Yuki Bhambri has been India’s best bet in singles for quite a long time, the youngster rose to a career high rank of 89, before an elbow injury hampered his progress.
But back now, the Delhi lad has been fighting back, putting up some impressive performances, he demolished Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-1, 6-1 to prove that he is still India’s best single player, but went down to 47th ranked Benoit-Paire 6-3, 6-4 in third round of the Chennai Open on Thursday.
It was a game in which he had his chances, including three break points in the second game but couldn’t capitalize. Speaking to the press after the game, Yuki said, “I had a lot of chances which was positive, it could have been a different outcome had I taken them but it was good to make someone like him sweat it out for a win.”
Benoit-Paire too praised Yuki, “Yuki is a good player, and he moved really well on the court. He doesn’t have the best serve on the tour, but has a good first serve percentage. He can do better for sure”.
Yuki was making his comeback after missing most of the last season through injury, and he felt the progress was on track. “I am getting there, the flow is missing but it’s only the first week of the year and there is a really long season ahead, if I keep playing I will certainly get better.”
Next on his radar will be the Australian Open qualifiers but he hasn’t set his sights too far for now, “I just hope to have a healthy season now, if I can do that then there is no reason why I can’t move back amongst the top. These wins will be good going into the qualifiers, I expect a similar level of competition there as well and I hope I can carry this momentum here.”
Travelling without coach not a problem
The 24-year-old has been without a full time coach for some time now, but said that it hasn’t had any effect on his game. ”I manage well because I understand my game well enough; when I’m playing in India, there are a lot of people to help. I travel here and there for advice but I feel I can manage well.”
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