Yuki Bhambri began 2014 ranked inside the top-200. As a nod to his improvement, he was offered a wildcard to the Aircel Chennai Open where he went on to make the quarterfinals.
A year later, Bhambri finds himself ranked 249. And, with his ranking well outside the cut-off for the main draw, he will have to work his way through the qualifiers this time.
“I expected to be in the main draw this year considering my performance here last year. But its three rounds of qualifying,” said Bhambri, who had his first hit of the year on the Thursday going into the tournament.
Part of the reason for this dip in ranking has been his fitness. A lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a heel injury meant all the hard work at the start (he reached a career-high 143 last February) came undone.
“[The year] was up and down. I had a great start here, and won a Challenger too. I would have liked to have played more,” Bhambri said.
In the year gone by, one of the 22-year-old’s main focus areas was his volleying.
But in the modern-day game, having a huge serve is a prerequisite for that. Even Davis Cup captain Anand Amritraj said Bhambri has to serve at 200kph consistently to harbour any hopes of making his way up.
“It [having a big serve] is very important in men’s tennis,” said Bhambri. “It makes your life a lot easier and often bails you out of trouble. I worked in California (with former player Taylor Dent) recently, and it’s still in progress. I hope it gets better.”
But the constantly changing conditions, the nature of surfaces and opponents’ varying strengths mean that adding a lot of variety to one’s game is also becoming a necessity.
“I have been working on different things. It keeps changing. I need to be a bit more aggressive,” he said.
“And, this year, the balls are much bigger. So I have to be prepared for longer rallies. I need to basically mix it up.”
Does having to play in the qualifying event add to the pressure?
“It’s actually less pressure,” he said. “Being in the main draw, you are expected to do well. It’s a bit more responsibility because the organisers believe in you. But, here, it’s just me and myself.”
“It always tough because you have to beat one or two very good players.
“It’s start of the year, and the players are shaky. So it’s good to have played a decent number of matches before the main draw.”
“If I go through, [playing the qualifiers] could be an added advantage,”
“Tennis is perhaps the only sport where you get season reviews and season previews on your timeline at the same time,” said a top writer recently.
For a sport which is played through almost 85 per cent of the year, and the off-season is pretty much non-existent.
But an assessment of one’s performance through a year needs a proper demarcation. And for Bhambri, it could well be the start of the year.
“This year my goal is to stay healthy,” said Bhambri.
“It’s a new start.”
