Girls find me cute: Yuki

When the 16-year-old walked inside the Delhi International Airport early this January, he only had his parents to see him off. A quick last-minute hug from mom, a hasty baggage check, clutching on his passport and boarding pass…it was just one more day.
This Monday, Yuki Bhambri walked out of the same airport amidst a posse of flashbulbs, fans and screaming teenage girls thrusting autograph books into his hands…life was not the same.

“I can tell you that a lot of hard work has gone behind the win. But you know what? It’s that dream moment for which you keep waiting all your life. I haven’t really woken up,” says the hottest property of Indian tennis, the first Indian to win the junior Australian Open title and current junior world number one.

Ask this guy whether girls of his age find him ‘hot’ and all he manages is a laugh. “Some girls have come and told me that they find me cute. But it’s not that I am hearing it for the first time,” he answers. So, do you have a girlfriend? “I mean…not really...I have friends, actually…” says Yuki, uncomfortably. Understandably so, since we’re talking on his mom Indu’s cellphone and her voice hovered in the background.

A quick change of topic to whether he’s planning to finish school? “Yes. Though actually, I was never that interested in studies. I have already dropped a year in-between. I will perhaps concentrate on my game after my 10th exams.”

Yuki is hopeful that his teachers at Delhi Public School will make a few exceptions for him. “My goal in life has always been tennis. I was studying because I needed to.  Right now, I feel I need the game more than my studies.”