Yuki Bhambri/ Saketh Myneni (pair) Thread

[rajitghosh]

WIth due respect when Lee and Hesh got together they were 23 and 22 respectively. Their fitness was at their peak. Not like Yuki and Saki who are on the last legs of their career with questionable fitness. Have we forgot Lee's incredible speed to even draw such comparisons?

[PKBasu]

Yes, Lee-Hesh were younger when they got together, and Leander perhaps sacrificed a bit of his singles chances as his focus on doubles increased. But Leander was nearly 24 when he first reached 50 in the ATP doubles rankings in 1997. In 1996, they won 4 Challenger titles (two in India, one each in Aruba and Uzbekistan) and lost a number of Challenger finals and SFs. We (at least I) remember 1996 as a year in which they stormed the Challenger circuit, winning tournament after tournament. It wasn't quite like that. Yuki-Saketh actually had a better 2022 on the Challenger circuit (starting with Futures, actually) than Lee-Hesh had in 1996.

In 1997, Lee-Hesh lost in R1 at Doha, then won the Singapore Challenger (I was there cheering them in the SF and final), but lost in R1 of the Aus Open, won a round at the ATP Shanghai against a local wildcard pair but lost to a Challenger-type pair in the next round, then lost in R1 at Dubai. Remarkably similar to the Yuki-Saketh schedule in 2023 so far, with Lee-Hesh actually performing less well 26 years ago. So, labelling Yuki-Saketh IE 2.0 is not outrageous at all.

Of course, later that year, LP-MB went on a terrific run. They lost in R1 at Indian Wells, won a round at Miami (Masters), then they won the ATP Chennai title in April 1997, which catapulted Leander to 66 in the rankings (from 83). They did not play a single pair of 2 top-100 doubles players on the way to the Chennai ATP title (the best pair they beat had a combined doubles ranking of 217). Then they won the Prague Challenger and ATP Prague titles in successive weeks. (Apart from the SF win over a pair with a combined ranking of 99, Johnson-Santoro, all their other opponents in the ATP Prague tournament were Challenger-type pairs). This took LP to 50 in the doubles rankings. Then they won the Jerusalem Challenger, lost in R2 of the FO, R2 (last 16) at Queens Club, R2 (QF) at Rosmalen, R1 at Wimbledon< R2 (QF) at Newport.

THEN, beginning in the last days of July 1997, they began their great run, winning the Canada Masters, making the QF (winning 2 rounds) at the Cincinnati Masters, winning the ATP New Haven (making them one of the hottest pairs in the run-up to the USO), making the SF at the US Open (second time for LP), then winning the ATP Beijing, and the ATP Singapore (called the Heineken Open: I was there cheering them on in the stands along with almost the entire crowd) -- which took LP to #11 in the doubles rankings. Then they lost in the QF of the Stuttgart Masters and R1 (last 16) of the Paris Masters, before finishing runner-up in the ATP year-end championships. They had arrived as a top pair!

So Yuki-Saketh (although of course older in age) are so far on a trajectory that is better than LP-MB at this stage of their pairing. The big test will come over the next 6 months.

[arjun2761]

^^^^^
One other similarity was that each pair had a brilliant but more flawed player. LP was a wizard at the net (one of the best all-time) but was average from the back court and had a limited serve. Mahesh was a very good all round doubles player with no weaknesses.

Likewise, in the YukiSaki combination, Yuki is one of the best doubles player from the back court, is very good at the net but has a very limited serve. Saketh is pretty solid with his serve and net game but isn't as good from the back court.

Overall, the ceiling for Yuki-Saki appears to be a lot lower than LP-MB but should be high enough that they have a productive ATP doubles career.

[sameerph]

So, 2022-23 for Yuki-Saki as of now is similar to 1996-97 for Lee-Hesh, in fact somewhat better. But, Lee-Hesh took a giant leap in later part of 1997. Can Yuki-Saki do the same later in 2023 ? They are of course aged 30 and 35 but still can have about 5 solid years as a pair on ATP tour if they succeed.

[Dinesh]

Here is the schedule for this pair for the next couple of weeks:

March 27th - April 2nd : ATP75 Challenger, Girona, Spain
April 3rd - 9th : Houston ATP 250

[sameerph]

Yuki-Saki play their first round match in Houston tomorrow.

At Houston ATP 250, USA ( Clay)

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (IND) vs. Robert Galloway (USA) / Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX)

This is their schedule for next 3 weeks-

April 3- Houston ATP 250, US
April 10- Sarasota Challenger 125, Florida, US
April 17- Munich ATP 250, Germany

[sameerph]

They lost in a close match.

At Houston ATP 250, USA ( Clay)

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (IND) l. Robert Galloway (USA) / Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) 67(6) 62 5-10

[arjun2761]

Bummer of a loss in match they didn’t lose their serve even once while breaking their opponents twice. But seemingly played a poor match tie breaker.

[Dinesh]

Sarasota Challenger (Har-Tru Clay),

YukiSaki were in real trouble mostly due to Yuki’s umpteen mistakes until the middle of the second set. I still cannot believe they turned this around.

(4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,76) / Saketh Myneni (IND,78) 3-6 6-4 10-5 Martin Damm Jr (USA, 480)/ Toby Kodat (USA,727)

[jayakris]

The QF is against Dustin Brown (JAM)/ Tim Sandkaulen (GER), but our guys are playing like school kids today. Making mistakes left and right; both of them. That is their pattern these days. 2-6 down after one set.

[Dinesh]

Add 7 double faults to the mix. This is not going to get any win even against unknown competition. Lost 2-6 4-6 and then they head to Munich for the 250 tournament.

[rajitghosh]

Few days ago they were being called Indian Express II. Maybe we need to find a more appropriate name.

[jayakris]

^^^ Not really. We were actually pushing back on our optimist-for-ever PKB's hope that they had already become Indian Express version 2.0. Our conclusion was to wait and hope that PKB would be proven right, rather than agree with him. Unfortunately the last few weeks have not gone the way we hoped.

BalaJeevan probably is closer in style to Indian Express and might end up doing better than YukiSaki, if YukiSaki don't take some clear steps to fix their unforced-errors and inconsistency issues.

[sameerph]

They are playing at Munich ATP tomorrow and have a tough first round match.

At Munich ATP 250, Germany (Clay)

[R1] Yuki Bhambri (IND) / Saketh Myneni (IND) vs. (3) Nathaniel Lammons ( USA) / Jackson Wilthrow (USA)

Yuki-Saki lost to this pair at Dallas ATP SF and after that this pair reached Miami semi final and Acapulco final.

[arjun2761]

Tough match. Which probably means that they will pull out the win in the match tie break