New Delhi: Overseas coaches coming to India have a tendency to bestow lavish praise on talented youngsters, but American tennis coach Dough MacCurdy really means it when he says the next generation of Indian champions is on its way.

MacCurdy is keen on the country producing future Grand Slam champions. He realises that Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi are in the twilight of their careers, making Sania Mirza the only one with any star value. But the International Tennis Federation (ITF) development officer is confident that the wait won't be long.

MacCurdy, who is here to revamp the Indian tennis set-up, is particularly impressed with junior world no 5 Yuki Bhambri. He feels the Delhi boy is among the top three players in the world today and could attain the heights of Ramesh Krishnan in the world rankings. That's saying a lot because Ramesh had a career-high ranking of 23 in 1985.

"For his age, Yuki has an uncanny anticipation well beyond his years and is a great game player. Most importantly he has the ability to understand the game, which is rare," said MacCurdy.

MacCurdy also thinks highly of Vivek Shokeen and Divij Sharan, and adds Som Dev Varman, who made his Davis Cup debut against Uzbekistan in February to that shortlist.

This is MacCurdy's second stint in the country this year, having previously conducted a coaching workshop at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) tennis stadium Feb 18-25.

According to MacCurdy, Indian tennis associations need to introduce slower courts in place of the hard turfs for the players to develop their game.

MacCurdy feels the transit ratio of top tennis players into professionals should go up and for that the All India Tennis Association (AITA) is doing its bit by hosting enough ITF and WTA tournaments.

"If any country can have 40 weeks of organised competitive tennis like India has it need not worry about its tennis health," he said.

Source : IANS