After his quarter-final defeat at the US Open earlier this month, world No 1 junior Yuki Bhambri put part of the blame on the hastily arranged indoor courts in New York, where he was forced to play after rain made tennis on the usual courts at Flushing Meadows impossible.

But on Sunday at the Ellis Park indoor facility in Johannesburg, the surface posed no such problems as Yuki won his Cup debut against South Africa’s No 269-ranked Izak van der Merwe, pulling off a comeback win after being a set down in the fifth rubber, and even though the result was rendered inconsequential as the tie had already been decided, the result would be one that Yuki remembers all his life.

“The Davis Cup is way different from any other tournament. I played better, more freely after Somdev won us the tie, and my debut match was all about getting the best out of myself,” said Yuki at a press conference after arriving from Johannesburg.

“It was great to win my first Davis Cup match. It’s an honour to play for your country and I enjoy being part of a team. I reached South Africa on Tuesday and was practicing everyday with my team mates on the same courts, so I was ready to play a match. At the US Open, I wasn’t expecting to play indoors, that’s why I had trouble there,” he reiterated.

Sitting on the sidelines cheering on Somdev and Rohan Bopanna from the time they began India’s victory journey on Friday, Yuki soaked in the Davis Cup atmosphere, and there would have been a time when he felt as though his chance wouldn’t come in this tie. When Somdev was two sets and a break down on Sunday, Rohan Bopanna left courtside to begin his warm-up for a potential decisive rubber, as Wesley Moodie did the same for the visitors. But following the brief festivities after India made it 3-1, Yuki was ready for his turn.

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