Andrew Harris: Bernard Tomic sort sort of only wants to practice little bit

Australia’s Andrew Harris acknowledges that Bernard Tomic is not someone who loves to train for hours but Tennis Australia coach Mark Draper has been assigned to him so he still manages to practice full five hours a day.

All players arriving to the Australian Open were allowed to request a training partner for their quarantine period but Harris’ partner was on a board that had infected people so he was put in a strict quarantine. 

"I think the first time I hit with him (Tomic) was in Doha before quallies (qualifying)," Harris told The First Serve. "Bernie’s an interesting one, we got partnered together, I didn’t allocate him but because some of the planes got COVID, they had cases and had to lockdown, which put some of the cohorts in disarray with planned practice partners, because you got to nominate who you wanted for week one. 

"So I got partnered with Bernie. I wouldn’t say he’s the hardest worker, he sort of only wants to practice a little bit, but luckily I’ve been assigned Mark Draper, he’s a Tennis Australia coach. He coaches Dane Sweeny and Tristan Schoolkate, but because they’re in hard lockdown, he’s been able to come out and he’s been helping me and Bernie a bit on court, which has been lucky. So when Bernie doesn’t want to hit as much, I’ve been able to still hit with Mark, so lucky for Mark because otherwise I wouldn’t be hitting too many balls right now."

Harris was not on the board that had infected people 

A total of 72 players found themselves in a strict quarantine period upon arriving to Melbourne. 

Harris’ flight had no positive tests so he is allowed to leave his hotel room and practice for five hours a day.

“At the end of the five hours, you’re like ‘oh I’m actually ready to go back to the room surprisingly’. You’re tired after training, you’ve been out, got some fresh air, so that’s good. But I’ve also got a bike in my room, I’ve got everything I need here, there’s no complaints from me," Harris said.

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