5 things to look forward to from tennis in 2016

Although the 2015 year in tennis has been done and dusted, we're on the cusp of a brand new season which promises to see the big guns firing as the first Majors tournament of the year, the Australian Open, kicking off on the 18th of January.Here are 5 things to look forward to from the coming season:

#5 More Slams for Nadal?

Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest in the sport – there are no two ways about it. The King of Clay put in some decent performances in 2014, which is when he last won a Grand Slam.

The Spaniard started 2015 with some shockingly uncharacteristic performances, going down to some relatively unknown names, and several players ranked lower than himself. His performances appear to have picked up following the US Open, where he dropped a set against 44th-ranked Croat teen Borna Coric.

Although he would end up losing every one of the tournaments he played afterwards, Nadal did not look as listless and out of form as he did in the start of the year. Stretching Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to three sets at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, he made the finals of the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel, where he took on home favourite and longtime rival Roger Federer.

Although Federer eventually took the title, again, Nadal forced him to drop a set at the outset of the match. He also taxed French Open winner Stan Wawrinka at the year’s last Masters tournament, the BNP Paribas Open.

His uncle and longtime coach Toni Nadal expressed confidence in the 29-year-old’s ability; Nadal himself admitted earlier in the year that the ‘fear of failure’ had significantly affected his results.

Given Nadal’s iconic talent and that he has been able to identify his problem areas and is working on them, we could very well expect a renewed Rafa to hit the courts next year.