Revenge is a word thrown around easily in the world of sport, so much so that even athletes, who today are given handbooks on how to respond to the media, let it slip once in a while. PV Sindhu’s rematch against Nozomi Okuhara in the final of the Korea Open Superseries on Sunday, three weeks after her defeat to the Japanese in that epic world championships summit clash, was never going to get by without the R-word coming in.
When Sindhu won on Sunday, it went into overdrive. The 22-year-old was quoted by multiple media outlets saying the victory was “sweet revenge”. While her coach and mentor P Gopichand refrained from using the word in a brief chat with The Field, he did admit a win on Sunday was important for Sindhu’s confidence considering the nature of that Glasgow final, which was the second-longest match in the history of women’s singles badminton, one that lasted an hour and 50 minutes.
A defeat such as the one Sindhu endured in Glasgow can be chastening for a player, no matter how successful they are. And just three weeks later, she was up against the same opponent again – one who has grown to become perhaps the best retrievers in the game. The match went into three games again but it was Sindhu who came out on top this time. How exactly did Sindhu turn things around in three weeks? Was it just luck? Or was there a discernible change in the way she played?
Let’s take it game by game.
Attack, attack, attack
If you have been following Sindhu’s career, you will know that her game is all about attack. In Glasgow, she had steered off-track, perhaps undone by Okuhara’s relentless defence. There was a conscious effort to not let that affect her on Sunday as the Olympic silver medallist brought forth her best attacking game right from the start. Surprisingly, though, so did Okuhara, quite against her usual way and this took Sindhu by surprise.
By the end of the first game, Okuhara had two game-point opportunities before Sindhu won four points in a row to take the lead in the match. Okuhara kept up with her aggression in the second game and kept forcing Sindhu to defend. The rallies grew longer as the match progressed, even as Sindhu missed a few sitters. Because of Okuhara’s change in strategy, Sindhu became hesitant to finish off rallies and lost points in the process. She lost the second game comprehensively to give her opponent the momentum going into the decider.
The two players went neck-and-neck to begin the third game, before Sindhu stepped up a gear and opened up a lead. By the mid-game interval, she had left her opponent six points behind. However, Okuhara then provided another glimpse of her never-say-die attitude by reducing that gap to two points, reducing Sindhu’s lead to 18-16. And just like that, it was Glasgow all over again.
Sindhu had had a 19-17 lead in the third game of that match but squandered it to lose 20-22. Three weeks later, she found herself in a similar position again. An encore would haven been disastrous, especially for her confidence. Fortunately for her, there wasn’t to be an encore as Sindhu wrapped up the game 21-18 and her third career Superseries title.
Keeping composure
“Sindhu was quite calm in the crucial stages like the last few points of the match,” was her travelling coach Amrish Shinde’s first observation after Sunday’s final. “She was in a similar position in the world championships in Glasgow where she was leading but lost two crucial points in the end. But she could make it this time because strategy-wise and rally-wise, she was able to play her game and maintain her cool throughout the match.”
Sindhu also did well to continue her attacking game even in the midst of the many long rallies in the match. “She did not let Okuhara play more downward, so she was trying to keep the attack to herself,” added Shinde. “In the longer rallies, she was not making mistakes and was keeping control of the shuttle, which was very much required during that time. She was much better in gauging the drift this time.”
One of the very visible changes to Sindhu’s game in the Korea Open compared with the world championships was her quickened hand-speed. She was a lot more efficient in her net play and her back-hand cross-court flick earned her a lot of points. “After the Worlds, [Sindhu’s coach and mentor Pullela] Gopichand was working on her cross-court drops for that quick hand-speed,” said Shinde. “She did really well in that respect.”
Perhaps the most important factor that led to a reversal of the result in Seoul was the fact that Sindhu beat Okuhara at her own game – of playing long rallies, tiring the opponent and winning the big points. At that crucial juncture towards the end of the deciding game when Okuhara had closed down a 11-5 deficit to 18-16, Sindhu engaged her opponent in a 56-shot rally before the Japanese’s lungs eventually gave up and forced her to net the shuttle.
“She kept her calm, she kept her body balance, she was looking for the smallest opportunity to win the point,” said Shinde. “She played a positive game with a steady hand in front, so she was able to just continue the rally and wait for the opportunity to go for the kill.”
In spite of Sindhu’s morale-boosting win in Korea, both her coaches said that she is still a work-in-progress. While Gopichand said he was pleased to see her “play a couple of new strokes” – ones that they had “practiced for years and are now starting to creep into her match play”, Shinde added that the 22-year-old still has to increase her fitness.
“Whatever she is right now, she still has to work more so that she can last for longer rallies, for more rounds. You have to be ready to play good players right from the first round, play multiple long matches, recover fast and play the same game every time till the final so that you can win the title.”
Sindhu could be tested on that front as early as Thursday at the Japan Open Superseries, where she is drawn to meet Okuhara in the second round itself. The courts in Japan will be slower than the ones in Korea, which will play into Okuhara’s hands as it did in Glasgow. The Korea win would have been great for Sindhu’s confidence but playing in Okuhara’s own backyard will arguably present the Indian her biggest test in this awesome new rivalry.
Over to Tokyo.
