“I will be playing the Grass Court season with Rob Galloway” – Yuki Bhambri

Following a thrilling second-round doubles victory at Roland Garros, Indian tennis star Yuki Bhambri discusses the match’s ebb and flow, the challenges of clay court tennis, and his strategic improvements. Bhambri delves into his enhanced serve, the dynamics of facing a close friend on court, and his partnership with Albano Olivetti. He also shares insights on the promising young Indian talent emerging on the junior circuit.

ITD: Yuki, congratulations on the R2 doubles win. It was a bit of a roller coaster match. You got ahead, then they caught up, then the tie-break in the second set. Up and down, especially in the first set. Can you talk a little about that?

Yuki Bhambri: Yeah, I think the first set was a bit more up and down. Obviously, we went ahead but couldn’t sustain the momentum. It got broken at 4-2. But it’s always tough on a clay court to consistently hold serve. So you are aware that there are going to be chances, and the other team is going to have those chances. If you can sustain the level, then you can keep the momentum going. But I think the first set was that way. The second set, we sort of held pretty comfortably and, and yeah, I mean, a good tie-break from 3-1 down.

Interviewer: Obviously, it’s going to be a tough next round. Every round from here on is going to be tough. Can you talk a little about being in the third round?

Yuki Bhambri: Yeah, of course, another tough pair as well and one of the in-form teams. They’re having a standout season with Christian Harrison and Evan King. But yeah, we also have our lefty-righty combination. We would have taken two wins here at Roland Garros with the clay court season that we both had, not really making any breakthroughs in the tour events. I think everything’s sort of coming along well and we’re playing better, understanding the conditions better. So another tough match coming up but definitely winnable, and I think we’re looking forward to that as well.

ITD: I wanted to ask about the free points you’re getting on your first serve a bit more. Jayanth had mentioned this briefly to you at Indian Wells. Can you expand a bit more in terms of what work you’ve done in the offseason on your serve that you’re getting a lot more free points on the first serve?

Yuki Bhambri: Yeah, I’ve always tried to do better. That’s always something that I always try to consistently improve. Obviously, in men’s tennis, you need a good serve. Again, just a little bit of touch-up that I did in the offseason, working with Raven Klassen, to try and get a little bit more free points. So that has definitely been a success this year. It’s made holding serve a little bit easier and still progressing. There are still ups and downs with how men’s tennis is going, with everyone serving so hard all the time. We’re always trying to find those little nitpicks in getting better. But just one of the areas that we sort of thought of where I could really improve on was trying to get a little bit more pace. And so far, it’s been good. It’s not a massive improvement. At this stage, it’s always difficult to really make those big changes and big improvements there. But any little gain that you can do helps, and, you know, helps improve the rankings. And I think, yeah, it’s definitely one of the reasons why I’ve had some success, a lot more success on the ATP Tour this year.

ITD: One more question was about your opponent, Michael Venus. In several interviews, you’ve mentioned him and Saketh as some of your best friends. I think when you were turning pro in doubles, he gave you your first lift. How was it playing against him, one of your best friends?

Yuki Bhambri: Yeah, we are. He’s one of my close friends on tour. But when you step on court, you want to win, and it’s the same for him. Obviously, off the court, you know, we talk a lot, discussing things, but when you’re on the court, we’re out there competing for ourselves, out here competing to win matches. And we understand that there are no secrets on court, which makes it really difficult as well.

It’s always sort of a chess game, with me knowing his strengths and weaknesses and he knowing mine. So, yeah, it is tough, but again, you treat it like any other match, and you’re out there. He’s out there trying to beat me, and I’m out here trying to beat him, or with anybody else on tour.

So, great off the court, but when you’re in the match, you want to win.

ITD: You started… your regular partner Albano was injured. Are you and Galloway going to stay together? Can you just talk a little about that, and did you have to end that partnership?

Yuki Bhambri: We are, we are obviously going to the French Open and we’re going to play the grass season as well, and then from there on, sort of see how it goes. Usually, at this stage, we’re trying to get into tournaments. It’s difficult to completely commit long-term. So you try and see how a season or a few months go.

But, yeah, we’ve had good success at the Slams with Albano. I think he unfortunately got hurt at the wrong time. And then, with the breakthrough that I had made, it was difficult for us to continue to be able to play the Masters. The goal obviously is to play the biggest events. That’s where all the points are. That’s where we’re always sort of trying to be, to play the Slams, to play the Master Series. And with our rankings, we wouldn’t have gotten in. So that was unfortunately cut short. But he’s doing well as well.

ITD: Also, I wanted to know, have you made any dietary changes? You seem to have really trimmed down.

Yuki Bhambri: I’m not… it’s just the Paris sun today! I don’t follow a very specific diet. I sort of just try and keep it right and eat the basic sort of food. I don’t go overboard in any way. So, just playing a lot of tennis makes you keep healthy.

ITD: I’ve seen Abhi singing with you after the doubles. I remember seeing him with you during the singles days as well. Thoughts on his work with you in general?

Yuki Bhambri: Yeah, obviously he was a lot more personal when I was playing, when I was on the singles tour, because he was just working with me. Now, there’s again like a combination of him and Kiran. Kiran is in the States right now with Jeevan and Nikki. So, you know, sets of coaches, sets of trainers, and then sort of mix and match. You’ll probably see Kiran at Wimbledon.

So we have a very, very good setup and a very good team, and definitely the rewards are there to see for all the doubles guys.

ITD: You’ve been with Round Glass Sports Academy, and we had a junior boy, Hitesh, who just qualified into the main draw.

Yuki Bhambri: I didn’t know he qualified. He was in the final round.

ITD: Yeah, yeah, he qualified after a three-setter. Thoughts on him?

Yuki Bhambri: Yeah, there are a few boys at Round Glass who, the few times that I visited and have played there as well, are going to be good. They’re going to do well. He’s one of them, definitely going up. Karan Singh is another one. So they do seem to have a good bunch, and I think that is great for an Indian to qualify on the red clay.

Yuki: Did Manas win as well?

ITD: Yes

Yuki Bhambri: So there you go. Two Indian boys. Nice to see. It’s been a long time since you’ve had some juniors really compete in the Grand Slams. So hopefully, yeah, that’s the future right here. Doesn’t look as bleak.