John Millman: There's a lot of Australians hurting and that's the bigger picture

Australia's John Millman says he wants to keep the sport of tennis in perspective due to the current bushfire crisis affecting Australia, according to 7news.

With Alex de Minaur's withdrawal, Millman is the second highest ranked Australian in the draw and says, "Really, it's just a game of tennis. I'm being pretty holistic about the whole summer of tennis. There's a lot bigger things happening in Australia than the Australian Open and my health and safety. There's a lot of Australians hurting and that's the bigger picture, not whether I can breathe on court or not."

Millman warmed up for his home Grand Slam by playing the ATP event in Auckland rather than the ATP events in Australia. "I thought the conditions in Auckland would suit me a bit better. In Adelaide it's flying a fair bit with the drier conditions. I thought I had a better chance to get some matches going into the Aussie Open and decided to go down the New Zealand route. They've done a good job here and I'm really impressed ... there's a lot of support with sponsors and spectators. It's been a good change-up."

He meets Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the first round of the Australian Open. "There are a lot of positives to take away after the week. I'm playing some pretty decent tennis. I'm confident with where my game's at and have a good grasp of where I'm at heading into the Aussie Open and that's what you want. You want to get a few runs on the board and I've done that."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2ukV8yc