Two-time Olympian, tennis player John Peers will have just days to adjust to a new doubles partner, after his teammate Alex de Minaur tested positive to COVID-19 late last week.

The pair had been prepared, and ready to work together when the 22-year-old became infected. Max Purcell will take his place.

John Peers and his new doubles partner now join forces after facing each other in the men’s doubles in Wimbledon earlier this month.

John spoke to Ben O’Shea and Mark Readings on the Let’s Go Tokyo podcast from London ahead of his second Olympics.

“You always hear about it being special to be able to go to the Olympics, but until you actually get to do it yourself. It’s something, which even when I talk now gives me a chill going down the back of my spine,” he told the podcast.

“Just to be able to know and say you represented your country and call yourself in Olympian. It’s just something remarkable is something as a child I’ve always dreamed of doing and something that’s really special.”

Sport runs in John Peers’ blood. His mum, Elizabeth Little and sister Sally Peers both play tennis.

Growing up in a sporting family, the now-Olympic tennis player was happy as long as he was playing sport, but found a passion and talent in tennis.

“All I wanted to do was be in and around sport, see what the best in the world do as quickly as I could, and I was lucky enough to be able by both Aussie Open and Davis Cup and just see what those guys do up close is just something remarkable,” he said.

“I was lucky enough to even ball boy Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt, and now I’m actually talking to them as a comrade, which is actually quite, quite scary to think that, that so many years before I was ball boying them out on centre court at Rod Laver.”

The 32-year-old made it to the mixed doubles semi finals at Wimbledon with Zhang Shuai, and reached to a career high of World number two in doubles in 2017.

Hear the full chat with John on Let’s Go Tokyo, wherever you get your podcasts.