It has been a thoughtful move to provide coaching and fitness support to India’s doubles specialists.
There has been a remarkable jump in the success rate among a bunch of players; it went further up with Yuki Bhambri winning his maiden ATP doubles title with Lloyd Harris of South Africa in Mallorca, Spain.
One of the coaches, the experienced M. Balachandran who is working diligently with support from Rohan Bopanna, currently in Europe, was happy to drive the progress.
“It was a big week for Yuki. The first time partners combined so well that they beat four established doubles teams, some of whom have won Grand Slam titles. To win a tournament on grass without losing a set was fantastic. Only one set went to the tie-break,” said Balu, as he is fondly known to everyone in the tennis circle for more than 40 years.
I will not be surprised if Yuki has a Grand Slam title against his name in the next two years,” said Balu.
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Pleased with Yuki
He was particularly pleased with the professional attitude of Yuki.
“We all know that Yuki is a fabulous player. He likes to work hard and improves with every match. And he likes to get better in every department of his game. He should be soon in the top-50 of doubles. I will not be surprised if Yuki has a Grand Slam title against his name in the next two years,” said Balu.
Having worked with Yuki earlier in April in Munich and watching him and Saketh Myneni make it to the semifinals of the ATP Tour event, Balu was stunned to see the improvement in Yuki when he watched him again in the grass court circuit of Europe in June.
“From then to now, there is a huge improvement in Yuki as a doubles player. I saw him in the Nottingham Challenger two weeks ago, and then at the Queen’s when Yuki and Saki qualified and lost to Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in a close match. They worked for about a week, and we focused on the returns and volleys for Yuki,” observed Balu.
“In Nottingham, all our players were there. I worked with Sriram Balaji and Divij Sharan during the Surbiton Challenger,” said Balu.
Sponsorship
The doubles program, brought about by the Pune Metropolitan District Tennis Association (PDMTA) with KPIT and Avendus Capitals as the sponsors with a broad budget of about ₹1.5 crore, had started with the pre-season training camp in December.
A bunch of coaches — Jeff Coetzee, John Farrington and Julian Knowles, apart from Balu and physios Kiran Kumar and Abhimanyu Singh —…
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