When Yuki Bhambri won the Australian Open junior singles title in 2009, he was India’s biggest tennis hope. But over the next decade, Bhambri, who peaked at No. 83 in singles, stumbled from one injury to another and his otherwise fine court-craft never reached a crescendo.
Now, as a 32-year-old, he is back on his feet and enjoying his time on the court, albeit as a practitioner of the less intense art of doubles. In fact, 2024 was the first year he did not play even one professional singles match and his once brittle body has given him an emphatic thumbs up.
At 48, he is the second-highest-ranked Indian doubles player, after Rohan Bopanna, and last season, with Frenchman Albano Olivetti, he won two ATP Tour-level titles (third overall) and reached two other finals. In an interview with The Hindu, Bhambri discusses his transition to doubles, the state of his tennis and his dreams for the future. Excerpts:
How will you describe your 2024 season?
I would probably say I didn’t start off well, but ended well. Going into the Australian Open and not winning matches [three consecutive first-round defeats including Melbourne] to reaching the semifinals at an ATP 500 in Dubai and then getting the first clay-court title [ATP 250, Munich]… I am happy about that. I still think there were opportunities for us as a team to do better, especially in the Slams. So that’s something we are targeting for 2025, to go a step further and make breakthroughs in the bigger events.
Fruitful alliance: Partnering Frenchman Albano Olivetti, Bhambri won two ATP Tour-level titles last season. | Photo credit: Getty Images
You’ve been in and around the top-60 since mid-2023, and top-50 since July 2024. What has this period told you as a player?
Like you mentioned, I am just making those small strides. The higher you go, the more difficult it gets and you don’t see as many big jumps [in rankings] as you would [early on]. It just shows that I’m on the right path. Rankings don’t lie and tennis rewards consistency. You’ve to play the whole year, the 19 best events well, and that determines where you’re at. It gives you confidence that you are doing the right things, and that’s what I take from this. I hope I can keep moving forward in this direction and make those breakthroughs and small gains even in 2025.
How did you decide singles was not for you anymore?
It really was my injuries. My knee took a very long time to heal and I knew I didn’t want to be stuck in a rut where I play a year of tennis and sit out for another year. Before the knee, it was my elbow. The older you get, it gets more and more difficult to go back and start out at a lower level and build your game back only to get hurt again. I had played a bit of doubles when I was playing singles, and had some success on the Challenger Tour and a few rounds at Slams. So, I believed I could play. And when you see a lot of your contemporaries and friends doing well, that gives you the belief. After I hurt my knee, I was out for almost three-and-a-half years and I took the call. I don’t want to be sitting out at 31, 32 with another injury and waiting for two more years to go back. I think I can have a good eight-to-10-year career in doubles.
Regardless of the injuries, do you miss singles?
No! I find it more and more difficult when I see the Sinners and Alcarazs playing. I don’t regret things and live in the past. I’m enjoying playing doubles, being at the big events, at the Slams. More than that, I love the fact that I have a shot at winning Tour titles, which I didn’t realistically have at most Tour-level singles events.
How have you approached playing doubles? Is singles, sometimes, still at the back of your mind?
It’s not. Mentally, I had made the switch a couple of years ago, and even before that, I always knew that this was something I would try. If you’ve taken up this role of wanting to play and win doubles, you are also practising that way. So, it’s not restrictive as such. I did what I could in my singles career and I would like to do better in doubles. So my sole focus has been on how to improve my half-court game.
Tag-team goals: One of the adjustments Bhambri had to make when switching to doubles was learning to trust his partners and understand their playing styles. | Photo credit: Getty Images
What adjustments did you have to make?
You’ve got to learn to trust your partner and understand how certain individuals play. Coming to my own game, I’m focusing a lot more on volleying. Doubles is fast-paced, so a lot more serve and volley, faster drills and more reflexes.
How difficult has it been to adapt? Doubles, as a format, is pretty fickle, competitive and teams are closely bunched…
You don’t adapt. It is always running up and down. You win by a point and you lose by a point, and most matches are like that. Especially with the 10-point tie-break [replacing the third set in Tour events], it doesn’t give you much margin for error. But that’s what makes the game exciting too. In the end, good players and good teams will find a way. You will still see consistent teams winning the super tie-breaks and winning matches. So it’s fun to play and it always gives you an opportunity as well.
Indian doubles has impossibly high standards to live up to. Does that motivate you?
When Sania Mirza did well, a lot more women’s tennis players emerged in India. When you have Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna winning Grand Slam tournaments, that’s the reason why other Indian athletes have picked up [doubles]. I have seen someone like Divij Sharan at close quarters. He had considerable success on the doubles Tour, which is why I bought into it.
In fact, one of the reasons why I went to the Nick Bollettieri Academy [2007] was because there were a lot of other singles players there from whom I could learn and understand what was needed to become a good player. The reason why in 2024 a lot of our doubles guys have had success is because of the ‘Doubles Dream’ project [tech firm KPIT’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiative]. Every Indian doubles player had a career-high ranking [in 2024] and that’s because we have two fantastic coaches and two fantastic trainers travelling with us.
What did you work on ahead of the 2025 season?
It is just the small things. You can always serve better, volley better and return better. I am trying to add a lot more variation. A lot of the players are probably aware of my game now. So you’re really trying to find those small advantages.
In 2023, you got one title; in 2024, two. Any targets for 2025?
Hopefully a few more than two… maybe three or four titles. That would mean that we are doing well.
Published – January 04, 2025 12:02 am IST
