MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/. Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev believes Austria’s Dominic Thiem to be one of the best sparring partners, they will train together ahead of the upcoming Australian Open, Rublev himself told TASS.

The 2021 Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the tennis season, is scheduled to be held between February 8 and 21. Earlier, the Russian told TASS that he had already started training for the prestigious tournament.

"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," he stressed. "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."

"He is also a very good guy, friendly and kind," the Russian added.

Rublev is ranked eighth in the world, while Thiem is world No. 3.