They are two of the best players in Indian tennis in recent years. Yuki Bhambri and Sumit Nagal, who have both won junior Grand Slam titles to act as foundations to their professional careers, entertained tennis enthusiasts on the show, Chai with Raja, hosted by fellow player Purav Raja.
Smart answers
Former junior World No. 1, Yuki, who had won the Australian Open junior title in 2009, was not sharp with his memory, and thus 22-year-old Sumit, who came up with smart answers, won the hearts and was declared the winner by judge Karman Kaur Thandi.
Having reached a career-best rank of 125, Sumit remembered the names of the current top-50 men’s players who were part of the doubles draw when he won the Wimbledon junior doubles crown with Vietnam’s Nam Hoang Ly.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Casper Rudd, Miomir Kecmanovic, ranked at their best from No.5 to 47, figured in that junior doubles draw in 2015.
Job not done
Yuki felt that he could have broken into the top-50 in 2018, but for the knee injury, and declared that the job was not done. “Watch out for me in 2021,” he said.
He chose sister Sanaa for mixed doubles and added that he would like to be remembered as one “who realised his potential”.
Nagal said that he would love to have Tiger Shroff or Varun Dhawan act his role in a film, in which a kid passionate about cricket gets into tennis and nearly quits the game, before journeying across Bengaluru, Canada and Germany and finding the way.
Sumit conceded that he would not challenge the ultra-fit Somdev Devvarman over an 800-metre race, as he had lost to him.
When asked what car he would buy for his dad, Nagal said that he would rather buy him a ‘Bullet’ as the one he had bought for him was stolen.
