Yuki Bhambri came into the limelight after winning the junior title of the Australian Open and then made a separate existence in the senior team as well, but the problem of frequent injuries did not leave him anywhere. Now the draws have been declared for the Davis Cup Group 1 playoff match against Denmark starting on Friday. Yuki Bhambri will play Michael Torpegaard. Yuki said that the draw is in our favour. Our number one player Ramkumar Ramanathan will play the first singles. If he wins this match, there will be no pressure on him in the second singles match.
Responding to how much pressure would be there in case Ramkumar loses, Yuki said it was natural. If this happens, the pressure will definitely increase on them, but he feels that such a situation should not come. Yuki said that good performance of me and Ramkumar will play a big role in helping the team win as both of us have two matches each.
Responding to how discouraged he was because of the injury and how much it affected his game at the time, Yuki said that it was a really difficult period. One was troubled by the injury, the other was badly affecting the game due to Covid. Practice was missed. 2020 and 2021 were tough times but during this time I worked on my fitness. When I got to know that I was back in the Davis Cup team and that too at the Delhi Gymkhana, I was overjoyed as I grew up in Delhi. The atmosphere here is very favourable for the Indian team.
In response to how challenging the Delhi Gymkhana court will be, Yuki said that it will be challenging not only for us but for everyone. We will try to make the most of it. You have to show patience here. Here the ball moves. The right anticipation of the ball is difficult. We have practiced this thing in the last ten days. Here the back-lift has to be kept low. If you play in hard court, wherever you want, you will get more bounce. The grass-court here is very fast. Bounce is low. Not that every grass court is like this. The trend of grass varies from country to country. There is a need to mold yourself accordingly.
In India, as many players do not appear at the grass root level, whereas in countries like Australia, Spain, Italy etc., many players are seen playing professional tennis together. Regarding this, Yuki said that there is no dearth of abilities in our players too.
Here too, thousands of children play tennis in the club. There is a need to identify such children. One hundred such talented children should be identified, trained and worked on their technique. If by doing all this Australia, America, Spain and Italy can give good results, then this work is possible for us too.
That’s where the shortcoming of our system is found. Indian team coach Zeeshan Ali says that the draw has been in our favour in the case that Ram kumar Ramanathan is playing the first match. That’s what we wanted. There will be no pressure on Yuki Bhambri if he performs well. Anyway, he is also playing two singles matches. There is usually a difference of 20 minutes between a doubles and a singles match. Therefore, an attempt has been made to reduce the additional pressure on Ram Kumar.
Zeeshan said that we have the advantage of playing on the grass. Here the bounce is low and the speed is fast. Both these things will be in our favour.
Our players want to take advantage of this surface and are not very comfortable against Denmark in this grass. I am sure that in favourable conditions, our players will perform well and give hope for the future.