Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) Tennis guru Nick Bollettieri wants India’s rising tennis star Yuki Bhambri to be more aggressive mentally to succeed at the international circuit.
Yuki,17, is a gradute of the Bollettieri’s tennis academy at Florida which has produced scores of World number one in Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic, Marcelo Rios, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova and Venus and Serena Williams.

“Yuki is terrific, he is a very intelligent boy and he will go a long way. He has a lot of ability,” said Bollettieri, who is here to pick top Indian junior players as a part of IMG-Reliance scholarship.

“He has a good serve, good volley and excellent groundstrokes and he moves very well. He is a big boy and he needs to be a bit more stronger.

“What he needs the most is to be more aggressive in mind. It’s important to have self-belief that you can compete with the best in the circuit and Yuki needs to believe that he can take on the best,” he said.

Dressed in a white tennis outfit, 78-year-old American of Italian origin laid a great emphasis on the physical fitness to become a top player.

“It took (Tomas) Berdydch 24 years to develop his mindset to match his abilities. And for that one should be physically fit. If you are fit, you make better decisions. Look at Nadal, he knows he is strong, and therefore he rarely errs in his shot selection,” Bollettieri said.

“Remember, on court you don’t need a soldier but a warrior. Today’s tennis is a power game where you have big guys sweating it out on the court and to match them it is important to have the self-belief.”