Pain in the past for Harry Bourchier as the young tennis star set sights on an Australian Open spot

IT has been far from smooth sailing for Tasmanian tennis prodigy Harry Bourchier, but he is hoping an injury-riddled season has a silver lining.

Teen tennis star Harry Bourchier, who is the top seed for the Glenorchy Open, which starts today.

IT has been far from smooth sailing for Tasmanian tennis prodigy Harry Bourchier in 2014, but the rising talent is hoping an injury-riddled season has a silver lining for his Australian summer swing.

There have been several highlights for the 18-year-old — including winning a match at the junior Australian Open and going down 14-12 in a three-set thriller in the quarter-finals, playing at junior Wimbledon and representing his country at the Youth Olympics — but there have also been plenty of frustrations.

An abdominal injury has flared on and off for most of the year, consigning the teenager to the sidelines for long periods of time.

Now free of pain, Bourchier is about to embark on a stretch that could land him in the main draw of his home grand slam.

Bouchier is top seed for the Glenorchy Open, which starts this afternoon, and will head to Sydney next week for some Futures tournaments. From there it’s on to Melbourne, culminating in the under-18 nat­ionals where, if he triumphs, he will earn a spot in qualifying for the Australian Open.

“It’s been pretty tough, a lot of setbacks and a lot of minor ones and at the start of the year I had the lower abdominal which kept me out off and on for six to eight months,” said Bourchier, who will also contest the AO wildcard playoffs next month.

“I’ve been to the grand slams so that was interesting, lots of learning experiences there which I’m happy about.

“It has just made me a stronger person in general to not give up and keep at it.”

Though he heads into the $7500 Glenorchy Open as a hot favourite, Bourchier feels no extra pressure to perform in his home state.

And he couldn’t have wished for a better preparation — having spent the past fortnight in Melbourne training with rising star and close mate Nick Kyrgios.

“I’ve been training in Melbourne the past couple of weeks with Nick and that has been really good,” Bourchier said.

“I’m really looking forward to this weekend.

“The pressure comes from yourself, there is not a heap of pressure because it’s on a very different surface which I don’t normally play on in synthetic grass.”

The Glenorchy Open runs until Sunday, with men’s and women’s titles as well as doubles up for grabs.