The Australian Open has happy memories for Yuki Bhambri. Fighting injuries through the last couple of years and being down with Covid-19, Yuki always kept competing in Melbourne as a major goal. For here, he had won the junior title in 2009 and became the No.1 junior in the world.

“I feel good, stepping on the court. I have happy memories from this slam. Hope it helps my confidence and serves me well,” Yuki, who will be playing the 248th ranked Joao Domingues of Portugal in the first qualifying round, said in a virtual media interaction on Sunday.

In 2019, Yuki had reached a career-best rank of 83, but a recurring knee injury kept him out of the tour repeatedly.

“I have come back multiple times in the past. I am looking forward to it. I enjoy playing and that has kept me motivated. I have missed being part of the Tour. I am excited and glad to be able to compete at the Australian Open. I will take one match at a time,” Yuki said.

He did play the ATP event in Melbourne with Michael Venus of New Zealand as a tune up for the Australian Open. Despite slipping to a world ranking of 1035, Yuki has a protected ranking of 127 which helped him to feature in the Australian Open qualifiers. He is eligible to keep the injury-protected ranking for 12 tournaments.

“I will like to use my protected rankings to play is the four grand slams and also perhaps the Maharashtra Open. Later in the year, if my ranking still permits, I want to play the masters in Miami and Indian Wells,” he said. He added that he was looking forward to playing in the Davis Cup against Denmark in March.

Yuki had defeated compatriots Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran in March 2021 in Dubai, and that was the last time he played singles on the professional tour.

Asked how he prepared himself to come back to the tour, he said: “I really don’t need to change much in the way I play. But yes, I have tried to become more focused and have concentrated on regaining my fitness.

“So more hours were spent in strength training and to improve my stamina. I have always liked to play an aggressive game. I am really not making any major changes in my style of play.”

Asked what he felt about the Novak Djokovic saga, he said the whole incident was unfortunate. “No one really expected him to come and play at the Australian Open without taking the Covid-19 vaccine. So when he wanted to, it surprised many. But there should have been more clarity regarding the exemption that he claims he has got. Unless I can talk to him directly, I will not know what really happened.”

Yuki was all praise for Ramanathan and Rohan Bopanna for winning the doubles title in Adelaide and said that it was a “great start to 2022’ for Indian tennis, as Sasikumar Mukund had also made it to a Challenger final.

Along with Yuki, Ramanathan and Prajnesh will feature in the men’s qualifiers while Ankita Raina will compete in the women’s qualifiers. Prajnesh will open his campaign against Colombian Daniel Galan while Ankita Raina will clash with Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko.

In 22 attempts so far, Ramkumar has not yet succeeded in reaching the singles main draw of a grand slam and will hope to break that jinx in Melbourne. He will face Italian Gian Moroni in the first round.

The year’s first Grand Slam will be live on Sony Six, Sony Ten 3 and Sony Ten 4 from January 17.