couple years and get a lot better.”

Melbourne Park is a vault of memories for Hewitt, some momentous – his 2005 semi-final win over Andy Roddick – and others that he may sooner forget. His extensive injury catalogue has never forced him to miss a trip to the Australian Open. Indeed, every spell on the sidelines only served as further motivation to extend his career and keep savouring the challenge of the ATP World Tour. As they say, you’re a long time retired.

“When you’re away from the game and you miss the hard training, doing all the preparation, it all depended on how motivated you were. If I wasn’t motivated to still go on and push myself, go on and do gym sessions by myself, hop on the practice court, I still wouldn’t be playing.

“That’s what’s pushed me the past few years. I don’t struggle for self-motivation, to get up early and do the hard work that no one sees. There’s no crowds or cameras around there. It’s just you in the gym or on the practice court. That’s one of the things I will miss, not having to go out there and push yourself day in and day out.”

One thing is for certain, whenever the final bow comes for Hewitt, he will have left everything on the court.

#OneLastTime

As word began to circulate that after 17 years Lleyton Hewitt would be making his last rounds on the ATP World Tour, the accolades, the appreciation began to roll in for the former No. 1 and two-time Slam champ, whose fiery disposition, “C’MON!” rally cries and backward-facing ballcap silhouette have long been iconic additions to the game.

“He will be remembered as being just a fantastic competitor,” observed Andy Murray. “He hated to lose.”

“He sets the benchmark for all Australian players with how he fights,” asserted on-the-rise countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis.

“His attitude and competitiveness, I think, is second to none,” added Nick Kyrgios, another up-and-coming Aussie whom Hewitt has mentored.

But it was praise from perhaps his chief rival, a player who tuned pro the same year he did, in 1998, that hit home the most.

“He did things that no other player’s ever achieved,” said Roger Federer.

Though Hewitt would win seven of their first nine FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, Federer would eventually assume control of the rivalry — at one point winning 15 straight — and today owns an 18-9 advantage.

On the eve of what will be Hewitt’s final tournament, Federer reflected on the rivalry and the friendship that ensued. Said the four-time Australian Open titlist, before his rivalry match-ups with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic grew into double digits, Hewitt and American Andy Roddick were his biggest threats.

“It was different with Lleyton,” said Federer on Saturday in Melbourne. “I had to turn around the series because he got the better of me many times in the beginning, whereas with Andy I started on the better side and kept that up throughout. But I really enjoyed playing them. Also [Juan Carlos] Ferrero and [Marat] Safin. But Lleyton was something special. No doubt about it. Lleyton made me figure out my game and made me definitely a better player, as well.”

They met just once in a Grand Slam final, with Federer raising the trophy at the 2004 US Open.

“I played him the first time when we were maybe 15 in Zurich at the World Youth Cup,” Federer recalled. “We were supposed to play the juniors [in Melbourne], the doubles together, in ’98. He won Adelaide — that was the difference. He got a wild card in singles, doubles and mixed here in the pros. I played the juniors, lost in the semis in the singles and the doubles. We were supposed to play here in the juniors. He dumped me! He was a big shot after winning Adelaide!”

“We actually played some doubles in Wimbledon as well, which was good fun,” Federer continued. “We always got along well. It was sometimes feisty on the court, but it was always respectful. I always admired his work ethic, his on-court fighting spirit, even though it annoyed me sometimes because in the beginning it was more crazy than now.”

ATPWorldTour.com looks ahead at the Melbourne fortnight:

1. CAN ANYONE STOP NOVAK?

Novak Djokovic is coming off one of the best seasons the sport has ever witnessed, a dominant 82-6 campaign that saw him claim three of four majors, a record six ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, win a record fourth straight title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and finish at No. 1 in the year-end Emirates ATP Rankings for the fourth time in the past five years. After a heavy defeat to his longtime rival in Doha to open 2016, Rafael Nadal said he had never seen anyone play at that level, and that goes for the Spaniard’s storied match-ups with Roger Federer.

Djokovic himself asserted that it was as if the ball was as big as a watermelon; that the 6-1, 6-2 win over Rafa was “as close to perfection as it can get.” But the World No. 1 isn’t quite ready to claim he’s superhuman. “Nobody is invincible,” he said. “But I’m playing the tennis of my life, and I will try to nurture and cherish these moments on the court.” He’s the runaway favourite and for good reason. The Serb is now tied with Hall of Famer Bill Tilden on the all-time honour roll with 10 Grand Slam titles and Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver (11) are in his sights. Anyone doubt he can get there?

2. CAN FOUR-TIME FINALIST ANDY MURRAY TAKE THE NEXT STEP?

Four trips to the Aussie Open final in the last six years and a runner-up finish on each occasion. Had it not been for a couple of guys named Djokovic and Federer, we might be looking at Andy Murray’s career in a different light. But the 28 year old, who rose to a career-high year-end No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2015, clearly enjoys the hard courts of Melbourne Park, where he traditionally plays some of his most inspired ball. The question is, will the one man ranked above him ever bend on a stage upon which he’s grown accustomed to raising the trophy? He says he’ll hop a flight back to the U.K. if his expectant wife, Kim, should go into labour. Will the imminent birth of the couple’s first child prove a distraction? Stay tuned.

3. HOW WILL IT ALL END FOR LLEYTON?

Lleyton Hewitt’s days as a Top-5 force are long behind him. In fact, the 34-year-old former No. 1 hasn’t ventured beyond the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam in seven years. So a feel-good second-week run from the still-fiery Aussie veteran would be a big ask. But that doesn’t mean the final outing of Hewitt’s 17-year pro career isn’t must-see TV. Where better to bid farewell to one of the sport’s most dogged competitors than in front of his home fans at the Australian Open? And as the luck of the draw would have it, the two-time Slam champ will open against countryman James Duckworth. Just try to find an open seat for that one.          

4. WHAT TO MAKE OF RAFA?

He comes in as the No. 5 seed after an admittedly off year, surrounded by question marks. Yet Rafael Nadal sounds as confident as he’s been in months. He went at it hard in the off-season, ramping up his return game, cranking up his second serve and stepping into the court more. Most importantly, he says, he is finding joy on the court again after a year that saw him come up empty at the majors for the first time in more than a decade. There are those who aren’t buying the baseliner’s bravado; who believe the Mallorcan’s best years are behind him. But didn’t we learn anything from 2013, when he returned from a seven-month injury layoff to win 10 titles and reach a career-high 14 finals, becoming the first player to retake No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after a three-year absence?

5. DOES BRIAN BAKER HAVE ANOTHER COMEBACK IN HIM?

Brian Baker is no stranger to comebacks. He’s made more than a few during his days on the ATP World Tour. Now 30, the one-time teen phenom probably feels like he’s clocked more hours under the knife than on the court. During one five-year stretch he underwent no less than five surgeries (left hip, right hip, sports hernia, elbow reconstruction).  Now he’s poised to make another comeback attempt after knee surgery. Using his protected ranking, the American gained main-draw entry in Melbourne and will open against Italy’s Simone Bolelli. His is a feel-good story, a tale of the every-man athlete who while chasing his dream just can’t catch a — pardon the pun — break. It would take a miracle for Baker to escape a quadrant of the draw that includes Top-10 regulars Murray and David Ferrer, but for a guy who hasn’t played a Grand Slam match since the 2013 US Open, merely re-taking the court should be victory in itself.