Who are Australiaâ€™s most popular athletes?

Surfer Sally Fitzgibbons. Source: News Corp Australia

THEY are the young guns of Australian sport - and are more popular than some of the country's great champions.

Tennis teenager Nick Kyrgios and F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo are more popular than Adam Scott, Sally Pearson, Patty Mills, Lleyton Hewitt and Sonny Bill Williams.

Surprising survey results supplied by Repucom, the only international index for celebrity evaluation, details the meteoric rise of Kyrgios and Ricciardo, who have taken the sporting world by storm.

Ricciardo, who took out last weekend's Belgian F1 Grand Prix and Kyrgios, the 19-year-old who plays in the third round of the US Open this morning, represent Australia's new wave of sporting talent.

According to new figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, only Socceroos captain Tim Cahill and Test cricket captain Michael Clarke are considered more popular than Kyrgios and 25-year-old Ricciardo.

Daniel Ricciardo. Picture: Dean Mouhtaropoulos, Getty Images Source: Getty Images

Nick Kyrgios. Picture: Al Bello, Getty Images Source: Getty Images

The sport survey rates footballer Tim Cahill has having influence and surfer Sally Fitzgibbon as the most trusted. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The sport survey results place golfer Adam Scott as the one sports person they aspire to be. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

Ian Thorpe is still our most overall recognisable Australian sports star. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The rankings are based on the most prominent Australian athletes gaining a score, or Database Index (DBI), with the results generated every quarter from 500 respondents nationally.

The DBI score is drawn from eight key categories including: Awareness, Appeal, Breakthrough, Trend-setter, Influence, Trust, Endorsement and Aspiration.

Kyrgios and Ricciardo sit among the top 5 Australian athletes in almost all eight categories.

Portrait of Australian captain Michael Clarke on the eve of his 100th Test match. Picture: Phil Hillyard Source: News Limited

Other results to emerge from the poll include:

* Surfer Sally Fitzgibbons, is the most popular female athlete for males between the age of 13-34.

* Ian Thorpe remains Australia's most recognisable sports person despite having retired from professional swimming in 2012.

* Controversial Tennis talent Bernard Tomic is the least trusted athlete in Australia, he's also the least marketable.

* NBA star Mills is the number one athlete Australian's would choose to endorse their product. Cahill sits second in this category.

Patty Mills of the San Antonio Spurs. Picture: Chris Covatta, Getty Images Source: Getty Images

Kyrgios has been inundated by sponsorship deals since announcing himself on the world stage earlier this year.

However, his management team have shrewdly avoided overexposing the teenager's profile, linking with only handful of sponsors, including most recently men's underwear brand, Bonds.

Repucom managing director Guy Port described the survey results as remarkable.

"When you look at their average awareness figures alone of about 65 per cent for two athletes that have really only come on the scene over the past six to 12 months, it's extraordinary,'' Port said.

"What's interesting to me when you talk about Ricciardo and Kyrgios in particular, when you start breaking up the different attributes, on appeal they're ranked number one and two.

"Even on the influence factor, they're ranked three and four.

"It promises to be a good career for those two from a commercial endorsement perspective if they continue their run on court and on the track.''

Tim Cahill at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil earlier this year. Picture: Paul Gilham, Getty Images Source: Getty Images

Sally Fitzgibbons. Source: Supplied

Currently ranked number two on the women's world tour of surfing, Fitzgibbons' promotion of the sport and her alcohol-free, healthy living lifestyle has clearly struck a chord with the Australian public who believe she is the most trustworthy athlete in the country.

With more than 106,000 followers on Twitter, Fitzgibbons is also proof that the ability of today's generation of young athlete's to interact, promote and converse with their fans is a powerful tool and marketer's dream.

"When you look at the availability of media and the coverage of sports, it allows a lot more exposure for local Australian public whether its via Fox Sports and other cable television or news which is driven by a lot of these guys' social media profile,'' Port said.

"Ten, 20 years ago Australian's plying their craft overseas didn't have the same mechanism to build their profile locally.

"People can follow these athletes around the world, in completely different time zones. It's a huge factor in what makes these guys popular.''