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They don't exactly come out and say they've missed being together again in the same draw, tormenting each other for the same titles and rankings and footholds in history. But that feeling comes through when you listen to what Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer say about starting the new year chasing Andy Murray, for a change, now that Murray is the last of the Big Four to have risen to No. 1 in the world.

The Big Four are all expected to be back together again finally for the first time in a year at the Australian Open (Jan.16-29). "It's up to us to reinvent ourselves, come up with a plan," Federer said at a news conference in Perth when discussing the new pecking order after he and Nadal fell off the tour with injuries.

If that doesn't happen for them or for Djokovic, it won't be for a lack of trying.

After a Jekyll-and-Hyde year, Djokovic retained longtime trainer Marian Vadja but parted ways with coach Boris Becker in November after a late-season slump -- this even though Becker presided over six of Djokovic's 12 career major titles in their three years together, including his first French Open win.

Djokovic hasn't replaced Becker just yet -- the early rumor being that he was considering sometime Davis Cup teammate Nenad Zimonjic. But he has taken some ribbing for hiring a mental coach named Pepe Imaz, who runs a tennis center in Marbella, Spain, and worked with Djokovic's younger brother Marko. Imaz talks in New Age terms about giving "absolute priority to the person's well-being, feelings and emotions" as well as helping players "regain that feeling of love both for tennis but more importantly for yourself." He uses meditation and believes in the power of lengthy hugs.

Given how Djokovic sobbed inconsolably after his loss at the Rio Olympics, and twice ripped the front of his shirts apart in frustration during matches later in the year, perhaps Imaz is just the person he needs. Becker has gone from tweaking Djokovic after their split for some slippage in Djokovic's work ethic to saying now that he fully expects Djokovic to win more Slams and return to No. 1.

Djokovic, now 29, insists that he feels rejuvenated.

"New year, new goals, new energy," he said in a recent Facebook post that included a photo of himself, his wife and his overhauled team.


Djokovic had reason to sort of crack a smile at the Qatar Open 2017: He beat Murray in the final for the title. AP Photo/Alexandra Panagiotidou
Unlike with Djokovic, not many folks outside Nadal's own camp are predicting a return to the top spot for Nadal.

The Spanish star has admitted he wasn't enjoying tennis much when wrist injuries sidelined him twice in 2016, starting with a withdrawal at his beloved French Open, where he has won nine times. He's still only 30, but with so many miles on his achy knees, and now a surgically repaired wrist to deal with atop that, Nadal is hoping he'll benefit from his decision to end his season in October. Rest has always been something Nadal has been loath to try. Yet he did it.

Another sign of just how times are changing -- and how seriously Nadal is seeking to reinvent himself -- was Nadal's decision in December to change up from his fierce loyalty to his longtime coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, and add countryman Carlos Moya to his coaching team after 40-year-old Moya split with Milos Raonic. Uncle Toni told reporters it was actually his idea to reach out to Moya when their fellow Majorcan came free because "the moment was right."

Moya didn't tiptoe in. His early diagnosis of his friend Nadal's inability to add to his 14 major titles since 2014 was frank: "In a tennis player's life," Moya told a Spanish TV interviewer, "there are matches that serve as a turning point, a match lost in the tiebreak of the last set, a match that you win and gives you a title. Rafa has lost some of them, and that confidence is necessary.

"I think Rafa can win majors again and be No. 1. And it's not that I think so, I'm sure. He is Rafa Nada