Yuki Bhambri criticizes the new mixed double format at US Open after hovering in Career High in Dubai

Yuki Bhambri took a significant step in his ascending trajectory as a double specialist in April of last year when he found a stable and quality partner in French of 6’8 “high Albano Olivetti. The duo made four finals during the ATP tour and won two – Munich and Gstaad, both on Clay.

However, Olivetti has been absent since their defeat in the first round at the Australian Open of this year due to a broken tendon. While he is recalled, the 32 -year -old Indian continued to play with different players – in large part of their availability – to collect crucial classification points.

He played in Montpellier and Doha with Ivan Dodig in Marseille, Matwe Middelkoop was his partner. Dodig and Middelkoop have a total of 38 double titles, but among these three events, the best result of Bhambri was a semi-final in Qatar.

Last week, Bhambri lived the biggest moment in his double career with someone who plays singles mainly. The Indian, as well as the Australian Ale Alexei Popyrin, amazed the two best double teams in the world on the way to win the Dubai tennis championships, an ATP 500 tournament for Popyrin, ranked 27th in simple, it was his very first double title. Bhambri has caught his fourth on the ATP tour and so far, his biggest. Consequently, he also made his 40 best beginnings in the Doubles ATP ranking on Monday.

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In an exclusive conversation with SportBhambri is thinking about his title winning race in Dubai and the challenge of finding new partners while he is waiting for Olivetti’s return.

Extracts:

How did you train this partnership with Popyrin?

I know him but I knew his coach Neville Godwin better. He worked with Hyeon Chung and Kevin Anderson, against whom I also played. He and Cheung trained a lot together.

Yuki Bhambri in India and Alexei Popyrine of Australia celebrate with their trophies after the victory at the Dubai tennis championships. | Photo credit: Getty Images

I took my chance by asking because I did not arrive at this event. If you come back to the list of entries, we are the last acceptance in the draw. I knew he lives in Dubai and it’s a tournament at home for him. I hoped he might want to play a little double. I saw him on the tour and I saw him do at the Masters in doubles and he also played a few games at the Grand Slams. So he’s a good player. I just tried your luck and he accepted. He has graciously agreed to play and when you have great tennis players who play singles or doubles, the results speak for themselves.

You have played four very close games and in the final, you also had to save four championship points before winning the biggest title in your double career. How did you manage emotions throughout this week?

Double matches literally drop in the last five minutes. It happened so many times. You might have broken down or could be on the other side. I was in the two positions where I crossed – through a set and a break, or a match and I lost and I was on the other side where I dropped match points and won. When you play more and the experience comes into play, you tend to realize that the doubles are really just a few points and you are winning or losing, you can never really remove the foot from the gas. You must be constantly in the present and try to win the following point, because it always comes down to one or two points, especially with the way the score works without ad (advantage) in games. The 10 -point equality break is a question of two to three points and the whole match can turn.

So we just tried to play every match on his merit. In the first round, we were down 6-4, 5-4 and trying to save the match. We won the first set only in the semi-finals and everywhere, we went to Super Breaks. We were really very good in the last moments, especially in the ties. All week long, we did not give many opportunities to our opponents. It was just one of those finals where we had to hang on and try to play the best tennis and everything clicked when it counted.

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How difficult you were you to find a new partner for each tournament since Olivetti was injured? Olivetti he told you when he comes back

He (olivetti) tries to come back. Having been in a similar situation on several occasions, I can say that the tendons take time to heal and that this does not happen according to what the doctor wants. Unfortunately, he has his own mind, but he is better. He makes progress week per week. So he could be back for the clay season. We are regularly in contact.

It is very difficult to continue to find partners, week after week. Most people are ready and you plan your timetable and with whom you play months in advance.

So, even when you play matches, you have that in the background of your mind – what am I doing next week? I will always play with different people in different tournaments in March, but I hope things will be resolved once the clay season will arrive.

What do you think of the new mixed double format that American open will present this year? The event is planned during the same week as the qualifications in simple. He will have 16 teams – eight direct entries of their combined rankings in single and eight Wildcards – in competition over two days in shorter matches. Many double specialists, including Rohan Bopanna, have expressed their concern about this.

US Open is very well aware of the advantages and disadvantages and I suppose they have taken the way for business. He didn’t really think who would take advantage of it. They thought of themselves and they thought of the way it benefits them. This is the new angle that they want to go with a glorified exhibition because they really made sure that the double players do not play this event, allowing the classification of singles (for direct entry). They don’t want this chance to have a double player playing it, which is unhappy. They showed that they wanted to prioritize the business. From a player’s point of view, it is completely disappointing and especially for the Indians who have incredibly well done in mixed double in the past.

Was there a kind of communication between the US Open and the players concerning this decision?

No, there was no communication between the players and the ATP or the Grand Slam. The only communication that generally occurs is the press releases you see in the coming days once they have decided something.