Yuki hopes to make Davis Cup squad, but has no visa

New Delhi: Though India’s Davis Cup squad for the World Group play-off against South Africa next month has not yet been named, Australian Open junior champion Yuki Bhambri hopes to be part of it. As a precaution he had applied for the South African visa, but he could not get it as the server at the high commission was down. The 17-year-old Delhi youngster is leaving for New York Saturday night to play in the US Open, Sept 6-13, and planned to leave from there for Johannesburg for the Davis Cup tie from Sep 18-20. Yuki, who skipped the French Open and Wimbledon to play in ITF Futures, has made a strong case for his inclusion in the Davis Cup squad with a string of impressive performances that fetched him four titles, three of these in successive tournaments. Yuki said Saturday he had applied for the visa last week but due to the technical hitch he was left with no choice but to take his passport back without visa as he had to leave for the US. “I had applied for the visa last week. But I was told that the server is down at the high commission for the whole week. I had to withdraw the passport as I had to leave for the US Open. There will hardly be any time once the Championships are over,” said Yuki, who declined to be part of the squad as a reserve member for the tie against Chinese Taipei in February and instead preferred to play in tournaments in the US. A source in the high commission in the Capital confirmed that the server had indeed been down for the past one week. Yuki could still apply for the South African visa during his stay in the US. The top officials of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) are in Goa for the executive committee meeting and will only return Sunday. “We will look into the matter once we return. It should not be a problem,” said Ranbir Chauhan, AITA Executive Director. IANS