Yuki Bhambri/ Saketh Myneni (pair) Thread

[sameerph]

Excellent win! Yuki and Saki are 84 and 82 now in live rankings.

But Saki should be vary of the fact that in the next 2/3 weeks he has to protect 130 points earned with Ram last year and in April has another 146 points to defend earned with Yuki ( So too Yuki) ,so in the next 8 weeks if these 276 points are not adequately protected , could suffer in the rankings , but the playing form these 2 are in , there is a high chance that there will not be any appreciable changes in the rankings.

Those 130 points have fallen off in their live rankings and there is not much effect on rankings. Saki at #81 in live rankings while Yuki has vaulted over him at #80 and India #2 position.

They are now in a position to get into most of the ATP 250 level tournaments. Probably will need to raise the rankings a bit more to get into ATP 500 and 1000 level tournaments.

Looking at French open this year, one needs a combined ranking of around 160 or at worse 150 to make it. If one takes a ranking of 150 i.e individual rankings of 75 each is needed to be safe. Both have around 130 points to defend till then. So, need roughly to get around 200 points each to get near or inside top 75. With around 2 and half months to go, this should be gettable. Then another 100 points to defend before Wimbledon.

[Dinesh]

Bad loss.

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND,84)/ Saketh Myneni (IND,82) 2-6 4-6 Philipp Oswald (AUT,70)/ Jordan Thompson (AUS,297/93s)

[prashanthm]

Very very bad loss.....

I think taking this short week as a blessing in disguise and get back into their grooves for Doha and Dubai would be good......

[arjun2761]

Yes, looks like they did not have a good spell in this game. Most of their games have poor spells and good spells of play mixed in. Didn't watch this match, so it is possible that their opponents played lights out but would be surprised if that were the case.

[PKBasu]

After making back to back QFs at the big Doha and Dubai Opens, Yuki-Saketh can now be dubbed Indian Express 2.0. They are at career high rankings of 73 and 74 respectively, having meticulously moved up from the Challenger level last year to the ATP tour level this year. Hopefully, they will be in the later stages of the Slams by Wimbledon or the US Open this year.

[jayakris]

^^^ I don't know. Wouldn't it be a bit of an insult to The Indian Express, who were at a much higher level? I mean, they are one of the top-10 greatest doubles teams in history based on the quality of their doubles during one period. The current teams are nowhere close to be called versions of them really.

[rajitghosh]

Let them win a few titles before we go gaga about them and start giving them titles. Best of luck to them but I don't think they are anywhere close to Lee-Hesh and never will be. Lee-Hesh started off young when they were still playing singles. Others are getting into doubles when they are older and done with singles.

[arjun2761]

Their transition is happening smoothly with them being almost in the top 70. However, the next step up for them will be crack the top 40…

[prashanthm]

Let them win a few titles at the ATP tour level.... For starters, let them win one title and then start being considered favorites to win ATP titles before bestowing the dignitaries...

I am not trying to be pessimistic, but we have been bitten far too many times banking on the potential and the results never came close...

[sameerph]

Yes, they have still not even beaten a pair where both players are ranked in top 50 in doubles and have only 2 ATP level SF's , so too early to give them any tag.

[jayakris]

I need to go back and check, but LP-MB was in the final of the very first ATP event they played (after some 4 challenger titles or something), on clay in Czechia or somewhere. The next event was Chennai ATP and they won it. Something like that. They were unstoppable after that. Within two years, they were playing all four grand slams' finals, making John McEnroe ask them at the US Open when he ran into them, "did you guys win, or is that a silly question"? ... Yeah, they were incredible.

[Correction: The Prague title was right after the Chennai title in 97, and they had a 3 or 4 ATP tour events before that, along with a whole ton of challenger finals and titles from the year before.]

[Atithee]

Remember, this is Yuki we are talking about. Different as doubles may be, the body mechanics are the same. You just can’t count on Yuki’s durability. In Basuland, anything is possible though.

[rajitghosh]

Yes Lee-Hesh were at a different level. It is a bit like comparing Sachin Tendulkar and Akash Chopra. It was also in an era where top players like Sampras, Ivanisevic, Brugera etc were beaten by Lee in singles not when someone concedes matches 1-4 down. In fact in a qualifying even in that era Lee beat a certain Roger Federer.

[prasen9]

How about Indian Regional Express?

[PKBasu]

^^^ I don't know. Wouldn't it be a bit of an insult to The Indian Express, who were at a much higher level? I mean, they are one of the top-10 greatest doubles teams in history based on the quality of their doubles during one period. The current teams are nowhere close to be called versions of them really.

Lee-Hesh won about 8-9 Challenger titles one year, then they started winning ATP titles, and in their 3rd year won 2 Slams and made all four Slam finals. Yes, that made them one of the greatest pairs of all time for a 3 year period 1998-2000 before acrimony ended the partnership. Yuki-Saketh and Jeevan-Balaji are nowhere near those achievements yet (i.e, the achievements of Indian Express Lee-Hesh in their 2nd to 4th year as a pair). But they are pretty close to what Lee-Hesh achieved in their first year -- on the Challenger tour. Hence, both pairings (in my view) are on track to make it to the top-10 or 15 pairs in the world by the end of this year -- and one of them will win a Slam title by the end of next year, or at least qualify for the ATP Year-end championship.