It’s all in the genes. It started with the eldest daughter taking up the sport, and now the whole of the present Bhambri clan is into tennis. What began as a recreational activity now runs deep in their blood, and it is their love for the sport that has led the present generation of the Bhambri family to give the country some of its most promising tennis players of late.
From Ankita to Sanaa to Yuki, and now their cousin Prerna, tennis seems to be a regular dish on the Bhambris’ dinner table.
“Growing up with sisters (Ankita and Sanaa) who have excelled in the same field, it became quite easy for me to follow in their footsteps. They always guide and motivate me. While all of us are associated with tennis, the best part is that everyone understands when someone loses or wins. The emotions we share with regard to tennis are understood by all of us very well, which is a kind of advantage,” says Yuki Bhambri, who recently won the national title at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi.
How it began
Ankita Bhambri, the first child of the family, took up the sport only at her parents’ persuasion, as a recreational activity on the nearby Siri Fort courts. Two years later her younger sister Sanaa joined her to keep her company. The Bhambri sisters have been among the country’s top women players and have both been national champions. They won titles at ITF women’s circuit events held in India: Ankita has eight singles and seven doubles titles, while Sanaa has two singles and nine doubles titles.
“We took Ankita to play tennis just to keep her engaged, but she showed positive signs of taking it further. Following in her footsteps, my younger daughter Sanaa started playing tennis too. It became a daily ritual taking them to the courts and seeing them improve with each passing day,” recalls Indu Bhambri, their proud mother.
Ankita adds, “Having your own sister in the same field was a privilege for me – we travelled together and discussed our games. Whenever we were travelling on tour we stayed together, shared rooms and always had the comfort of a close one right next to us.”
Ankita stopped playing on the professional circuit two years ago and now handles promotion and marketing for the company Team Tennis at the Siri Fort Complex to promote the game. Sanaa, who is pursuing an MBA in the US, still plays at university level.
Cousins follow suit
Seeing Ankita and Sanaa progress in the sport, their first cousin Prateek Bhambri, son of Narender and Poonam Bhambri, was motivated to try his hand at it too. Prateek, a third-year student at St Stephen’s College, Delhi, has played on the national circuit but has been out of the sport for the past year and a half because of an elbow injury.
“I got interested in tennis seeing Ankita and Sanaa progress in the sport. Yuki and Prerna followed me. I practise with Yuki and my own sister Prerna many times. We discuss game plans and ways of improving our game,” says Prateek, who will resume training very soon.
Sport runs in their veins. With the eldest children of the same generation in the family, Ekta Bhambri and Esha Bhambri, having represented India at the 6th Asian Table Tennis Championships, sport was no alien terrain for the rest of the children.
Prerna, the youngest of the lot and the top seed on the national circuit, is a new hope for Indian women’s tennis, having won her maiden ITF title earlier this year. Inspired by her cousins, she took up the game at the age of five.
“I started playing tennis about 13 years ago at the Shanti Sports Complex in Vasant Kunj. From there I moved on to train with Aditya Sachdeva at the Siri Fort complex. With elder brothers and sisters who have already excelled in tennis, it is really helpful to get advice, opinions and tips from your own people, whom you can trust. Also, since all of them have so much experience in the field, I can be saved from a lot of the errors and hazards they must have gone through in their careers. All of them are much better than me and I have a long way to go,” says the 18-year-old.
Whenever any of the family’s children plays, family members make sure they accompany them to the courts. Indu Bhambri, a housewife, is always beside her children to boost their confidence, while Chander Bhambri, a pathologist by profession, finds tennis a great sport and always accompanied his daughters on tour when they were playing.
Managing the costs
With all the children playing a sport that is not cheap, financing was a real problem when Ankita and Sanaa were playing, but the family always managed despite the shortfalls.
“The girls never got that push, but with Yuki it was a different scenario. He got sponsors pretty early, unlike Ankita and Sanaa. For Ankita it was the most challenging, as she was the first one to start. Sanaa got a sponsor, but that was not enough. Somehow we managed for them, and they in turn made it easier for the younger children of the family.”
Ankita says, “We had a tough time as a family while we were playing, with finances and sponsors. But with Yuki, we wanted everything to be perfect. We used our experience as best we could so that Yuki had the best of everything.”
The siblings speak to each other every day, sharing stories, discussing tennis and listening to each other’s assessment of their performances. Yuki and Prerna, the only two now playing on the professional circuit, are carrying the family’s sporting legacy forward and living up to expectations.
By Akshi Aggarwal
Indian Sports News
