Wimbledon Doubles Dream Dashed: Bhambri and Galloway Fall in Round 3 Tiebreak

Bhambri and Galloway Suffer Wimbledon Doubles Defeat in Tiebreak Thriller

London: Despite a valiant effort, the Indo-American duo of Yuki Bhambri and Robert Galloway were eliminated from the Wimbledon men's doubles tournament in the third round. Galloway, who was already nursing a fractured finger, and Bhambri fought hard against the fourth-seeded Spanish-Argentinian pair of Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, ultimately losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4-10) after two hours and 12 minutes of play on Monday.

Bhambri and Galloway demonstrated resilience, battling back from a 2-5 deficit in the final set. However, Granollers and Zeballos proved too strong in the decisive match tie-break, establishing a commanding 7-0 lead. While the Indo-American team struggled to gain momentum in the first set, they managed to break serve in the sixth game of the second set, securing a 4-2 advantage.

The third set saw Galloway's serve broken in the fourth game, following a Bhambri volley that landed beyond the intended mark. This setback put the 16th seeds behind at 1-3, and later 2-5. Undeterred, Bhambri and Galloway rallied, winning the subsequent three games to level the score and stay in the match.

With Bhambri's departure, the Indian interest at SW19 comes to a close. Looking ahead, the 33-year-old Indian player will be partnering with Kiwi Michael Venus. Bhambri acknowledged that this partnership is a long-term commitment, which was decided when he initially teamed up with Galloway in mid-April.

Their partnership began in Munich in mid-April and they have competed in 10 tournaments together. After early exits in their initial three tournaments, they briefly participated in a Challenger event. They reached the final of the ATP 250 Series event in Mallorca leading up to Wimbledon.

“Mike was available, he is one of my closest friends on Tour,” Bhambri said, “At some point eventually we were always going to play together and this was an opportunity that we finally had. It just made sense.”

Bhambri and Venus share a history dating back to Bhambri's teenage years. “When he (Venus) started playing doubles, I was sort of the initial partner,” said Bhambri, “We obviously had our first Grand Slam together, which has still been our best result to date in Australia, making the third round.”