Yuki Bhambri

[Dinesh]

Yuki is no longer part of the singles alternates list at Newport.

[sameerph]

Yes, PKB mentioned that his visa did not come thru and he is now going back to Delhi to get the visa to get to US later.

[Atithee]

Why so late in applying for a visa when the tournament dates are well known in advance? Doesn’t he have plans to be in the USA soon for the hard court season? Is this just madness or is there a method behind it?

[Rajiv]

Is this just madness or is there a method behind it?

Surely it does look method behind , why would he enter USA tournaments when he knew his appointment was Sept 2023, and why he didn't try through AITA, Sports Ministry while applying in India that he has been given a date next year, I gaurentee you, AITA,or sports Ministry would have surely got it sorted out, And then leave it at the last minute for India's Ambassador intervention.

Right from Wimbledon his planning has been whimsical, skipped playing singles for grass Challengers,then Malaga Challenger, playing good singles, to abruptly withdraw to immediately lose doubles.

Newport was good opportunity with Infosys supported could have got some favours for dbls along with Saki, and week later the freind of all Indian players Rajeev Ram is hosting his own Challenger at Indianapolis, there too Indians would have recieved a look in.

So all his (Yuki) USA plans have come to naught by mad planning or was it intentional and Sept 2023 is his real goal to play in USA.

[Atithee]

Rajiv, maybe 2023 is a typo although it was bolded by PKB. It should probably have said 2022. Also, do you mean it’s madness without any method behind it?

[Omkara]

There is visa related issues in India. My London visa came after 2.5 months whereas normally it takes 2 weeks. US is not issuing fresh visas.

[PKBasu]

Frankly, I was quite irritated when I found he had withdrawn from Newport.
Through the Indian ambassador in France, I had arranged for him to try applying for a US visa either in Portugal or France. Then I also offered him the option to go to Dubai (where it is apparently easier to get appointments at the US consulate; overnight usually); he could have got one there on Saturday or Sunday (since Friday is the weekly holiday in UAE) and still got to Newport in time. But then I found he had dropped out, although he would have made the main draw in singles. (Before I found out the latter, he told me he'd decided that the India/Delhi option was best, since the Ambassador had spoken to MEA to help expedite the process). Let him do it his way. I give up!

And no, Atithee, 2023 was not a typo. That's when his visa appointment for a P1 visa was. But there are ways of expediting this for special purposes, and sports is certainly a special purpose -- especially since he has had many previous US visas for this purpose. From my own experience getting a Schengen visa, it is MIGHTY difficult to get visas from India at the moment.

[sameerph]

From what we have seen from Yuki and about what Rajeev said about RamK, it is clear that Yuki clearly does not have as much desperation and urge to go all over the world what ever it takes to get to play somewhere. It may sound harsh but such urge and determination seems to be lacking in Yuki which results in such scheduling gaffes. RamK does have that but sadly does not have the level of talent that Yuki has.

As of now, I do not see Yuki in entry list of the US challengers in first 3 weeks. I do see him alternates in Washington ATP. He would probably get into qualies there. So, looks like his schedule in US would be Washigton and US open qualies and maybe doubles at a few challengers.

[arjun2761]

The visa issue is a bummer. At this rate, he may not even be able to use all of his 12 PR entries as I don’t think he’s taken too many of those

[sanjay8886]

As of now, I do not see Yuki in entry list of the US challengers in first 3 weeks. I do see him alternates in Washington ATP. He would probably get into qualies there. So, looks like his schedule in US would be Washigton and US open qualies and maybe doubles at a few challengers.

He is also showing up in Atlanta ATP (alt main draw #26) with PR ranking. Before that he is showing up in Gstaad ATP (alt #17). However, I doubt that he will play in any of these tournaments.

[Rajiv]

From what we have seen from Yuki and about what Rajeev said about RamK, it is clear that Yuki clearly does not have as much desperation and urge to go all over the world what ever it takes to get to play somewhere..

Sameer , you have rightly pointed out the difference between the commitment and dedication of Ram and Yuki , which is sorely missing in Yuki , to give some few more examples about Ram’s dedication and devotion to play at any cost ,and also make sure the visa issue was in place , was when he had just beaten FAA for a Futures title in Spain ,(AND DURING THE NON MATCHES DAY’S WAS WORKING FOR HIS USBEK VISA FOR THE SAMARKAND CHALLENGER THE NEXT WEEK) and after the Finals immediately took flight to Tashkent , reached in the middle of the night and then took the night train to Samarkand , and arrived at the site just 2 hours before his schedule match , and with hardly any sleep and less than 24 hrs after beating FAA went on to win the opening round and even reached the semis , beating Radu Albot on the way. Or the other time , after playing the Winnetka Finals against Santilan which finished late on a Sunday night , and next early Monday morning took a flight to Newport and called the tournament Director , that he has just reached the airport and will be arriving on the court in 1 hr , and wait for him , and just hopping of the plane went on to beat Chris Eubanks in a match which had to start at 11 am otherwise Eubanks would have got a walkover.

There are numerous instances I can quote about Ram's focus and dedication to play at any cost, and the main purpose is to just highlight , if Yuki had shown just a little more proactivness as Ram , and listened to PKB's advise surely we would have seen him (Yuki) at Newport rather then just heading back to Delhi without even making an attempt in trying out the options which PKB offered to him.

[sameerph]

The visa issue is a bummer. At this rate, he may not even be able to use all of his 12 PR entries as I don’t think he’s taken too many of those

I think he has used up 7 of his 12 PR spots ( 2 last year in Singapore and Dubai and 5 this year - Pune, Dubai and 3 grand slams). So, 5 PR left. I am not really sure when his period where he can use PR runs out. Little unclear as he got injured after playing 2 tournaments last year and must have applied for freeze of his PR and restarted this year. He is most likely to 2 of his remaining 5 PR's are Washington qualies and USO qualies. That leaves him with 3 . Remains to be seen where he will use them and if he has enough time to use those.

As of now he and Saki are playing in Netherlands challenger next week and are likely to play a challenger in Kazakhstan the week after. I think if his US visa comes thru he will go to US after that.

[arjun2761]

From what we have seen from Yuki and about what Rajeev said about RamK, it is clear that Yuki clearly does not have as much desperation and urge to go all over the world what ever it takes to get to play somewhere..

Sameer , you have rightly pointed out the difference between the commitment and dedication of Ram and Yuki , which is sorely missing in Yuki , to give some few more examples about Ram’s dedication and devotion to play at any cost ,and also make sure the visa issue was in place , was when he had just beaten FAA for a Futures title in Spain ,(AND DURING THE NON MATCHES DAY’S WAS WORKING FOR HIS USBEK VISA FOR THE SAMARKAND CHALLENGER THE NEXT WEEK) and after the Finals immediately took flight to Tashkent , reached in the middle of the night and then took the night train to Samarkand , and arrived at the site just 2 hours before his schedule match , and with hardly any sleep and less than 24 hrs after beating FAA went on to win the opening round and even reached the semis , beating Radu Albot on the way. Or the other time , after playing the Winnetka Finals against Santilan which finished late on a Sunday night , and next early Monday morning took a flight to Newport and called the tournament Director , that he has just reached the airport and will be arriving on the court in 1 hr , and wait for him , and just hopping of the plane went on to beat Chris Eubanks in a match which had to start at 11 am otherwise Eubanks would have got a walkover.

There are numerous instances I can quote about Ram's focus and dedication to play at any cost, and the main purpose is to just highlight , if Yuki had shown just a little more proactivness as Ram , and listened to PKB's advise surely we would have seen him (Yuki) at Newport rather then just heading back to Delhi without even making an attempt in trying out the options which PKB offered to him.

Ramk's travels are certainly legendary. However, not sure that his way is the smart way for anyone to emulate. He plays around 35-38 weeks and generally has a losing record year-after-year (i.e., loses more matches than he wins in singles). That is, most weeks, he wins one match or less. Most players at their level or better play between 24-27 weeks but focus on going deeper (i.e., winning more matches) per week.

My question is where does RamK get the funding for his travels? He almost certainly spends more on his tennis travels than he earns. Of course, if he has good sponsorship, then perhaps the financial cost is moot for him. However, it is likely a factor for the likes of Yuki and many that play the challenger tour or lower levels.

Secondly, playing continuously also could get in the way of actually improving your game. Most top players, take time to work on their game rather than play continuously throughout the year. Of course, if you go deeper each week, this becomes an imperative even for injury prevention. Ramk's strategy of globe trotting and losing early every week isn't necessarily the smart choice for most players at his level.

[knarayen]

You are right Arjun. In fact Ram I feel needs an assessment break and I’ve pointed that out in his thread.

[Sanjay]

From what we have seen from Yuki and about what Rajeev said about RamK, it is clear that Yuki clearly does not have as much desperation and urge to go all over the world what ever it takes to get to play somewhere..

Sameer , you have rightly pointed out the difference between the commitment and dedication of Ram and Yuki , which is sorely missing in Yuki , to give some few more examples about Ram’s dedication and devotion to play at any cost ,and also make sure the visa issue was in place , was when he had just beaten FAA for a Futures title in Spain ,(AND DURING THE NON MATCHES DAY’S WAS WORKING FOR HIS USBEK VISA FOR THE SAMARKAND CHALLENGER THE NEXT WEEK) and after the Finals immediately took flight to Tashkent , reached in the middle of the night and then took the night train to Samarkand , and arrived at the site just 2 hours before his schedule match , and with hardly any sleep and less than 24 hrs after beating FAA went on to win the opening round and even reached the semis , beating Radu Albot on the way. Or the other time , after playing the Winnetka Finals against Santilan which finished late on a Sunday night , and next early Monday morning took a flight to Newport and called the tournament Director , that he has just reached the airport and will be arriving on the court in 1 hr , and wait for him , and just hopping of the plane went on to beat Chris Eubanks in a match which had to start at 11 am otherwise Eubanks would have got a walkover.

There are numerous instances I can quote about Ram's focus and dedication to play at any cost, and the main purpose is to just highlight , if Yuki had shown just a little more proactivness as Ram , and listened to PKB's advise surely we would have seen him (Yuki) at Newport rather then just heading back to Delhi without even making an attempt in trying out the options which PKB offered to him.

Ramk's travels are certainly legendary. However, not sure that his way is the smart way for anyone to emulate. He plays around 35-38 weeks and generally has a losing record year-after-year (i.e., loses more matches than he wins in singles). That is, most weeks, he wins one match or less. Most players at their level or better play between 24-27 weeks but focus on going deeper (i.e., winning more matches) per week.

My question is where does RamK get the funding for his travels? He almost certainly spends more on his tennis travels than he earns. Of course, if he has good sponsorship, then perhaps the financial cost is moot for him. However, it is likely a factor for the likes of Yuki and many that play the challenger tour or lower levels.

Secondly, playing continuously also could get in the way of actually improving your game. Most top players, take time to work on their game rather than play continuously throughout the year. Of course, if you go deeper each week, this becomes an imperative even for injury prevention. Ramk's strategy of globe trotting and losing early every week isn't necessarily the smart choice for most players at his level.

All very good points!
That is the risk of too much "executing" and too little "planning/strategizing".
He probably needs to refocus on how he can go deeper and spend time between tournaments working on his game.