Wimbledon 2018

[PKBasu]

9+ years since he won the AO junior title, and Yuki still doesn’t have the temperament or fitness to make it on the ATP tour. He became a top level Challenger player by 2012, proved that emphatically in 2015, and has only marginally moved up further this year (the two Masters performances being the signs of that). What a sorry tale of missed opportunities.

[sportsfan]

Like our Hockey teams of the last 3 decades alway letting in goals in the final minutes of a match, it is a near certainty that Yuki will get broken early in the next set after winning the first. Doing it in both the second and third sets against a fit guy who focuses on keeping the ball in play can be fatal. Yuki’s fitness and temperament (two sides of the same coin, which Leander has in spades) didn’t allow him to break back despite numerous chances.

Anyway, I hope someone who actually watched it will post a proper match report.

a lot of times it could be due to a combination of loosening your guard after winning the first set and not being watchful of or aware that the opponent is going to try to step up his game after losing the first set. soon that leads to impatience in finishing up the points and unforced errors creeping up. So in either situation, regardless of the outcome of the first set, they need to be ready to step up their game/focus starting the second set.

not having watched the match.. don't know if that was the case and Yuki was getting impatient trying to finish the points quicker leading to the rise in unforced errors. would like to hear it from those who watched the match.

[jai_in_canada]

Bhambri was not Fab today!! ☹

[S_K_S]

9+ years since he won the AO junior title, and Yuki still doesn’t have the temperament or fitness to make it on the ATP tour. He became a top level Challenger player by 2012, proved that emphatically in 2015, and has only marginally moved up further this year (the two Masters performances being the signs of that). What a sorry tale of missed opportunities.

I appreciate you are disappointed but that's a bit harsh. He's 85 in the world and therefore I would say he has made it on the ATP tour. Considering the serve, the lack of a weapon and his fitness record he has done well to get where he has. Yes, he could have made better decisions at times but I think your expectations of him on grass far exceeded what his results have been on the surface.

[PKBasu]

By “make it on the ATP tour”, I mean the ability to win regularly in ATP tournaments, and winning at least one round in a Slam. This year, he has had three increasingly easier opponents in each of the Slams, and performed very poorly on all three occasions — against an ageing Baghdatis, LL Bemelmans and qualifier Fabbiano.
Meanwhile I’m still waiting for someone who watched the match to write an analysis of it here...

[jai_in_canada]

While I would be very happy to see Yuki do better - duh - as in what his potential in the junior ranks might have led us to hope, I am still happy with how he has done in the past 12 months - going back to his win over Monfils in DC. He has qualified for Masters events and Grand Slams, which should help his self-belief. He seems to have stayed healthy, knock on wood. And he is still only 25. I believe/hope that he is a late bloomer who will get stronger all around in the next 5 years, and hopefully have a career that extends for another decade. The key for him is to stay healthy and not worry about short term expectations and pressures that are not in synch with his natural growth trajectory. Stay fit, get fitter - and the rest will take care of itself to the best of his potential.

[PKBasu]

I’m happy with what he has achieved in the past 12 months, including wins over Monfils, Pouille, Mahut, Fritz, Kokkinakis. And his current ranking of 85, which reflects that. But his utter failure in the Slams — in all 3 of which he got a very favourable draw — is galling. That it was injury/fitness that got in the way here and at RG is even more depressing to contemplate. We can’t console ourselves that he is achieving all this without a serve; surely all that could have been worked on in the last decade!
(He does have a forehand weapon, and good backhand, plus ATP level service return ability).

[sameerph]

By “make it on the ATP tour”, I mean the ability to win regularly in ATP tournaments, and winning at least one round in a Slam. This year, he has had three increasingly easier opponents in each of the Slams, and performed very poorly on all three occasions — against an ageing Baghdatis, LL Bemelmans and qualifier Fabbiano.
Meanwhile I’m still waiting for someone who watched the match to write an analysis of it here...

I watched from middle of first set onwards. Yuki was really playing superbly in the first set, hitting winners at will. I am sure if he had continued at that level, he would won the match in straight sets. But, from second onwards, suddenly he started missing a lot of shots which he was making earlier. Fabbiano was not playing anything special but it was Yuki who was gifting points to him. Vijay Amrtiraj was in the commentary team and he said that this match is on Yuki's racket. He is the one who is either making winners or errors and from second set onwards, there were more errors than winners. Fabbiano was just content on getting everything back and make Yuki play an extra ball. Only in the fourth set, Fabbiano ( with confidence of being ahead behind him) started hitting winners on serve and ground strokes.

At least on the face of it there did not seem to be any injury worries. Not sure what happened to him after first set. It looks like he has mental barrier playing in grand slams. Else, this was surely a winnable match for him.

[Sin Hombre]

Yuki has not made it to the main tour, most of his points are from the CH tour and he keeps getting beaten black and blue by the weakest opponents he could get in GS main draws.

This is not him losing to Murray or prime Berdych. And the most galling aspect is he is not even competing. He is getting thwacked by other challenger level players.

[Omkara]

Yuki has played very little either on clay or grass. This year was his first. He is more comfortable on hard courts. Let's have this debate after US Open.

[PKBasu]

The Australian Open (his favourite Slam) is on hard courts, and he failed miserably there. I don't know how many more excuses we need to make for him. Why the hell has he not played on grass or clay all these years?? Even as a junior! Just terrible lack of professional management.
There are mental aspects of the sport that Yuki is poor at. Sad but true. When he dominates and is feeling good mentally, he wins comfortably. When he has doubts, they creep in -- usually after the first set -- and he loses the plot. Sometimes, he is able to claw his way back, but against a retriever like Fabbiano that doesn't work. It is bizarre that he had a 0-3 record against this opponent (and it has become 0-4 now). This guy was someone Yuki should be beating comfortably, just as an ageing Bemelmans should have been beaten -- even on a surface like clay where he hardly plays. There, it was a mental thing (that he hadn't played on clay at all), and here it was a mental thing (as he had a losing record against this guy). Deal with it, pro!

[Ravishankar Krishnan]

While I'm barely an expert, I felt that Yuki makes a lot of errors on shots which are not either inside out forehands or cross court backhands. He was majorly shanking his cross court forehands and down the line backhands. This has seem like the trend whenever I've watched him. Mental side is an aspect, yes, but he really does need to work on these aspects of his game as well, and of course his service.

[punarayan]

Saw parts of the 2nd and 3rd sets and it was obvious of the impending result - Yuki was not comfortable on the slippery grass and the uneven bounces. He may win on grass simply because his usually speedy opponents cannot be fast on this surface, but they can be nimble, which Yuki is not.
He is a medium fast hard court baseliner, with great hands. I do not know if he will be a regular top 50 player, but I do love to watch him play up close, which I hope to do later this year. It is tough out there!

[Saniapower]

Tennis tests one individual against another like no other. The mental aspect is so important. If u fall behind it means a certain death. He is mentally not so tough. Errors are generating due to this.

[Atithee]

The Australian Open (his favourite Slam) is on hard courts, and he failed miserably there. I don't know how many more excuses we need to make for him.

Wow, this coming from PKB? Thank you because truer words have never been said. The fact of the matter is that Yuki has usurped the favorite top-100 opponent mantle from guess who — Somdev! Any player facing Yuki is wallowing in delight when he draws Yuki, his few higher level challenger level wins not withstanding. At least in the slams. Like it or not, but it’s the truth.