Yuki gears up for yet another comeback

IN A black armband lies a message. Yuki Bhambri wears one as well. Rather, it’s a brace that he sports just under the right elbow. He calls it his “best friend” (along with his tennis racquets). It’s a reminder of another battle he was made to overcome due to the rigours of the tennis tour, on a body already prone to injury. In a professional career that has spanned six years, he claims to have spent only three years playing. The remainder, he was out with injury.

The latest in the long list of injuries was an inflammation of the tendons in the lateral epicondyle of the elbow — or Tennis Elbow — and required rest and rehabilitation for six months. But he’s back at the top level of the sport. Yet again; resurfacing from the realm of illness and doubt.

A rank of 532 could only allow him a spot in the qualifying rounds of the ATP event, that too as a wild card entry. And there was uncertainty about how the 24-year-old’s body would cope.

Eyes immediately fell upon the black armband, when he stepped out onto the outside courts of the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai. Equally noticeable was that he had put on more muscle. A lanky teen, Bhambri has steadily grown into his frame and now sports a polished, lean look.

A baseliner with an impressive array of attacking shots, his grounds strokes carried a bit more oomph than what was seen before. So much so that while he overcame his opponent in the first round of qualifying in 70 minutes, he dismantled world number 110 Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 6-1 in just under an hour to make it to the main draw.

“Every time I’ve come back, I’ve come back better. I’ve tried to push myself more to improve more. Not just physically or mentally, but game-wise as well,” he says.

“I always feel like I want to come back better than I was. I’ve always done that over the years and hopefully I can do that again this time.” Bhambri now is a veteran of injuries. Ever since he entered the top flight, his body has buckled under pressure, be it problems with the ankles or the shoulder. He’s used to the grind of putting in the hard hours in the rehabilitation phase. And in all that time, he’s formed a mental resilience to keep coming back.

Elbow injury

But the elbow injury was a bit more scary, at least for his support system. “We were thinking that this could be it. That he won’t be able to play anymore,” recalls his mother, Indu. “With a tennis elbow injury, you can’t play tennis, but you can still live a normal life. But he got straight back into rehab. He knew he wanted to come back,” she adds.

“It was more about not being able to play. When you start out, this is what you enjoy doing,” says Bhambri. “Yes, you’re making a livelihood out of it, but something you can’t forget is that you enjoy it. It’s (injury) keeping you away from playing. And that’s something hard to do.”

Equally hard is watching his peers play while he recovers. “Sometimes I’m watching and I feel, ‘What’s he doing? I could have done better’,” he jokes. And that’s significant. After all the injuries he’s gone through, his tenacity will not let him miss out on a chance to return.

“I watched Davis Cup ties, watched fellow competitors play the Slams and I missed being there. Nothing replaces that feeling so I want to get back and want to compete and give myself another chance to do that,” he says. If he’s a veteran of injuries, he’s a master at comebacks as well. After a six-month gap, Bhambri returned to the courts in September.

“What makes coming back tougher is that the body doesn’t respond in the same way when you get back. The elbow was fine, but three days into practice, the shoulder started to hurt because it had become rusty, so I couldn’t serve for a week,” he says.

He started off by playing a series of Challengers and Futures events in the United States. Surprisingly, in December, when most in the tennis community are enjoying the offseason, Bhambri travelled to Hong Kong to play and win a Futures event — without dropping a set. It was a tournament suited for those far below his stature. Yet he welcomed it.

“There would be tougher matches and I wanted to be ready when I got to Chennai and later in Australia. This is the time players are rusty because they’re coming from a break. But I wanted to be in the zone because I was done with all the training, I was bored of it. I wanted to play,” he adds.

On Monday, the Delhi boy climbed by 58 places in the rankings, to 474. An eventual goal is to push further.’ “If I can play out the season,” he says, adding that so far he’s played an entire season just once in his career — in 2015 when he ranked a career best 88. Playing in his ninth Chennai Open, the former quarterfinalist at the event faces an interesting opponent in his first-round tie, Ramkumar Ramanathan. The local lad is 227 in the world and the second best Indian singles player in terms of rankings, and was brought into the Davis Cup team to replace the absent Bhambri.

But he has returned. Both on the ATP circuit and the Davis Cup. And with his new ‘best friend’ pushing him along, there’s a hope he’ll stay.

Every time I’ve come back, I’ve come back better, says Yuki.