I could not play to my potential: Yuki Bhambri

Yuki Bhambri laments that he could not play to his true potential against world number six Tomas Berdych but his first round outing at the Australian Open has made him realise that he is not too far from the top lot in world tennis.

Bhambri hit some stunning winners in his duel with Berdych but fizzled out after a tight first set. The 23-year- old made a lot of unforced errors to make it easy for his superior Czech Republic opponent. He felt that going straight into the tournament without a competitive match under his belt, following an injury lay- off, was a factor in his defeat. "I fought a lot for my points but I wasn't completely at ease. I knew it would be a bit difficult as this was only the 10th day when I have held a racket after two months. And facing a top player on top of that was always going to be a bit difficult," he said.

Yuki succeeded in breaking the top-100 barrier in the 2015 season and he was confident of getting better results in the new season. "If I stay healthy I don't see why I should not have a good or even better year (than 2015). I feel like my career has just begun and I have only spent one year on the Pro tour. His next assignment is an ATP 250 event in Sofia, Bulgaria in February.