Pune: At the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, Rutuja Bhosale was a ball girl during a match featuring Yuki Bhambri.Nearly two decades later, the two will combine to defend India’s gold in mixed doubles at the Asian Games tennis competition, starting Sunday.“Being the defending champion is an incredible feeling. I have never had this before, so it’s very exciting. And I will be playing with another great player, Yuki, who is playing so well. It is an opportunity to learn and also see how well I can play,” said Rutuja, who topped the podium with former world no. 1 Rohan Bopanna in Hangzhou in 2023.“Just to play for India is an incredible opportunity and I want to make the most out of it. I will be taking a lot of positives that I won it last time and I am capable of doing it again.”Partnering Yuki will be a different experience for Rutuja as she has switched to playing a full doubles schedule since last year.“I was actually telling him how I had ball-girled his match during the Commonwealth Youth Games. So for me it is an opportunity to learn, now that I am a full-time doubles player,” the 30-year-old said.“I am seeing how Yuki, Bala (Sriram Balaji) and Anirudh (Chandrasekar) are practising. It is so different from women’s doubles but just to watch is very informative for sure. I am just super excited to step on the court and see what we can do as a team.“As of now I am playing the forehand side and Yuki is playing the backhand side. We played a few games and a practice set today. He is feeling healthy and we will see how the matches go.”While Rutuja (world ranked 117 in women’s doubles) and Yuki (45) are the second seeds, Ankita Raina and Balaji are seeded fourth and placed in the top half of the draw.After a bye in the first round, Rutuja and Yuki could face a tough second round against Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh, former doubles world No.1 and seven-time Grand Slam winner, and Chun-Sin Tseng.“Am super excited. I didn’t know if she (Su-Wei) would be playing. It is definitely going to be challenging, but we have put in the work and I am mentally prepared,” Rutuja said.The doubles draw couldn’t have been tougher.Rutuja and Ankita (158), the eighth seeds, face Kazakhstan’s world No. 6 Anna Danilina and Yuliya Putintseva, ranked 79 in singles, in the first round.China’s Shuai Zhang (6) and Hanyu Gao (16) are the top seeds while Su-Wei and En-Shuo Liang are second.“Ankita and I have played together and most of the time has been at the BJKC (Billie Jean King Cup). We know how we work together, we definitely are more pumped than normal for sure when we play for India,” said Rutuja, who comes into Japan after reaching the semifinal and fourth round of successive WTA 125 events in Turkey and Portugal.“We have been practising really well and I played a really good tournament last week. So we are confident that we can beat anyone on any given day. We are keen to see what we are capable of on the court.”The Higashiyama Park tennis centre will also offer Rutuja a platform to see how she measures up against the seasoned doubles pros.“All these girls are doing super well on the tour and I am trying to catch up for sure. But this is just my second year as a full-time doubles player and I am learning the nicks and nacks (sic) of the doubles tour,” she said.“Everybody is playing so well, we have to take it one match at a time and trust ourselves, communicate really well. Having Yuki already on the same side makes me feel so confident and I hope he feels the same. The same with Ankita, there is so much experience there as well.“I am just super excited to get the campaign on the road and see if we can get a medal or two this time.”
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