Yuki Bhambri

[Atithee]

Yuki should enter as many main draws as possible. His body may not withstand too many qualifying rounds.

[prasen9]

Yes, but qualifying rounds in ATP tournaments maybe 2-3 matches including the main draw. If he indeed goes deep in an ATP tournament, his ranking problem will be solved. Versus in a challenger main draw he may go deep. So, the more risk, more reward option of ATP quals may be better for his body.

[Sanjay]

Yuki is playing Prajnesh in Dubai Quals.

Oh too bad.

[arjun2761]

Yes, only upside to this is that we will find out how well Yuki is playing. Prajnesh has shown that he is among the top tier challenger players in the last few weeks, so if this is a close match, then we'll know that Yuki is playing at a solid challenger level.

[PKBasu]

Judging from his match against Prajnesh (which I managed to watch from start to finish, albeit only on my iPhone rather than a larger screen), Yuki is playing like a top-75 player (top-50 in the first set, in which he decimated the India #1). Quite enthralling to watch! The only question mark is over his fitness and stamina: how long will this kind of form last? Long may it continue!!

[PKBasu]

With his 10 points for qualifying into the Dubai ATP500, Yuki is already close to #1000 in the rankings. Beating Bedene would take him to 720 (equal on points with Arjun Kadhe).

[jayakris]

[Moving a few posts below from the Dubai ATP thread, after Yuki's 6316 46 R1 loss at Dubai ATP to Bedene, on Prasen's request... Mod, Jay]

Now the waiting game starts whether he will go home and play the Indian futures (wish he does) or try the European challengers, if at all he decides to travel to EU.

I think it's fine if he tries some challengers. He looks good enough to win a couple and pick up points faster to make life easier. But playing qualies and going deep in challengers will be taxing on the body though.

[sameerph]

Now the waiting game starts whether he will go home and play the Indian futures (wish he does) or try the European challengers, if at all he decides to travel to EU.

I think it's fine if he tries some challengers. He looks good enough to win a couple and pick up points faster to make life easier. But playing qualies and going deep in challengers will be taxing on the body though.

Earlier I wanted him to play couple of India futures to get some match practice and also to pick up some points. But, now seeing the level that he played here, do not see any need of match practice at futures level. And the points are too few, 10 points for winning 5 matches. Not worth it I think.

For challengers, his new ranking of 1000+ will not get him into qualies. So, that is not an option for him either. He has to use his PR and get into main draw. But, PR's are limited. So, he has to pick and choose the right ones where he can pick up some points. He has to save 4 of 10 remaining PR spots for grand slam qualies.

[prasen9]

He should just use the 10 PRs for entries into the top tournaments throughout the year. ATP 1000s and Grand Slams. Given that he has played 3 matches this week and has a week's rest, entering and winning a futures tournament to get 10 more points is not a bad idea. Of course, I do not want him to play week after week of futures. But, one week trying out his body to see if he can play 5 matches is good imho. And, the 10 points won't hurt. In between, he can train and keep fit.

Maybe he can get some challenger wildcards or some challenger qualifier entries/wildcards even if his ranking is not enough.

[sameerph]

It seems he did mention in the post match interview that he will play Delhi futures starting March 29. It is anyway in his home town and better to play rather than just practising. Treat it as practice matches.

[prasen9]

Right. Good decision.

[Sanjay]

I think he should not play doubles until he is sure how his body would take it.

How many points does he get now for this performance? What would his ranking be? He is not in the ATP ranking list now.

[arjun2761]

It seems he did mention in the post match interview that he will play Delhi futures starting March 29. It is anyway in his home town and better to play rather than just practising. Treat it as practice matches.

I'm fine with this choice. Playing 5 futures matches will likely not cause injury to him as he can win these matches by turning it on and off. The rallies aren't as long and intense as lower levels players are far more inconsistent.

In the past the injuries have followed longer runs at the ATP and masters level (IW/Miami). Yuki (and Sumit) have to fight for each point given their weak serves, that going deep in such tournaments is where the injury risk is higher. Challenger's are probably somewhere in the middle in that the matches aren't as intense even if they play 4-5 matches in a week. Ideally, Yuki should not play back-to-back weeks if he plays more than 3-4 matches in a week at the ATP level.

[prasen9]

So, he will play the Delhi Futures. Is he trying to get into the Pune one too? As Arjun said, I do not want him to play two full futures right away but I will admit I do not know what his body is telling him.

[sameerph]

I don't think he should play back to back futures. Too many matches for too few points.

His problem is next 2 months every thing is on clay. Usual Asian challengers in China-Korea etc are not there this year. I do not see Yuki going and playing too many tournaments on red clay on Europe. He has never done that in his career.

Only hard court tournament till end April is Orlando challenger in Florida, US in second week of April which will be followed by Tallhasse challenger the week after on clay. He can ask for wild card from them.