Andrey Rublev picks Dominic Thiem as Melbourne training partner

World no. 8 Andrey Rublev is currently training at home in Moscow ahead of the Melbourne trip and a two-week quarantine, where he will train with Dominic Thiem.

The Russian experienced a breakthrough run in 2020, played injury-free and showed his full potential. Andrey won the Tour-leading five ATP titles and grabbed 41 wins, earning enough points to find himself in the year-end top-10 and at his first ATP Finals. Rublev defeated Thiem in the last round-robin match, earned his third victory over the Austrian from five encounters.

The Moscow native is looking forward to practicing with Dominic in the upcoming weeks, praising his friend and calling their training runs exciting and full of intensity. In 2020, Rublev lost his first match of the season at the Australian Open against Alexander Zverev, while Thiem almost went all the way, leading two sets to one against Novak Djokovic before falling in five sets.

"Dominic Thiem is one of the players that I like to train with the most. We have training sessions at an incredible level and with high intensity. If spectators were allowed to watch training sessions as before, they'd like them a lot.

We have high speed; the ball is in play for a long time; we relish how everything turns out. I am certain that it would be great to watch such a training session. Dominic is also a very good guy, friendly and kind," Andrey Rublev said.