© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Anup Sridhar says Lakshya Sen and the team go through hell in training, only so that they can be best prepared for any tough match. “At times, I’m wiped out too,” the coach says, adding that all of it is geared towards being prepared for the best in the world.
All of his career, Sridhar was never afraid of the tough draws. On either side of his 2008 Olympic outing, he navigated them – in 2007, he beat the likes of Taufik Hidayat and Muhammad Hafiz Hashim and in 2009, Peter Gade. Whatever the draw, the goal was to win, and he sees a similarly mirroring fearless attitude in Sen against the top names as they head into the World Championships in Copenhagen, starting Monday.
There is probably World No 3 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in Round 3, Chinese Li Shifeng or Lu Guangzu in quarters and potentially Viktor Axelsen in semis lined up for the next week.
Sridhar says Sen is, for starters, capable of beating anybody and everybody. “At a very young age, he is accomplished and has several medals – Thomas Cup title, World Championships bronze and Commonwealth Games gold plus a couple of Super Series wins. He’s already made the All England final, so the innate confidence comes from there.”
Giant killing comes naturally to the current World No 11.
But it’s the decent physical preparation that fortifies Sen further. On strength, endurance and explosive power markers, he is in good shape this time of the season.
“When I played, I was always focused on if I was physically prepared. Everything else could be handled. I was confident of lasting 3 sets. The question always is, are you ready to play aggressively through the match, where you are not forced to mix defence and attack because your firepower is waning?” Sridhar says.
When shuttlers are really fit, they can play at the fastest pace and aren’t bothered by slow courts or fast courts.
Does he think Sen can beat Axelsen? “Nobody is unbeatable. Viktor has been a beast, yes; finding a way to stay on top of his game physically and mentally, plus staying fresh to win all those medals. So anyone wanting to beat him will go through a tough, long match. Three sets. That’s the standard he’s set. But we have our plans against him just like others Lakshya plays earlier.”
Sridhar reckons that one can’t forget that top players get tougher to beat once they go deep into a tournament. It’s why he fancied his chances against the likes of Gade and Taufik early on.
“It’s an advantage actually to play the top names early before they get mentally ready, is how I saw it. It depends on the filter or frame you use to look at a draw, mine is always positive, even if things don’t always work out. In Lakshya’s case, too, me and the entire team look at the tough challenges as interesting and exciting opportunities.”
Sometimes, against the top names, it’s about having a trick up your sleeve and disclosing it at the opportune moment. “I was 19-14 down in the third against Taufik, yet I believed I could pull it off,” he recalls of the Round of 32 clash at the 2007 World Championships.
“On the advice of Gopi, I held back a stroke the whole match till the end. Taufik thought I was gonna lift, and took two steps back. That’s when I played a hold keep at the net to the front of the court from the backhand, and Taufik was unprepared.”
Sridhar would win 21-14, 24-26, 22-20, and the last rally is imprinted on his mind, in how he steered it towards getting the shuttle on the backhand at the front net to execute the shot.
Sridhar would also beat second seed Peter Gade at Singapore in 2009, 21-19, 16-21, 21-13 and former All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim a day after taking out Taufik at the 2007 World Championships 21-19, 18-21, 21-15.
He believes any champion is also a great front-runner. “Lakshya too can sense the opportunity, and fly at it.” Sen showed it in Calgary winning the Canada Open, when he trailed Li Shifeng 16-20, before pouncing on a tiny opening, to win 22-20.
While Sen has his talents, Sridhar says he’s in the same mould as Saina Nehwal or PV Sindhu, who pulled off wins year after year on sheer grit. He likens the bunch, along with himself, to tennis favourites Lleyton Hewitt and Rafa Nadal, who at varied levels of talent, fight till the end.
A recent stat by MS/WS Tracker highlighted how the two Indian ladies had notched up giant-killing acts. In 2017, Saina ousted second seed Sung Ji-hyun in the Round of 16, while she drove out 4th seed Ratchanok Intanon in the Round of 16 in 2018. Sindhu had taken out third seed Li Xuerui in the Round of 16 in 2015.
Kunlavut, seeded third, and Li Shifeng, seeded sixth, hence, don’t appear unbeatable in the Round of 16 and quarters after a look at the draw to Sen.
Saying something as simple as ‘arre yaar, I have XYZ in the second or third round’ is what Sridhar views as negative and avoids saying, while keeping the focus at all times on the present.
“As a coach, I have to jog his focus on the first match, the first point. The thing with nervousness or overconfidence is, the focus shifts to either past or the future. I keep stressing about what’s within our control in the immediate present,” he says.
He doesn’t say it aloud to Sen, but Sridhar keeps score. So against Jonatan Christie, he is well aware that it reads 2 wins to Jojo against his ward.
“The way I see it, if you lost last time, you are lucky to play that opponent again, so you can get the win back. I see playing such opponents as an opportunity to settle the score.”
Sen went down to Li Shifeng the last time they met, the quarters could be a good time to strike out that score.
It’s taken them some time, but the duo has built a connection now, where Sen immediately understands what Sridhar is communicating. “These days you can’t go in with one strategy throughout the match. You have to think on your feet, change and adapt,” he says.
“Results have also gotten unpredictable on the circuit, where even a Round 2 match can be insanely tough, a hard match becomes easy or an easy match morphs into a tough one. To go all the way, you have to stay in the present,” Sridhar reiterates.
What’s assured is Team Lakshya Sen is unafraid of the tough names and reputation of opponents. “If we are training so hard, we actually look forward to playing some tough ones.”
