CHENNAI: April was a good month for Indian tennis. Prajnesh Gunneswaran won his maiden Challenger title, Kunming Open in China. Ankita Raina, who broke into the top-200 for the first time in her career, will become the first senior Indian women’s singles player to feature at a Major — either qualifiers or main draw — since Sania Mirza. Ramkumar Ramanathan rose to his highest ever ranking of 115. The Davis Cup team advanced to the World Group play-offs thanks to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over China in the Asia/Oceania division. The month ended with Saketh Myneni winning a Futures event in Uzbekistan.
But there is a case for saying Yuki Bhambri’s April outstripped all of these thanks to his biggest title till date, the $150,000 Santaizi Challenger in Taiwan. The fourth seed began the tournament knowing he needed a big performance for a direct entry into the French Open (cut-off was April 16). And the 25-year-old produced just that with a string of impressive performances including a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ramkumar, India’s No 2, in the final. The 125 points gave him an immediate ranking boost to No 83, his best-ever, and a direct entry to Roland Garros. It also met his short-term goal of breaking into the top-100 and qualifying for a Major without playing the qualifiers.
The former junior No 1 concedes it was a special win, but says his upward trajectory is a result of the last two years. “Taiwan was special because it was my biggest Challenger win so far. But I think the (career-high ranking) is a just reward for the last two years of work I have put in. They count as well.” Even though he did not talk about injuries, he is referencing the time after he came back from an elbow injury. His ranking was around 550 and his body seemingly had the structural integrity of a castle built on matchsticks.
If most of 2017 was spent improving his ranking on the Challenger circuit (save for an astonishing run to the quarterfinals of the Citi Open), he has spent 2018 dining on the caviar that is the Masters. He puts the transformation down to various factors. “I had a good pre-season and that has helped. I was able to work on my fitness (trainer Abhimanyu Singh gave him a new training method which has become Bhambri’s bible) and also focused on improving my game. That has helped me winning matches.” It’s true. He has won matches in all seven tournaments he entered.
He also had his coach Stephen Koon by his side at Miami and Indian Wells, where he engineered a sensational takedown of former World No 8 Lucas Pouille. “Having Stephen there helped a lot. He was helping out with strategies, working with me between matches and fine-tuning my game. It always makes a big difference (to have a travelling coach).”
His next tournament is the French Open and it’s something he is looking forward to, even though he has opted to skip the entirety of the clay court swing. “I am going there a week early to get some practice. We will see how it goes.” If the luck of the draw favours him, he could very well accomplish another first. A first round win at a Major.
swaroop@newindianexpress.com