A historic run in New York
Four names tell you how rare this is: Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna — and now Yuki Bhambri. The 33-year-old from Delhi broke through to his first Grand Slam men’s doubles semi-final at the US Open 2025, partnering New Zealander Michael Venus barely a month after they decided to team up. Their late-start chemistry held through tight finishes and heavy hitters, until the sixth-seeded British pair Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury edged them 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 on the Grandstand to reach the final.
Their campaign had the feel of a team figuring things out in real time and getting sharper with each round. They took out the fourth seeds, Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, in the round of 16 — a statement result against one of the most organized teams on tour. Then came the quarter-final upset of the 11th seeds, Croatia’s Nikola Mektic and American Rajeev Ram, a pair with deep Grand Slam pedigrees. Bhambri and Venus won 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in two hours and 37 minutes, saving their best points for the important stages and riding the crowd buzz that grew with every clean return and poach.
Bhambri called it a nerve-heavy ride. After the quarter-final, he said the match felt like a blur of pressure points, adding that he and Venus were “just grateful to come through” against opponents “who’ve done it all” at this level. You could see what he meant in the numbers that mattered: no panic on second serves, aggressive first volleys, and smart use of the I-formation to drag returners out of rhythm. Venus, a seasoned Grand Slam champion, set the tone at net; Bhambri, quick off the mark and confident on the backhand return, picked his moments to punch through.
The semi-final was a different kind of test. Skupski and Salisbury don’t give much. They serve well, they don’t overplay, and they tend to hang around long enough to cash in on a single loose service game. That is exactly how it unfolded. After trading tiebreaks — the first to the Brits, the second to Bhambri and Venus — Salisbury and Skupski found a narrow opening midway through the third set and put their foot down. A single break became the hinge point of the match. From there, the British duo served it out with few alarms.
Still, this run matters because of where Bhambri came from. As a junior, he was the 2009 Australian Open boys’ champion and looked on track for a steady singles career. Then came a string of injuries that kept interrupting his climb and forced long restarts. Over the past couple of seasons, he pivoted toward doubles, trimmed his schedule, and rebuilt his confidence on serve-and-volley patterns. New York was the payoff — not a miracle week, but the kind of showing that happens when a player finally fits his game to his body and the tour.
Venus’ presence helped. The Kiwi knows how to navigate big matches; he has a French Open doubles title on his résumé and years of late-Slam experience. From the opening round at Flushing Meadows, you could see a clean division of roles. Venus took more center-line poaches and directed traffic at net. Bhambri hunted returns, especially to the hip, and used the body serve to set up easy first volleys. It wasn’t flashy. It was clear, repeatable, and built for tight sets on quick courts.
If you followed Bhambri during his singles years, this was a different player. Less grinding from the baseline, more first-strike tennis. Doubles rewards short swings, early decisions, and constant communication. Watching him with Venus, you could hear the call-outs at changeovers and see the mid-point signals. For a partnership that only came together a month ago, the trust built fast.
That trust was tested against Mektic and Ram. The quarter-final had all the red flags: two veterans with Grand Slam titles, familiar with New York’s gusty pockets on the outer courts and the late-afternoon glare. Bhambri and Venus shoved those disadvantages aside with solid first serves and safe high-percentage volley targets — deep-middle and away from Ram’s forehand counter. When the second set tightened into a tiebreak, they kept the ball in front and made the extra volley. That’s doubles in a sentence.
They rode that momentum into the semi-final, and for two sets, there was nothing between the teams. The Grandstand atmosphere helped; the Indian diaspora in Queens showed up with flags and noise, while Kiwi fans in New York added a splash of black and white. Bhambri fed off that energy, stepping into returns and forcing low volleys. Even in the third set, when Skupski and Salisbury finally got the break, Bhambri and Venus pushed the Britons to defend a 0-30 opening in the final game before the higher seeds wriggled free.
In practical terms, this semi-final brings a rankings bump that should change Bhambri’s calendar. He’ll get into the bigger events without juggling alternates lists. It also gives him leverage when choosing a partner for the rest of the season. If he and Venus stick together, they can map a run at the Asian swing and the indoor stretch, with an eye on seeding at majors next year. If they choose to go separate ways, this result still gives Bhambri options with established names who value a strong returner and a calm presence under pressure.
It’s also a marker for the Indian doubles line that has threaded through the Open Era. Paes and Bhupathi lit the path with Slam after Slam and a No. 1 ranking as a team. Bopanna, who lifted the Australian Open men’s doubles trophy in 2024, proved there’s room for late-career peaks. Bhambri’s semi-final nods to that history without copying it. He’s built differently: a singles-first talent who had to adapt, then found clarity in doubles. That’s a more common story in modern men’s tennis, where the margins are thin in singles and the path is wider in doubles for players with quick hands and good court sense.
For those keeping score on firsts and lists, here’s where Bhambri lands among Indian men in the Open Era who have reached Grand Slam men’s doubles semi-finals:
- Leander Paes — multiple men’s doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles; a pioneer of Indian doubles excellence.
- Mahesh Bhupathi — multiple men’s doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles; part of one of the most successful partnerships of the 2000s.
- Rohan Bopanna — men’s doubles Grand Slam champion in 2024 and a long-running force at the net.
- Yuki Bhambri — US Open 2025 semi-finalist, the newest addition to the group.
That’s good company, and it matters beyond nostalgia. When a new Indian name joins that list, junior coaches and sponsors pay attention. Kids in Delhi, Pune, and Hyderabad see a path that doesn’t require a 140 mph serve or the endurance of a five-set singles slog. Doubles is its own craft — reflexes, angles, teamwork — and India has the talent pool to feed it.
What changed for Bhambri? Two things stand out. First, he simplified his service games. Doubles doesn’t need ace counts; it needs first serves that set up the next shot. He kept locations simple — body and T — and trusted Venus to close. Second, he tightened his return patterns. Instead of swinging for lines, he focused on getting the ball down to the shoelaces and making the volley hard. Those shifts turned long points into quick wins and made tiebreaks feel manageable.
You could see that clarity against Krawietz and Puetz, a team built on structure and discipline. Bhambri and Venus refused to feed the Germans the same look twice. One point, I-formation with Venus pinching the middle. Next point, standard formation with Bhambri shading wide and drilling a return middle to jam Puetz. It wasn’t about reinventing doubles — it was about hiding patterns just enough to win three or four key points a set.
Venus’ experience threaded through the week. He handled the traffic at net, called the plays, and made the difficult pickups that keep pressure on opponents. He has been in big matches before and knows how to slow a tight game. That presence gave Bhambri license to swing on return and take bolder lines at 30-all. If they continue, they’ll only get cleaner at those reads.
The brittle part of their run showed up in the semi-final: the tiny gap between a new team and a seasoned one. Skupski and Salisbury are masters at squeezing a match without taking big risks. They play the scoreboard, accept long stretches of holds, and then pounce in a single return game. That’s what cracked the third set. It’s fixable. More reps together and a sharper second-serve plan would help them protect early in sets and get a look at 15-30 more often.
For Bhambri, the bigger win is confidence. Injuries can make a career feel like a maze with dead ends. Doubles gave him a lane with fewer physical tolls and more room to apply his hands and instincts. New York confirmed he can do this at the highest level against decorated teams. That changes how you show up to practice and how you walk into a locker room before a big match.
There’s also timing. This result comes in a season where doubles has seen unusual partner shuffles and new pairings breaking through. That volatility opens doors. A semi-final at a major is a high-value calling card when teams form for the next swing. Whether Bhambri pairs with Venus or explores other options, he won’t be short of calls.
The atmosphere around this run was different too. Indian fans have always traveled well to New York, and the Grandstand amplifies noise like few courts on site. Every hold felt bigger, and every mini-break got a roar. Players will tell you that doesn’t win matches for you, but it does make you commit to plays. Bhambri leaned into that. Even in the semi-final loss, he walked off like a player who knows he belongs.
What’s next? A reset, likely some recovery, and then a decision on the fall schedule. The Asian swing suits Bhambri — quicker courts, less travel strain out of Delhi, and plenty of doubles entries. Indoors in Europe can be a points magnet too. If the ranking bump lands as expected, he’ll get direct entries and, with the right partner, an outside shot at the year-end race if they catch fire. Long term, seeding at the Australian Open would be a realistic target.
However the calendar shakes out, this week already delivered the kind of validation athletes chase for years. A month-old partnership ran through elite teams and went the distance with a seasoned British pair in front of a packed New York crowd. It was measured tennis, smart tennis, and, for Bhambri, a very human result — the product of patience, pivots, and a belief that there was still room at the top of the doubles game for his skill set.
Indian tennis needed a story like this, not just for what it says about the past but for what it hints at in the next cycle. There’s a generation coming through with better coaching and more doubles awareness baked in from junior years. Seeing Bhambri plant a flag at a Slam semi-final tells them the route is open. And it reminds the rest of the tour that Indian names still show up late in New York, ready for traffic at the net and tension in breakers.
What this means for Indian tennis — and for Bhambri
Milestones can be overhyped. This one isn’t. Becoming only the fourth Indian man in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam men’s doubles semi-final ties a career story to a national thread that stretches across three decades. It also reshapes Bhambri’s next 12 months: a likely jump to a new career-high doubles ranking, a higher seeding band at ATP events, and far simpler logistics when it comes to entries and partners.
It’s fitting that the week played out in New York, where Indian doubles lore has roots — where Paes thrived, where Bopanna added chapters, and where the crowd understands the chess match at net. Bhambri didn’t just add a line to that history. He updated it for this era: fewer serve-and-volley clinics, more blended patterns, and the courage to partner up late and still take out favorites. That should travel well into the rest of the season — and give him every reason to double down on doubles.
