Yuki Bhambri has decided to play at the 2026 US Open after a dream run in 2025

Yuki Bhambri will look to draw on memories of his breakthrough run at last year’s US Open when he returns to Flushing Meadows for another campaign alongside New Zealander Michael Venus. Indian and Venus reached the semi-finals in 2025 and put together an impressive run before their challenge was ended by Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski.

Bhambri and Venus were seeded 14th last year and stunned fourth-seeded Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the third round. beating 11th seed Nikola Mektic and Rajeev Ram in the quarterfinals. They eventually lost their semifinal 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 to Salisbury and Skupski after a match that lasted nearly three hours.

With another opportunity in New York, Bhambri believes the biggest challenge will be making the right mental change and not letting last year’s success create unnecessary expectations.

“I think it’s a bit of a mental switch when I made a deep run and I was pretty close to making the finals last year. So I have good memories of last year when I got to the semis. I had good success in both singles and doubles. Obviously last year was a big one for me and a bit of a breakthrough. So I’m looking forward to the last one again and I’m looking forward to going out.” I am definitely excited to step up and perform,” Bhambri told JioHotstar.

‘EVERY MATCH IS DIFFICULT’

Bhambri and Venus will begin their 2026 campaign against the American pair of Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac. The first-round clash is set for September 5, with the Indian-Kiwi pair entering the tournament hoping to emulate the consistency that saw them deep into the draw 12 months ago.

The pair of Trhac and Seggerman enjoyed a strong performance together, including a final appearance at the Los Cabos tournament in August.

“I think we’ll probably take it match by match, but hopefully we can go deep again. That would be great. I’m back playing with Michael and we’re both looking forward to it. Obviously we’ve got a tough first round against two local Americans. We’ve seen so many upsets so you can’t really look past the first round. Every match is tough. Ideally you’d like to focus on everybody, but I think how we’re going to do it all goes.” Bhambri added.

The 2026 season has already provided some encouraging moments for Bhambri. Earlier this year, he reached the quarterfinals of Indian Wells with Andre Goransson, while he and Venus continued to partner in several tournaments.

Now, with last year’s semi-final run serving as both an inspiration and a reminder of what’s possible, Bhambri will focus on turning those fond memories into another unforgettable fortnight in New York.

– The end

Issued by:

sabyasachi chowdhury

Published on:

05 Sep 2026 19:27 IST