PV Sindhu ended her 2019 season with a win over He Bingjiao at the BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou on Friday, ending a four-match losing run against the left-handed Chinese shuttler.
Defending champion Sindhu was already out of contention at the year-end tournament after losing her first two group matches, but the way she fought back from 9-18 down in the first game against He Bingjiao was just another reminder of how topsy-turvy her season has been.
The year saw Sindhu become the first Indian badminton player to be crowned world champion when she beat Nozomi Okuhara in Basel in August. That turned out to be the only title triumph for the 24-year-old in 2019.
Sindhu made just one other final, at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament in July, and managed to reach the semi-finals of only two Super 500 events – India Open and Singapore Open.
Her year’s win-loss record of 30-17 from 18 tournaments in 2019 is one of worst in the recent years and Sindhu’s dismal run after winning the World Championship was even more poor.
She managed to reach just one quater-final in the six knock-out tournaments after the World Championships, with two of the five losses coming in the opening round. In fact, she won just six matches in the seven tournaments she played after her biggest title triumph.
It is difficult to analyse whether the slump in form was the result of Korean coach Kim Ji Hyun returning home after the world championship or the hectic schedule as coach Pullela Gopichand has been complaining about.
But the one thing that can be said with certainty is that despite the world title, this was one of the most difficult seasons for Sindhu as she lacked consistency.
In the 16 tournaments in 2019, excluding the Sudirman Cup and the World Tour Finals, the 24-year-old reached two finals, two semi-finals, four quarter-finals and lost in the first and second rounds three and five times respectively.
Here is how her 2019 season panned out.
PV Sindhu's 2019 results
| Year / Week | Tournament | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/51* | BWF World Tour Finals | Finished third in group stage | 6600 |
| 2019 / 46 | Hong Kong Open | 9/16 | 3,600 |
| 2019 / 45 | Fuzhou China Open | 17/32 | 2,660 |
| 2019 / 43 | French Open | 5/8 | 6,050 |
| 2019 / 42 | Denmark Open | 9/16 | 4,320 |
| 2019 / 39 | Korea Open | 17/32 | 2,220 |
| 2019 / 38 | China Open | 9/16 | 4,800 |
| 2019 / 34 | BWF World Championships | 1 | 13,000 |
| 2019 / 30 | Japan Open | 5/8 | 6,050 |
| 2019 / 29 | Indonesia Open | 2 | 10,200 |
| 2019 / 23 | Australian Open | 9/16 | 2,750 |
| 2019 / 21 | BWF Sudirman Cup | 1 | 8,094 |
| 2019 / 17 | Badminton Asia Championships | 5/8 | 5,040 |
| 2019 / 15 | Singapore Open | 3/4 | 6,420 |
| 2019 / 14 | Malaysia Open | 9/16 | 4,320 |
| 2019 / 13 | India Open | 3/4 | 6,420 |
| 2019 / 10 | All England Open Badminton Championships | 17/32 | 3,000 |
| 2019 / 4 | Indonesia Masters | 5/8 | 5,040 |