The awards are usually given to one man and one woman, but the ITWA’s 120 members voted overwhelmingly in favour of making the men’s award a joint presentation to Federer and Nadal in Melbourne. The winner of the women’s award will be announced next week.

The ITWA represents the world’s leading tennis journalists. Its awards recognise a combination of achievements on the court, conduct that shows tennis in the best possible light and co-operation with the media.

Both Nadalvand Federer have won Ambassador of the Year honours in the past as individuals, but this is the first time they have been given the award jointly.

The Spaniard and the Swiss each enjoyed a plethora of success in 2017, sharing the year’s four Grand Slam titles and ending the season as the No. 1 (Nadal) and No. 2 (Federer) players in the ATP Rankings.

Paul Newman, the ITWA’s co-President, said: “Besides their achievements in terms of trophies, both Roger and Rafa were once again great ambassadors for their sport in the way that they conducted themselves on and off the court.

“They both understand that a good relationship with the media helps everyone and we are always grateful for the time they give to their media commitments.”

The players were presented with their awards before play begins at the season’s first Grand Slam on Monday.

If there’s anything Grigor Dimitrov learned in 2017, it’s how to rebound from big losses. 

It was the semi-finals of the Australian Open, the season’s first Grand Slam. The opponent was Rafael Nadal, a marquee name on the ATP World Tour with more Grand Slam titles than he had fingers to count them. He won the event in 2009. He was a former World No.1 in the ATP Rankings. 

Dimitrov? He was ranked lower, had far less experience, and an unfavourable record in their FedEx ATP Head2Head. In a tight five-set, nearly five-hour decision that would end up being one of the best matches of the year, he lost the match.

But Dimitrov’s 2017 season would end up being his best yet. After sweeping through the field to claim the title at his home tournament in Sofia, the Bulgarian would end up claiming his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati, eventually punctuating an already stellar season with the trophy at the prestigious season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. 

All of that began with a loss.

“Right after I finished the match, I watched it the following day,” said Dimitrov of his epic Melbourne encounter with Nadal. “Almost the whole thing. I was so inadequate; I was just out. I was thinking, ‘how did I lose that match?’” 

But after giving himself time to reflect on the match, his perspective changed. “I saw on the break points, for example, I couldn’t have done anything else. I played the right shot, the right thing. But he came through with his game. That was it.

“I’ve learned so much from that match. There’s so many bittersweet memories from it, [it] kind of set up a great year for me. I think I really, really learned a lot from it. After I came back to Europe, played good indoors, had kind of a good start of the year.”

Dimitrov hopes that 2018 will be yet another season in which he can hit the milestones that he has long expected of himself, but insists that he doesn’t want to change too much in the season ahead. With tennis careers becoming more like marathons than sprints, the 26-year-old Bulgarian aims to stick to his guns.

“Obviously I’ve achieved certain things that I’ve always wanted to. I always wanted to be a top-five player. I did it. Obviously I wanted to win a Masters 1000 event, and I did it,” said this year’s third seed at the Australian Open. “So as a player, you like to set yourself goals. That also helps you get up in the morning and make sure you work towards that.

“But, again, I just don’t feel like I want to do anything different or change things up because that’s what I’ve been doing pretty much all my life,” he added. “That’s all the buildup that I have till now. That’s why the results are coming.”

Dimitrov kicks of his Australian Open against a qualifier, with Andrey Rublev, the No. 30 seed, looming in the third round. Dimitrov was upset by the #NextGenATP Russian at the US Open last season—and only time will tell if he learned from that match.

For Nick Kyrgios, the new ATP World Tour campaign means a fresh start, a chance to knuckle down and for fans to buckle up – just expect a tamer rollercoaster compared to previous seasons.

Kyrgios warns there will be peaks, minus the same intense levels of drama.

“I think, last year, there were periods where I was really good and really bad,” Kyrgios said. “But at the end of the day, I just need to know it’s a long year. I can’t expend too much energy on other things. I want to ride the highs, not as high as I usually do. If I lose a match, at the end of the day, it’s a tennis match. I want to keep it even-keeled throughout the whole year, rather than it being such a rollercoaster ride.”

If the early results are any indication, Kyrgios’ reworked mindset and renewed focus are already producing positive results. Kyrgios defeated Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-2 in the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp final to clinch his first ATP World Tour title in his home country of Australia and his fourth tour-level trophy overall. The talented right-hander became just the second Australian to lift the trophy in the tournament’s 10-year history after former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, who accomplished the feat in 2014. 

Kyrgios showed heart and poise throughout the event, battling back from a set down in both the quarter-finals against Alexandr Dolgopolov and the semi-finals against 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov before defeating Harrison for the hardware.

For Kyrgios, familiarity might be one way to summon consistency. And he feels most at home on the No. 2 court at Melbourne Park compared to Rod Laver Arena. The facility’s centre court seats 14,820, 4,000 more than the more intimate Hisense Arena.

“Hisense [Arena] is my favorite court here (at the Australian Open),” Kyrgios said. “I’ve been hitting on Rod Laver [Arena] the last couple of days, just to get out there without the crowd watching. It’s been a bit [of a] different feel. But I definitely feel more confident on that court now.”

When asked why he feels more in his element on the No. 2 court, Kyrgios’ response was simple: past success in Hisense Arena brings back positive emotions and inspiration.

“I guess just the memories,” Kyrgios said. “I played a lot of matches and won a lot of matches on that court. Obviously that match in the fourth round against (Andreas) Seppi when I made it to the quarter-finals (in 2015)… ever since then, I’ve tried to make that memory happen again. I definitely feel comfortable in Hisense Arena.”

Whether in Hisense Arena, Rod Laver Arena or otherwise, one thing’s for sure — fans can expect a more composed Kyrgios, who is tempering his expectations heading into the Australian Open.

 “I’d like to do well. I’m not going to say quarter-finals, semi-finals, anything like that. I just want to take it one round at a time,” Kyrgios said. “Everyone started the year hungry. They can play great quality tennis. I don’t want to look ahead at all; I want to take care of business one round at a time.”

What a difference a year makes.

In 2017, Roger Federer entered the Australian Open as the 17th seed thanks to a six-month layoff due to injury. Even to the Swiss, a championship run seemed unlikely. But after winning seven matches — including four against players inside the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings — Federer had done the seemingly impossible, claiming his 18th Grand Slam title despite not competing since Wimbledon.

This time around, there will be no surprises. After a 19th major title at Wimbledon, three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 triumphs (Indian Wells, Miami, Shanghai) and seven overall trophies on the year, Federer is arguably the favourite as the ATP World Tour’s best get set to battle it out in Melbourne Park.

It does not hurt that Federer has built confidence from thriving under the utmost pressure in 2017, leading the ATP World Tour with a 13-3 (81.6 per cent) record in deciding sets. Only three players came within 10 per cent of Federer in the category — Novak Djokovic (80 per cent), David Goffin (78.6 per cent) and Stan Wawrinka (75 per cent).

There is even a slight chance that Federer could re-take the No. 1 ranking for the first time since 22 October 2012 — he’d have to retain the Australian Open title, with Nadal failing to advance to the quarter-finals. Will the 36-year-old continue his magical run of form to a 20th major trophy?

Here are three reasons why he may do just that:

1) Momentum, Momentum, Momentum

The statistics speak for themselves. Nobody won a higher ratio of matches in 2017 than Federer, who compiled a tremendous 52-5 (91. 2 per cent) record despite not playing in the six months prior to the campaign.

While three players — Rafael Nadal (67-11), David Goffin (59-24) and Alexander Zverev (55-22) — won more matches than him, they all lost significantly more, too. And additionally, Federer led the ATP World Tour with a 40-4 record on hard courts, which the Australian Open is contested on. The Swiss (90 per cent) was the only player to win more than 82 per cent of his matches on the surface.

Furthermore, Federer will take confidence knowing that he had success early in the season last year, winning 2017’s first three ‘Big Titles’ (Grand Slams and ATP World Tour Masters 1000s) in Melbourne, Indian Wells and Miami.

Now, it is important to keep in mind that Federer did skip the clay court season, so he played far fewer matches than his rivals. Would he have enjoyed as much success on the quicker surfaces throughout the year if he used time and energy to take on the red dirt? Federer still had enough in the tank for a strong close to the campaign.

While he suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of David Goffin in the semi-finals of the Nitto ATP Finals, the end of the season was still impressive for Federer, who triumphed at the Shanghai Rolex Masters and the Swiss Indoors Basel.

2) Favourable Early Draw

Sure, there are plenty of dangerous opponents lurking in Federer’s half of the draw. The 36-year-old could face seventh seed David Goffin or the red-hot Juan Martin del Potro in the quarter-finals. If Federer advances to the semi-finals, a daunting quartet of possible competitors awaits — fourth seed Alexander Zverev, fifth seed Dominic Thiem, 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka and six-time winner Novak Djokovic.

But, with that being said, Federer needs to win one match at a time. And his path to the quarter-finals is a favourable one. In fact, his combined record against all possible opponents through the Round of 16 is 48-5. He has lost against only two of the 15 players — No. 22 Milos Raonic (10-3 FedEx ATP Head2Head) and No. 29 Richard Gasquet (16-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head). The top seed he could face before the quarter-finals is No. 13 Sam Querrey, against whom he holds a 3-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead, which includes an 8-0 advantage in sets. None of their sets have been closer than 6-4.

And, don’t forget, Federer did beat four Top 10 players en route to his title in Melbourne last year. This road just appears slightly simpler — the benefits of being World No. 2 rather than the 17th seed. View Draw

3) Turning Around A Lopsided Rivalry

In 2017, Federer punctuated his dream run in Melbourne with a stunning comeback against Rafael Nadal, winning the final five games of a five-set thriller to claim his first Grand Slam title since 2012 Wimbledon.

But before that encounter, Federer had lost five of his past six matches against Nadal, as well as their previous six Grand Slam battles. In 2017, however, the Swiss turned the tide and won all four meetings, narrowing their FedExATP Head2Head to 23-15 in favour of the Spaniard.

While Nadal still has an eight-match lead in their rivalry, it is tough to ignore the fact that Federer has won their past seven sets, with all of them coming on hard court.

“I just think I’m not so scarred like maybe I have been in the past, not that I was horribly scarred in any way, but I did lose against him sometimes, a lot of the times especially on the clay courts,” Federer said after beating Nadal for the title in Shanghai last October. “I think I have also played him well. Clearly avoiding him — not playing him on clay has helped. So I’m able to stay on the hard courts or on faster courts against him, but I have been playing very well when I have faced off against him.”

Both players need to win six matches to have a chance of facing off in their 10th Grand Slam final (Nadal leads 6-3), but that momentum shift in their rivalry may certainly play a role if they do meet again.

Federer’s Potential Path To The Australian Open Title

At 31 years old with 75 tour-level titles and 162 weeks atop the ATP Rankings, one would think there wouldn’t be any more firsts for Rafael Nadal.

Think again. 

The Spaniard arrives at the Australian Open this year with the hopes of going one step further than the dramatic five-set final he played against longtime rival Roger Federer last year, which catalysed a year of unexpected success for the both of them. He aims to become one of just three players after Roy Emerson and Rod Laver to win each of the Grand Slams twice, furthering his already remarkable legacy in the sport. But this year, things are a little different.

“It’s the first time I am here without playing [an] official match in my career. It’s is a new situation for me,” said Nadal, who didn’t play an event prior to the season’s first Grand Slam.

“We decided to start later because we needed some more practice, start slow, to be fresher, little bit more fresh mentally and physically, and do things the right way. That’s what we tried to do.”

Nadal’s exceptional 2017 season, in which he posted a 67-11 win-loss record and claimed six titles to reclaim the No.1 ranking, ended with a Nitto ATP Finals defeat to an inspired David Goffin at the round-robin stage. Although 2018 is the first year he hasn’t played before arriving in Melbourne, Nadal took the opportunity to set up a high-intensity practice match on Margaret Court Arena with Dominic Thiem.

“We decided to play another match. Talking with the Australian Open, yeah, they give us the chance to play like an open practice but closer to the match for the crowd,” said the Spaniard.

“I have a good relationship with Dominic. I spoke to him about that. He was very happy to make that happen, too. We did it. It was a good practice, good feelings for both of us I think. The job was done the right way.” 

Another first for Nadal, who is seeded first at this year’s event, is that he arrives Down Under without his uncle Toni Nadal as his official coach.

“It’s my first tournament that he is not my official coach. But I played plenty of tournaments in my career without Toni,” said Nadal.

“[It] is a change in my career, but let’s wait a little bit… [to see] if I feel strange in a few months, but now is just the beginning,” he added. “I feel happy with my team. Toni gave me a lot during all my career, as I said thousands of times. I don’t think it’s necessary to repeat again and again. Without Toni, I probably won’t be here today. That’s the real thing. I can’t thank him enough for everything. 

“I’m happy with the way that I am working with Carlos [Moya], with Francis [Roig], with the rest of my team. Let’s keep working hard to try to have a good year.”

How does it feel to be standing with your first ATP World Tour trophy?
It’s an amazing feeling; (tennis players) work all their lives to get (a title), and I’m one of the lucky ones who got one. I’m not going to stop, I’m going to continue to work toward getting more titles.

Could you believe at 21 you are already a winner on the ATP World Tour? Was this a goal of yours, growing up to win an ATP title?
It’s very tough to say because growing up, I never thought I’d be a professional player in the Top 100. I went about it step-by-step, I never made any one big step. I was going through the Futures, the Challengers… last year I played a lot of ATP World Tour tournaments and one final (Chennai) and now, finally, I’m getting my first ATP trophy. It would have been tough to imagine that, even two years ago.

You, (Karen) Khachanov and (Andrey) Rublev are three of the top young Russians on the ATP World Tour and last season all broke into the Top 50. Talk about the success of Russian tennis and the future.
It’s amazing because I’m the last of the three to win an ATP World Tour title and I’m very happy to have caught them. All our lives, we’ve been playing tennis, all our lives we’ve been competing against each other. Of course, there were other (Russian players) before us but it’s just the three of us right now. The competition between us makes us better. It makes me happy when they do well and of course I hope they’re happy when I do well. It’s amazing and we’re going to do big things later, I think.

You have had a lot of support in your young career. Who are the people that have allowed you to get this level and you would like to acknowledge?
I want to thank all my coaches, who I’ve been working with throughout my life. There weren’t a lot of them, but they made a big impact. My first coach, a woman named Ekaterina Kryuchkova… the most important people in my career, my parents, Sergey and Olga, because they were always trying to find the money to support my tennis, even when at times it was amazingly hard. They were with me from the beginning, always believing in me, never saying bad things to me when I lost and that’s just amazing. I want to thank the tennis centre where I’m working now, the Elite Tennis Centre in Cannes and the head coach, Jean-Rene Lisnard. Right now, I’m working full-time with my coach Gilles Cervara. We were working together before but we started working full-time just this year and we already have a title, so that’s just amazing. I also want to thank my girlfriend Daria, who has a big impact on me.

What are your interests off the court and away from tennis?
My biggest hobby, it’s something I don’t exactly care to admit… it’s PlayStation (video games). I spend all my free time on it, so it’s my biggest hobby.

Watch Incredible Hot Shot: Medvedev Breaks Through De Minaur’s Defences

How was it playing in front of a crowd cheering so loudly for the home favourite Alex de Minaur?
It’s very tough, of course, but the thing is, I think it works both ways. If the crowd goes really crazy, sometimes it can get both players going. Even if the cheering is against you, you don’t hear they’re against you, you just feel the energy, so it can pump you up as well. But I’m sure he wouldn’t have made that comeback in the third set without the crowd. It was tough, but I’m really happy to have managed this. It’s a good lesson ahead of the Australian Open, where I play Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round.

It seems like this is a really big breakthrough week for both you and for de Minaur.
Yeah, Alex, he’s just an amazing player. I remember I practised with him two or three years ago, in the club where I practise in France, and we played a tie-break where the loser had to clean the court. I was the only one serving and he was 15 years old at the time. He beat me and I said to my coach, “Wow; he’s really good”. And now I just played him in the final of an ATP World Tour tournament. At 18, his age, I was playing Futures. If he continues this way, he’s going to be an amazing player.

Watch Trophy Ceremony: Medvedev Receives Trophy, Praises De Minaur