Yuki Bhambri poses with the 2025 Dubai Duty Free Championship | Image Credits : IMAGO / Hasenkopf
India’s top-ranked doubles player Yuki Bhambri will begin his Australian Open campaign this week after coming off the most successful season of his doubles career in 2025 and putting in focused work on his fitness and game during the off-season.
The 33-year-old enters the first Grand Slam of the season as the 10th seed in the men’s doubles event, partnering Sweden’s Andre Goransson. The pair have a 2–2 record so far in the 2026 season, having reached the semi-finals at the ATP 250 event in Auckland last week.
"I am pretty excited to be back in Australia playing again," Bhambri told Sportshadow exclusively from Melbourne. "We have had some good matches. It's also nice to not come off completely new and fresh to a new partner. Andre and me played one or two tournaments last year as well and so I think we're better prepared coming into Australia."
In the opening round of the first Grand Slam of the year, the Indo-Swede pair will take on the Australian wild card duo of James Duckworth and Cruz Hewitt, the son of former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt.
"I do know James Duckworth from my singles career and early days as well.He is obviously a great player, and Cruz Hewitt is another good one in the making. It's always tough to play local guys. We will put our best foot forward and go out there and really play to our potential."
Currently ranked world No. 22 in doubles, Bhambri is on the brink of breaking into the top 20 for the first time in his career. However, the former junior world No. 1 is prioritising consistency, particularly at the Grand Slams and the ATP Masters 1000 events, as he looks ahead to the 2026 season.
"I'm just trying to get better, and you obviously want to move as high as possible in the rankings, so that's always the case. You are always trying to just improve as much as you go and one way to go about that is to be consistent in the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 events. So, I would say one of the goals is to just be consistent on all surfaces throughout the year," Bhambri added.
Bhambri arrives in Melbourne — where he won the junior Australian Open singles title 17 years ago — following a solid training block during the off-season, which he hopes will stand him in good stead during the long year ahead.
"During the offseason, I have had the opportunity to really work out and train hard. We don't get a whole lot of time on the tour since it's quite busy from January to November. So I had a good month, month and a half, of really working hard on the game, on the body, and hopefully that will pay off in the near future," Bhambri said.
Following the Australian Open, Bhambri will return home for India’s Davis Cup Qualifiers Round 1 tie against the Netherlands at the S.M. Krishna Tennis Stadium in Bengaluru on February 7 and 8, an occasion he is eagerly looking forward to.
"It's been a while since I've played at home, so I'm looking forward to that," Bhambri said.
Although the Dutch team will be without two of their top three singles players — Tallon Griekspoor and Botic van de Zandschulp — Bhambri expects a tough challenge for the Indian team, which also includes Sumit Nagal, Dhakshineswar Suresh, Rithvik Bollipalli and Karan Singh.
"The Dutch team still has quite a few good players and we as a singles unit are still quite low-ranked compared to them, so it's a big, big challenge. Playing the Davis Cup Qualifiers, it's not going to be easy and there are going to be no easy matches there. For us to try and maintain this level, we have to be competitive against some of the best players when we have the opportunity," the Indian signed off.
Bhambri and Goransson will play their first-round doubles match at the Australian Open on Wednesday.