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Journalism of Courage
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the current World No. 1 in men’s doubles, are preparing for an Olympics where they are expected to return with a medal.
Since the time their international association began at Polish Open in 2016, the two have gracefully and grittily handled Twitter calls to tear down their partnership, a spate of injuries, contrasting personalities and food tastes, and a real ‘Me – No, Me’ battle for who plays on the back court. After a seven-year-hitch, the two made history as India’s first-ever World No 1s with numerous top-tier titles. They also struck a precious friendship that has warmth and trust. They even match dance steps for title celebrations.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Indian Express, Shetty and Rankireddy speak about their evolving game and strokes, coach Mathias Boe, successes and setbacks, their trickiest opponents, what they can anticipate about each other, the big Olympic dream and their favourite dance number.
Excerpts:
Q. Can you tell us about your signature move, Chirag – your front-court blitz at the net, and Satwik – your slower lob to the back line?
Shetty: I was always a back-court player when coming up, so to start developing a front-court game was a challenge. Also, it’s not easy because I’m quite tall. I was always fast and had speed, but blocking is difficult from the front-court. All my previous coaches, Tan (Kim Her), Flandy (Limpele) and Mathias taught me about the front-court rushing. Where Mathias has helped in strategies to convert defence into attack. It’s taken hours and hours of hard work and a lot of drills from Mathias. My initial reluctance was, ‘Why should I play at the front court?’ From there to getting good at lateral movement has been a journey. It’s not just standing, but squatting and moving at the same time while bent. It’s shuffling like a crab.
Rankireddy: When I play that stroke (lobbing at corners) to the back-court, it’s like taking pace off the shuttle. People are expecting me to go wham bam all the time, and they wait for the hard smash. But this is a variation, a slow half-smash. You can’t keep hitting to the back court all the time. I learnt this one by watching Indonesian mixed doubles player Praveen Jordan.
Q. What does the World No. 1 tag mean to you?
Shetty: It feels good. Ten years back, no one would’ve thought it possible for Indians. But it was always a dream to be World No. 1. Titles are of course more important, but this just shows consistency. A lot of people on the circuit have said they never expected an Indian pairing to be No. 1 and win titles. But we can’t be satisfied even if it’s 10 weeks of completing No. 1. But we should question, Why not Indians? We don’t lack physicality, we just need ability and it’s possible to be the world’s best.
Rankireddy: Being World No. 1 is pretty cool. But it’s normal, I’m happy, but we want to stay on that rank longer. Be more consistent. We want to always win tournaments. But 100 per cent wins don’t happen, here and there we fall short. And then I get low.
Q. What’s the enduring memory from the 2023 Asiad gold medal?
Shetty: We were not the best at the World Championships or China Open before that, and had two hard weeks. But beating the Koreans in the second round and finals gave us confidence that we are back. I remember it vividly because I was down with influenza a day before and didn’t know if we would be playing. A day before the final, I asked a physio how many days could it take for the flu to leave the body and he said it might take 5-6 days. But luckily a Chinese doctor at the Games Village Polyclinic spoke English and told me I’d feel better by evening. After the medicine she handed over, my headache reduced and the next day we won.
Rankireddy: It will take a lot of time to forget the Asiad gold. It was a good two weeks. But winning a Major title means we will play such finals with more heart.
Q. How do you look back on the World Championship quarterfinals loss?
Shetty: It was tough because there were a lot of expectations. We just didn’t manage the expectations well then. Everyone told us we would do well and we were unofficially ranked No. 1 by then after two titles at Korea and Indonesia. But that setback taught us what we need to avoid.
Rankireddy: The expectations were too much and we got under pressure from the start. We couldn’t handle it. Maybe we didn’t prepare for crowd pressure and that noise. The quarters loss to the Danes was a lesson for the Olympics, but even at our worst time, we made the match scores pretty close. If only we had put in five per cent more…
Q. What’s the one thing you can anticipate about your partner?
Shetty: If Satwik makes a mistake, he gets angry in Telugu. If he’s very upset, he starts scolding himself in Telugu.
Rankireddy: Chirag is just unbelievably consistent at the front court. He’s one of the best and even on an off day, if I need to step up, he doesn’t take long to come out of a bad run of points, 10 points at most and he’s back to a good level. That I can predict.
Q. What’s the best thing about Mathias Boe as a coach?
Shetty: He’s tactically very strong and systematic. So we don’t have to worry about a plan. That’s always in place. He’s just very professional. Mathias himself was a lot more of a defensive player than us, though he was tall too. But it wasn’t smashing like us. He teaches us the use of power and skills to manoeuvre a shuttle. It’s the small tips really.
Rankireddy: In planning, he’s very smart on the court. He’s helped us play the mental game, while earlier Malaysian, Indonesian coaches were more about physical play. At that time we were stuck in the World No 7 or No 8 range. With Boe, we became No. 5 and Top 3 and finally No. 1. He stresses on small details and is disciplined and professional. For the last three years, he’s also trained us in sleeping on time, eating good food. He’s big on getting mentally stronger and being in control. On discipline, I have learnt that if he says 8.30, I try to be there at 8.29. If we are late, he will let it go one day, but next time, it will be bang-bang-bang scolding. Technically, he’s made us smarter – not do anything extra than required. Good service and receiving, and take points in the first two strokes.
Q. Are there any specific pairings that you find tricky, even if you might have beaten them?
Shetty: A year back, maybe a couple of them. But now, no one we are specifically scared of. Against Chinese, Koreans and Malaysians, matches always get very tight. But we are on even ground with all. You can never write off the Indonesians, Fajar Alfian – Muhammad Rian Ardianto. It depends on the day. In the Top 6, anyone can beat anybody, anyone can play finals and it’s pretty open.
Rankireddy: No one we are scared of. But there are a few pairings with a lot of service variations, like spin, flat, flick serves. That serving means they don’t give us any rhythm and we need to be mentally strong because they don’t follow routines. Danish Kim/Astrup have tricky spin serves, Indonesians have spin serves, which even Malaysians used. Koreans were not as challenging before, but they have really come up and are consistent now. They are unpredictable – woh kidhar serve karenge samajhta nahi. (We don’t know where they’ll serve.)
Q. Any Do’s – Don’ts before the Olympics?
Shetty: Do’s are to stay injury-free and take care of the body. Don’ts is to not play in too many tournaments, so it will just be Thomas Cup, and any 2 of the 4 tournaments later.
Rankireddy: We have only Don’ts – Not to get injured. Nor to do stupid things like suddenly go out and play cricket. Follow the injury prevention routine and be as fit as possible.
Q. What’s the special connection with the French Open, where you won the last title?
Shetty: We’ve just always liked it and there’s a connection with the French crowd. We’ve played really well and that run is here to stay. One thing we always do is visit the Eiffel Tower, and if we win, we go there with the title trophy. It’s the City of Lights and also the City of Love, we genuinely love the vibe there. I learnt French for 4 years in school, but I can barely speak a word.
Rankireddy: Everyone has a favourite tournament, ours is the French Open. We always play well in Paris. The home crowd supports us. The food is good as well, there’s good weather to go out and have something to eat. It’s not too hot, not too cold. So we can just go for a walk. We have a good history there.
Q. Gangnam Style or Macarena or Naatu Naatu?
Shetty: Gangnam Style or Naatu Naatu. We are trying to learn Naatu Naatu, hopefully, in some tournament, we can pull it off. (Note to himself: Don’t try anything adventurous before the Olympics).
Rankireddy: I actually love dancing on Arabi Kuthu – Halamithi Habibo. (It’s a Pooja Hegde – Thalapathy Vijay number). We tried after winning the Delhi semifinal, but it didn’t come out well.
