Yuki sets sights on US Open

“I’m going to play in tournaments starting from next week,I can’t stop training,” added the Delhi player,who will leave early on Wednesday for a Challenger in Uzbekistan,then return to New Delhi for a Futures before heading off to the big one — the US Open junior Slam.

This will be Yuki’s first Slam since his title at this year’s Australian Open — he missed the French Open due to injury and skipped Wimbledon to play in a couple of men’s circuit tournaments at home — and he’s looking forward to it.

“I’m going there as the No 1 and the Australian Open champion,everybody expects the title from me,and I’m hoping for nothing less myself,but it’s hard to take anything for granted. A lot of good players are there on the junior tour,and many more have improved over the last few months.”

Special attention
This particular training trip to the US has allowed Yuki to be given special attention by coaches at the Bolletieri facility,letting him work on and improve specific aspects of his game.

“There weren’t many players there this time,they would just pass through during tournaments. So the coaches could give more time to me. It was a more private one-to-one consultation,and helped a lot in fine-tuning certain things.

“I worked on developing serve and volley as a surprise element in my game,and I think I’m much more confident now coming to the net than I was before. Earlier I would hesitate,but that won’t be the case any more. It won’t work every time,but now I know I can do it,” he added.

Yuki’s serve has prompted many discussions with his coach Aditya Sachdeva,who wasn’t entirely sure earlier if he should continue to employ it,but the player says he is comfortable with it,and he fine-tuned it further in Florida.

“My serve helps me generate a bit more power,and if you look at it closely it isn’t all that different,” said Yuki,who cracked the top-500 barrier on the men’s circuit last week.

Heavy workout
A lot of training was squeezed into this three-week stint,and since it was more concentrated on him this time,Yuki’s schedule turned out to be an even more hectic one,but at the same time,full of quality.

“I played sets and games with (Radek) Stepanek and (Tommy) Haas,and (Bernard) Tomic was also there. I’ll go back to Bolletieri for training for a few days before the US Open starts too.”

Yuki has already achieved a lot this year,but he isn’t letting up anytime soon.

“I’m now comfortable at the $10000,15000 tournaments,and I’m going to keep playing tournaments. I hope to win as many more matches as possible by the end of the year.”