Wanted to have a career in tennis: Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh’s prowess on the cricket field entertained one and all. However, playing cricket wasn’t his first choice when he was trying to shape his career. The Punjab-born tried his hand at tennis and even wished to have a career in the sport. The now 38-year-old southpaw made his first-class debut in the 1996-97 season and from there on, he kept on garnering one laurel after the other.

In 2000, he made his debut for India under Sourav Ganguly and from there on he emerged as one of India’s greatest all-rounders. Back in 2019, Yuvraj eventually decided to hang his boots from the highest level. Going down the memory lane, the veteran said how his father, Yograj Singh, got angry by his aspirations of playing tennis. He also mentioned that he went into cricket after breaking his tennis racket.

I play tennis all the time for fitness: Yuvraj Singh

“I loved skating and tennis. I wanted to have a career in tennis. I remember I asked mom for a racket and she obviously told dad that I want a racket. Dad got a bit upset but he bought it and it cost 2500 at that time and I was playing in the quarter final or something and I eventually lost in the tournament and broke the racket. Zor zor se maara,”  Yuvraj told to Sportskeeda

“After breaking the racket, I was scared to ask my dad for a new one, and thought of playing cricket for a few days and then ask for a racket again. But I started enjoying cricket and got into it completely and stopped playing tennis,” he stated.

However, Yuvraj takes time out for tennis, keeping in mind the need to stay fit. “I play tennis all the time for fitness. I really enjoy playing tennis and to be honest I don’t miss playing cricket much. I look forward to playing tennis almost every second day,” Yuvraj added.

Having scored 11,778 runs at the highest level, Yuvraj had a glorious career. He also picked 148 wickets in international cricket. He last donned the national colours in the 2017 tour of the West Indies. In the last 12 months, he has played in the Global T20 Canada, the Abu Dhabi T10 League, the Bushfire Bash charity match and the Road Safety World Series in Mumbai.