ATP: Tommy Haas travels to Melbourne as a consultant from Pouille

He just can’t do without tennis: Tommy Haas will be a consultant to the Australian Open and will be part of the coaching team with Lucas Pouille from France.

Tommy Haas returns to the tour – at least as a part-time coach for the young Frenchman Lucas Pouille.

The former number two in the world will be advising 23-year-olds on the first Grand Slam of the year and will be part of the coaching team, the French L’ Equipe reports. Pouille, who won last year’s Davis Cup with France, enters the tournament as a surprise favourite. The Viennese winner was ranked eighteenth in the world ranking and has been traded as a future Grand Slam winner for some time now.

Haas was already spotted in the French number two boxer’s box against Russian Andrey Rublev last Thursday during the show match last Thursday and will initially only be working in the new role for two weeks,”Sometimes you have to do something new, we’ll try this one time here in Australia,”Pouille said about the newest member of staff.

Haas, who has not yet officially confirmed his career end, will be supporting Pouille together with head coach Emmanuel Planque.