"Excited to finally get my first win, it's long overdue" - Yuki Bhambri on winning Wimbledon 2024 R1 with Albano Olivetti
It turned out to be a memorable birthday for Yuki Bhambri, India's No. 2 ranked doubles player. On Thursday, July 4, the world No. 55 celebrated his 32nd birthday with a first-round win in the men's doubles event at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Partnering with Frenchman Albano Olivetti, Bhambri defeated Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik and Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 6-4 to move into the second round.
"It was obviously a tricky match because both Bublik and Shevchenko come up with a lot of tricks, especially Bublik. So for you, it's really important for you to remain focussed and play your service games well, which we did. I think getting an early break definitely helped us to calm the nerves down," Bhambri told Sportskeeda.
The win marked his first-ever main draw win at Wimbledon — a significant milestone for the former junior world No. 1. He hopes to go deep in the tournament this fortnight.
"Excited to finally get my first win at Wimbledon. It's long overdue. So hopefully, we can continue to do well here and make it count and win a few more matches," he added.
Up next is a difficult assignment for the Indo-French duo, who will face the No. 8 seeds Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz of Germany. Both of them are Grand Slam winners.
"Krawietz is a men's Grand Slam champon and Puetz is a mixed doubles Slam winner. They are a tough team but you are playing a Grand Slam and you are not going find any really easy matches here. So in order to move up the rankings, you have to beat the good guys," Yuki Bhambri said.
"It's not always so straightforward at the Olympics unlike the ATP events, where it's purely ranking-based" - Yuki Bhambri
Bhambri, who won't be at the Paris Olympics after India's top-ranked doubles player Rohan Bopanna opted for Sriram Balaji as his doubles partner, shared his thoughts about the qualification scenario.
The entry lists for the Paris Olympics were recently published by the International Tennis Federation. Some fans were surprised to see the Brazilian duo of Thiago Monteiro and Thiago Seyboth Wild make the cut with a combined ranking of No. 146. Bhambri and Sumit Nagal, with a combined ranking of No. 131, were not named on the list.
"I think at the Olympics, qualification is usually a bit tricky. They have a lot of these spots reserved for singles/ singles (players), singles/ doubles (players). There's a lot of different combinations thay they have. So no idea about this. It's not always so straight forward at the Olympics unlike the ATP events, where it's purely rankings-based," Bhambri said in the same interview.