Yuki Bhambri can carry India's doubles legacy forward: Raven Klaasen

BENGALURU: India has enjoyed good success in men's doubles over the last three decades. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi created a remarkable legacy, with 54 (eight Grand Slams) and 52 (four Grand Slam) ATP doubles titles respectively. Rohan Bopanna took over the mantle, bagging 26 doubles titles (one Grand Slam) before retiring last year. The trio — all former world No. 1s — set a high benchmark for the doubles game in India.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The spotlight now turns to Yuki Bhambri, currently the highest-ranked Indian at No. 21 in doubles, who faces the challenging task of taking the legacy forward. The 33-year-old, who was troubled with knee injuries in the past, shifted his full focus to doubles after ending his singles career in 2023. The Delhi player, who achieved a career-high singles rank of 83 in April 2018, won the Dubai ATP 500 last year alongside Australia's Alexei Popyrin. He reached the 2025 US Open semifinals with New Zealand's Michael Venus. South Africa's Raven Klaasen, coach at the Doubles Dream of India project, an initiative by the Pune Metropolitan District Tennis Association, said: “India has been fortunate to have someone at the top of the doubles category for a long time, and Yuki is in a good position to carry that legacy ahead.“In terms of doubles, Yuki is still young, he's improving. He has always been a good ball-striker from the baseline, has become better at the net. His serve has improved. But the real push comes now — to reach world No. 1, you need sustained good results,” added Klaasen, former doubles world no. 7, who closely monitored Indian doubles players at the recently concluded Bengaluru Open.In Auckland on Monday, the top-seeded pair of Bhambri and Swedish partner, Andre Goransson made a confident start to their campaign at the ASB Classic, cruising into the men's doubles quarterfinals with a straight-sets win over the wildcard pairing of Ajeet Rai and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-3 6-2 in a first-round match.Importance of consistent partnershipsBhambri will partner Andre Goransson in the Australian Open. Finding a consistent partner is a challenge in doubles. In fact, Bhambri, the boys' singles champion at the 2009 Australian Open, played with ten different partners in 2025. He teamed up with American Robert Galloway at Wimbledon and the French Open, and partnered with France's Albano Olivetti at the Australian Open.Klaasen believes having a consistent partner is crucial. “It is certainly better if you want to reach the very top of the game. To play the World Tour Finals, you need a stable team structure. When both partners are in sync and share the same beliefs, results follow. The challenge is finding someone you trust in big moments and working together toward common goals.”Klaasen also believes Bhambri would benefit most from partnering with a powerful player whose game complements his own.