$150K(+H) Bangalore/$50K(+H) Pune Challenger, Nov.12-25, 2018

[sameerph]

So, entry list of big $150K(+H) Bangalore Challenger is out-

1 ALBOT, Radu MDA 89
2 DONSKOY, Evgeny RUS 99
3 THOMPSON, Jordan AUS 101
4 TRUNGELLITI, Marco ARG 119
5 BERANKIS, Ricardas LTU 131
6 YMER, Elias SWE 133
7 POLMANS, Marc AUS 145
8 GUNNESWARAN, Prajnesh IND 146
9 BOLELLI, Simone ITA 147
10 HALYS, Quentin FRA 152
11 CLARKE, Jay GBR 177
12 MARTIN, Andrej SVK 187
13 PELIWO, Filip CAN 188
14 SAFWAT, Mohamed EGY 205
15 WARD, James GBR 215
16 SCHNUR, Brayden CAN 222
17 GRIEKSPOOR, Scott NED 223
18 KAVCIC, Blaz SLO 225
19 ILKEL, Cem TUR 233
20 BANES, Maverick AUS 240
21 NEDOVYESOV, Aleksandr KAZ 242
22 KRAWIETZ, Kevin GER 244

And surprise surprise. Neither of India's current top 2 singles players - Yuki and RamK have entered the biggest tournament in India after the ATP events.
RamK not entered anywhere that week. Looks like he is ending his season early.
But, Yuki has entered lower level $50K(+H) Kobe challenger in Japan in the same week. Really do not understand the logic behind this. His crazy scheduling continues.

[Sin Hombre]

So we have gone from having 12 entrants in a challenger to probably 6 or 7 here, very sad.

Makes it hard to organize such tournaments.

[sameerph]

The reason for that apart from Ramk/Yuki drop out is the entry list appears much stronger than last year due to increase in prize money from $100K to $150K. Probably made sense to organise another $50K tournament instead of increasing prize money. But, perhaps they expected our top 3-4 to take advantage to rack up points. Now, 2 of them are not playing at all.

As per reports, RamK is skipping as he has to attend a mandatory ATP educative programme that week while Yuki says that he likes playing in Japan.

[Rajiv]

As per reports, RamK is skipping as he has to attend a mandatory ATP educative programme that week while Yuki says that he likes playing in Japan.

And he has missed couple of them previously , and this was the last chance and no more skipping was possible, had he missed this one than he would have been fined heavily by ATP.

[PKBasu]

Unbelievable that Yuki is skipping the big home tournament in Bangalore. Utter insanity!

I presume he is angling for an appearance fee, otherwise this makes no sense.

[vparam]

Unbelievable that Yuki is skipping the big home tournament in Bangalore. Utter insanity!

I presume he is angling for an appearance fee, otherwise this makes no sense.

I hate to say this but I have completely given up on Yuki. The country tries hard to put on tournaments like this and he gives a lame reason as he "likes' to play in Japan".

Why doesn't he just join the Japanese team and stop playing for India. This guy reminds me of a character in the M. Night Shyamalan movie called Unbreakable. I believe the character was called Mr. Glass. Just touch the guy and he gets hurt or breaks something. This is Yuki. Can never stay healthy and just make 1 stupid decision after another. India should provide zero funding for this guy!

[Atithee]

Unbelievable that Yuki is skipping the big home tournament in Bangalore. Utter insanity!

I presume he is angling for an appearance fee, otherwise this makes no sense.

I hate to say this but I have completely given up on Yuki. The country tries hard to put on tournaments like this and he gives a lame reason as he "likes' to play in Japan".
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India should provide zero funding for this guy!

Amen! Y’all are a little late on realizing this. I gave up on this guy long time ago. On funding—he should be forced to return any funding he has received. And he has the temerity to complain about sponsorships including brazen snickerings from the Koon academy.

[RohitG]

RamK is in the entry list for Bratislava challenger for the week before Bangalore.

Yuki, Ramkumar to miss Bengaluru As per this article, Yuki will play in Pune after Kobe.

[prasen9]

What on earth is a mandatory educative program? Why is it held concurrently with the Indian Challenger?

PKB, could it be that he has no confidence in his game and that is why he wants to play at a lower level venue so that he can win a few matches and get match fit?

[VReddy]

It was mentioned several times on this forum - how Yuki struggles in Bengaluru. Quoting the ESPN article from last year for your reference : http://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/2 ... entry-2018

Such a missed opportunity must surely have been a bitter pill to swallow, but Bhambri, when asked if the Australian Open was weighing on his mind, insisted that wasn't the case. "Not at all. I didn't really think I actually had a chance of winning the tournament. I was a little bit surprised I won three matches in Bangalore. It's a place where I've always struggled, due to the altitude. In a way, obviously you would want to win the tournament once you've made the semi-final but I'm pretty happy that I managed to win three matches," he said, adding that he'd gotten as far as he had in Bengaluru "purely by fighting my way through."

I personally consider this reason as not strong enough especially when he himself had mentioned that we should organize more challengers in India. There might be something more to it. The biggest problem (or plus point, if he is strong enough to shut off all critics) is that he is obviously shy, sticks to his own circle, avoids media/press, does his own job. So one only hears the others views (which will be opposing when he is in a trot / supportive when he wins) and not what he personally went through.

I would have probably, 10-12 yrs ago as a teenager would have used extreme words on some of these decisions but life's teachings makes you remember to think of the other person's viewpoints too before jumping to a conclusion.

[prasen9]

If he has respiratory issues and with India's pollution, it is quite likely he may have some form of asthma or something like that, then the altitude makes a physical difference. In that case, instead of struggling at the altitude, he decided to choose the other tournament. Good for him. Now win some matches.

[suresh]

Bengaluru, especially in winter, can be nasty for people with respiratory infections. It is not pollution but pollen.

[PKBasu]

Didn't realise that Yuki has asthma issues as well, and so struggles at the altitude in Bangalore. He does seem extremely fragile. To travel to Kyoto for one week, and then fly back to play in Pune seems bizarre nonetheless, especially since Bangalore has more points and money.

[Sin Hombre]

Bangalore does not have a winter

[prasen9]

It's all relative! Okay, I do not know it is asthma issues. But, people with respiratory issues have trouble playing in altitude. If he is blaming the altitude, then that is what it almost surely must be. Again, I do not want to be to have started a rumor