Fresh from his memorabale Davis Cup
debut, India`s new teen sensation Yuki Bhambri today said he
draws inspiration from cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar to
deliver at the highest level.
|Last Updated: Sep 26, 2009, 08:32 PM IST|Source: Bureau
Kolkata: Fresh from his memorabale Davis Cup
debut, India`s new teen sensation Yuki Bhambri today said he
draws inspiration from cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar to
deliver at the highest level.
"At this level, expectation will be there. There are
hopes of a billion people on Tendulkar to hit a century every
time he takes the bat. He is still the best player and
continues to perform for the country," the 17-year-old Delhi
lad said.
"Tendulkar is one of my idols whom I love to watch and
draw inspiration from. In tennis, I like Rafael Nadal among
the present crop of players and Pete Sampras from the past."
Replacing injured Leander Paes in the Davis Cup tie
against South Africa, Yuki defeated Izak Van der Merwe in the
dead fifth rubber to complete India`s comprehensive 4-1 win.
Yuki said he dreams of bettering the record of Paes, who
recently won the US Open doubles title with Lukas Dlouhy.
"You can never really replace a legend like Leander Paes,
he is such a great player. But hopefully I will do even better
than him (Paes). The goal is to play the Grand Slam in a
couple of years and to be among the best in the world.
"But there is still time for that and there is a lot of
improvements to be done," Yuki said.
"I am just happy to be part of the team and given the
chance, I have proved myself. It brings out your best while
representing your country."
Enjoying a careerbest ATP ranking of 415, Yuki said,
"This probably is the best year so far having won the Junior
Australian Open. I want to keep working hard and keep the
momentum going."
He lamented that the country does not have facilities to
produce world class players so they have to train abroad. We
still don`t have the facilities. The coaches don`t have the
knowledge. A country like US, is producing regular champions.
They know the way how to run the system. It is important for
us to train abroad," Yuki said.
He said grass court days were over and the players
now-a-days preferred hard or clay courts.
"The time has changed and the preferable surface is hard
court. Probably it`s past now as we don`t have any tournaments
anywhere on grass court apart from Wimbledon. The competition
is always held on hard or clay surface," he said.
Bureau Report
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