Yuki ready for next step

Yuki Bhambri created a buzz in the Indian tennis circuit with his quarterfinals appearance in the Citi Open last week, stunning defending champion and world no 22 Gael Monfils. The 25-year-old admitted it was the “best week” since his comeback from an injury lay-off and hoped to capitalise on it for the upcoming US Open.

The performance in the ATP event helped Yuki leapfrog 41 places to 159, and he now finds himself getting closer to breaking into the top-100, a place where he truly belongs. “It was a great week. I had nothing to lose, I took my chances and didn’t hold myself back. It was definitely the best week I had since my comeback from injury,” Yuki told DH. The Delhi player had achieved a career best ranking of 88 in 2015 before injuries pegged him back last year.

“I think I have progressed satisfactorily since. I am learning from my mistakes and about injury management. I started slowly this year, and performed consistently. But something big was needed, and I guess this week turned out to be that. I always believed I had the game and this performance reaffirmed my belief.”

Besides investing on fitness trainers, Yuki worked on improving his volleys. “Having a trainer with you on Tour is a huge help. Abhimanyu is working with me, and that has made a lot of difference. I also worked very hard on sharpening my volleys. It gave me a lot more confidence in my game. I now need to work a little bit more on my serve,” he said.

“In big events, you realise the margin is very small between someone ranked 40-50 and 150 in the world. It is just that they are able to do that week after week. There are no free points.”

Towards that , he stressed, it was important to play regularly at this level. “The key remains to play regulary at this level, so you get used to the speed and playing against them, just the way you are familiar with the opponents at the ITF and Challenger level.”

With fellow Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan beating World No 8 Dominic Thiem in June in Antalya Open, Yuki felt it bode well for Indian tennis. “It definitely motivates you when you see your compatriot with the same level of game beating a big player.”

Yuki was excited about the upcoming Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Canada in Edmonton from September 15-17. “It will be tough, but hopefully we could be fourth-time lucky!.”

For now his focus rests on the US Open. “I am already in Florida training and my coach Aditya Sachdeva will be joining me soon,” he said.