The Australian Open has been a happy hunting ground for India's Yuki Bhambri. The 32-year-old won the junior singles title here in 2009, which catapulted him to the world No. 1 ranking among the juniors. He played the singles main draw as a pro on three occasions - the most appearances for him among the four Majors. And he reached the last 16 in the doubles draw in 2014, his joint-best performance in a doubles Grand Slam alongside the 2024 US Open.
So it's no surprise that the Indian lists the first Grand Slam of the season as his favorite by a mile.
"I absolutely love playing Melbourne. It is my favorite Grand Slam by far. It sets the benchmark for all the other Slams, they treat you really good," Bhambri told Sportskeeda exclusively prior to his first round match. "A great, fantastic city, great crowd to play in front of. I am always happy coming back, competing here, and obviously a lot of fun memories from the 2009 Junior Australian Open."
Bhambri will kick off his fourth Australian Open men's doubles campaign on Wednesday when he and partner Albano Olivetti take on the local team of Tristian Schoolkate and Adam Walton on Court 8 at Melbourne Park. Schoolkate and Walton may be wildcard entrants but Bhambri is not underestimating the Aussie duo, who will have the support of the local crowd.
"Any match at the Grand Slam level is tough, especially against two good Australian singles players. With the crowd behind them, there's extra motivation for them to come out firing but hopefully we can compete well and and win tomorrow," Bhambri added.
Last year marked the first time that the Indian finished the season inside the world's top 50 in the rankings. He has begun the 2025 season on a strong note - reaching the quarter-finals in Hong Kong and then the semi-finals in Auckland last week.
"It's always nice to win some matches, especially at the start of the year, and just to get the rhythm going, going into a Grand Slam, and the confidence as well. You're happy with the performances, you always want to do better of course, but I think it was, it has been all right," Bhambri said.
"Singles is done, I had a good singles career, and I'm hoping to have a good doubles career now" - Yuki Bhambri
Bhambri and Olivetti have committed to playing together in 2025, hoping to build on their last year's success.
"Yes, I will be continuing my partnership with Albano. We had a good 2024, and we are going to play in 2025 as well, so hoping we can continue that. I think we were doing better and growing as a team, so hoping, that we can just move up the rankings further and make some inroads into some of these bigger events as well, so we have opportunities to play some of the best and competing for some of the important tournaments," Bhambri said.
"Personally, I would be happy if I could keep competing at the bigger events, at the ATP 500s and the Masters 1000 events, keep moving up in the rankings, keep improving the game, and of course, just being healthy, so that's always the goal, to compete at the highest level," the Indian added.
With the increasing longevity of tennis careers, at 32, Bhambri could have plenty of good years ahead of him. The current ATP Top 100 singles rankings include 15 players aged 32 or higher. But don't count on a singles comeback for Bhambri, who says he feels no itch to compete in singles anymore.
"There is no itch there. I had decided a very long time ago. I was pretty clear with how I wanted my career to go, and once I decided I wanted to focus on doubles, that was the way forward for me. I am pretty happy playing here, I'm pretty happy competing at doubles. Singles is done, I had a good singles career, and I'm hoping to have a good doubles career now. Hopefully I can do even better and give myself the opportunities of competing for some of the important events in doubles," Bhambri signed off.