Rod Laver Arena was his playground for a couple of hours yesterday morning as the Australian Open dream continued for the Queenstown doubles specialist.
The visit to one of the most precious venues in tennis came just hours after claiming a win in his grand slam debut on court 13.
The 25-year-old was helping German doubles partner Jan-Lennard Struff warm-up for his singles match last night against none other than Roger Federer.Talk about reaching the big time.
"[It was] really cool, awesome stadium," he said yesterday.
"Just fun to be out there, the court felt so nice."
McLachlan will be back on court this afternoon, as he and Struff battle highly-ranked Spanish duo Marc and Feliciano Lopez.
He is expecting a tough match, although hopes he will be looser today after shaking off some nerves in round one.
"Obviously, they’re very good players. I’ve seen a few of their matches, but I don’t know them too well. It will be a fun challenge.
"I’ve got a few nervous cobwebs out the way in the first round so, hopefully, I’ll free up and play a bit better in this match as well."
He was thrilled with his first-round result, a 6-4, 6-3 win over Australian duo Thanasi Kokkinakis and Jordan Thompson.
While the nervous start had meant his first serve was slightly down on pace, he came right and felt the performance was pretty clean.
While he had seen a few matches, in particular the New Zealanders, he said he tried to stay indoors as much as he could.
That was due to the heat, which was approaching 40degC yesterday and forecast to be similar today.
While that could pose challenges on court, he said it did not impact him as much as others.
"I don’t feel it too much when I play.
"It’s not so hard as a doubles guy, but if you’re playing singles out there over three or four hours, I can’t really imagine how hard that would be."
His second round match has been scheduled for 3:40pm.
- Struff was beaten, although not destroyed, in straight sets by Federer 6-4 6-4 7-6.
