Kolkata:
Fresh from his memorable Davis Cup debut, India's new teen sensation Yuki Bhambri on Saturday 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 career best 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.
"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 career best 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.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
