Davis Cupper Yuki Bhambri reflects on the year gone by. Among the world’s top 350, the Delhi boy spoke to Mobile ESPN.

By Bhagya Ayyavoo

An Australian Open Junior crown, five Futures titles, a dream Davis Cup debut in a tie that put India in the world group, first time in 11 years and a top-350 finish in the ATP rankings. It has indeed been a fairytale year for junior No. 1 Yuki Bhambri. The Delhi boy's final plans of playing at the US Challenger event were spoiled by an untimely back strain. MobileESPN caught up with the young champion in an exclusive chat recently. Excerpts:

Bhagya Ayyavoo: Yuki, we heard about the injury, anything serious?
Yuki Bhambri: No, I am recovering from it. I am much better. I had a bit of a problem on my lower back, a muscle strain. But, it's on the verge of recovery. I think I will be back in a week or so.

BA: That's nice. Does it mean you still have a tournament or two before the season-end?
YB: I had plans of playing a Challenger in the US which is going on right now. But, I couldn't compete in that due to this injury. So, that's all for this year, I will start in January at the Chennai Open.

BA: Now that the season has ended for you, how would you sum-up this year?
YB: It's definitely been one of my best seasons in tennis. I had a fairytale start to the year by winning the junior Australian Open. I carried on that form by doing well in the men's Futures events. Then, got a Davis Cup call and when you win your debut match, I think it was incredible especially for me, at a young age. Finishing the year again after getting some good wins on the men's tour and then breaking into the Top 350 was again not expected. Initially, my goal was just was to do well on the men's tour and break into the Top 500. I think I have exceeded my own expectations.

BA: Absolutely. Yuki, with your transition from junior tennis to the men's tour still in progress, how have you planned the next year?
YB: Yes, I do realize that this is going to be the tough bit when I try to break into the men's tour and when I am trying to do well at the higher-level tournaments. I think I have proved myself in the lower-level events. Now, I would like to start playing at the higher level, like the Challengers and the ATP events. My focus will be more on the Challengers and may be if I get a chance to play the ATP events, I will try and play couple of those as well. Because, it's important to get the experience and you won't get a chance to compete against the top players unless you're playing the ATP events. I have got a chance at the Chennai Open and I will also be playing the qualifying of the Australian Open men's singles event.

These are two big tournaments to start with. If I can do something in these two, I think it will give me a lot of confidence early on in the next season. So, the focus will be to try and do well in the Challengers and hopefully try and get my ranking up next year, so I will be able to enter the US Open qualifying round and then try and crack the Australian Open main draw in 2011.

BA: Now that you your focus will be on the ATP Challenger event, there isn't any home Challengers to help you. We didn't have a single event in India this year? How badly will that affect your progress?
YB: We did have a couple of them last year in 2008.Then they shifted it to Futures which was good as well. But, I think it is always important to have a mixture of all tournaments. We have got one ATP which is good. We have a lot of Futures and that's very important too. But it is important we put in those Challenger-level events as well, even if all the Indian players can't perform there. We still need that experience to know how it is and how to improve ourselves rather than spending a lot of money trying to play Challengers in Asia, Europe or even the US. In Europe, there are probably about 20 such in both men's and women's category. Some places like Paris have an event every other week. And it's nothing less in the US. So, why not we have something like an Asian tournament? It would do us a lot of good if we have some of those closed circuit events where only Indians and Asians can play.

BA: And finally, have you set yourself a ranking target for 2010?
YB: Well, I haven't really given it much of a thought yet. Now that I am here (Top 350), may be I should try and break into the Top 200 or even in the Top 150 next year. If I can achieve that, I can take a shot at the Grand Slams by 2011.