Yuki returns to top five

Less than 12 hours after returning home to Delhi, tennis player Yuki Bhambri was on the way to the airport again.

Less than 12 hours after returning home to Delhi, tennis player Yuki Bhambri was on the way to the airport again.

One would think that winning a Grade A tournament a couple of days ago merits a bit of rest as a reward, but not when the Commonwealth Youth Games awaits its second seed in the tennis event.

Yuki won last week8217;s Osaka Mayor8217;s Cup in Japan, and with it moved to number four on the ITF junior circuit charts, two weeks after leading the Indian Junior Davis Cup team to its best finish at the world finals in Mexico, and the 16-year-old8217;s game appears to be back on track.

8220;It is very hectic right now, but I8217;m playing well, so it8217;s good for me to get a lot of tennis,8221; he says.

8220;The clay and grass was just a bad patch, it was the first time I was playing on grass, so I was bound to find it tough. Hopefully as the hard court season continues, I will keep improving.8221;

The US Open, too, ended in a disappointing second-round exit for the youngster, but the weeks put in at Nick Bolletieri8217;s academy in Florida clearly brought about a world of change.

A fourth-place finish in Mexico at the Junior Davis Cup, and now the Osaka Mayor8217;s Cup singles title 8212; which earned him a whopping 250 circuit points 8212; and the going looks good again. Grade A tournaments on the ITF junior circuit are just a notch below the Junior Slams, and consequently offer the most points after the Slams.

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8220;The junior Davis Cup performance was something I never expected. It was going to be very tough because there were so many good teams there, but we got a few crucial doubles results to go our way, and that helped,8221; he says, leaving out the fact that it was his singles victories that played a much more vital role.

8220;There were a lot of high quality players in Japan last week as well, it was Grade A after all. The Europeans are always good, and even the Japanese were a threat, since it was their home territory. The amount of local support was unbelievable when I beat Hiroki Moriya in the final, there had to be at least six to seven thousand people,8221; says Yuki.

8220;This time at Bolletieri I changed my serve and worked on being more aggressive, coming to the net a lot, and in the past few weeks, I8217;ve had a chance to try it all out in the tournaments. It8217;s always a great experience to train there, because I get to train with so many good players.8221;

After the Youth Games, Yuki will be playing a Grade B1 tournament in Indonesia, followed by another training trip to Florida.