O’mara can’t wait to play doubles at Australian Open in front of fans
Jonny O'mara is coming to the end of his Melbourne quarantine with growing excitement for playing in front of crowds at the Australian Open.
The doubles specialist from Arbroath has only been allowed to leave his room for a few hours a day to practice since arriving Down Under.
The 25-year-old will be free from quarantine on Saturday and is relishing the prospect of performing in front of fans in the men's doubles at a time when many elite sporting events all over the world are being played behind closed doors.
"I absolutely can't wait," O'mara said ahead of the tournament which begins on February 8 at Melbourne Park.
"I was fortunate enough to play two tournaments in front of fans.
"One in Antwerp at the end of last year - I think they changed it and took the fans away on the Thursday or Friday but we got to play a match in front of a crowd.
"And Cameron Norrie and I played two matches in a tournament in Delray a couple of weeks ago and that was in front of a crowd as well.
"It feels even better than it did last time.
"A lot of athletes, and even myself as a fan, realise you took it for granted and even being able to play in front of even 100 fans got the juices flowing big time.
"I think the crowds will be social distanced and there are changes to a few things.
"If you have a ground pass, for instance, you can only be in certain zones – just to be able to track where people go.
"The Aussie Open isn’t really that busy, it doesn’t feel that busy. But it just has an unbelievable vibe to it.
"They call it the 'Happy Slam' because there’s so much noise, so many happy people. It makes you feel good, makes you want to play well.
"It’s going to be unbelievable playing in front of fans who are excited to be entertained. I’m 100 per cent more appreciative of that."
O'mara will have a new partner in Russian-born New Zealander Artem Sitak and will go into the tournament with confidence after reaching the quarter-finals with Marcelo Arevalo last year, when they were beatner en by Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek.
He said: "Definitely. Slams are the big ones, they are the four events that you want to watch.
"Especially seeing Andy (Murray), seeing Jamie (Murray), seeing them all doing so well in the slams, you definitely feel extra pressure when you rock up to the slams.
"It was huge for me. I had a good US Open with my partat the time and we have had a couple of good wins which gave us the belief that maybe we can do something in the slams.
"And then yes, getting to the quarters was the, 'Yeah, we are at this level' and we are actually disappointed to not do more in the quarterfinals.
"It gave good belief to know that is the level you are at and you can keep playing with the big boys."