Why Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand have to get hyper agressive that blends offense and defense

Make no mistake, Treesa can smack it as hard. And Gayatri has variations and positional sense besides that snappy wrist to construct a smash that stays hit. But the aggression demanded off them routinely goes into 70-80 shot exchanges-territory, something Sindhu encountered perhaps half a dozen times in her career. It’s why after their Syed Modi title, Gayatri reiterates what’s going to be a recurring goal for both: “Balancing aggression with stability.”

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Lucknow was only a Super 300 win, though India has been parched for even those in the last few years. But the cream in women’s doubles – that’s Top 5 if not Top 8, come with a bedrock of reliable defensive capabilities, where they can fend off body shots and send low pickups, and play shorts where defense transitions to attack, mid-shot.

With no prior warning, China unleashed Liu Shengshu and Tang Ning (silver medallists at Paris Olympics) on the world to take over from Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (gold medallists) – an upgrade in style unveiled in plain sight. The Liu-Tang aggression can go off the charts, and others have followed. It’s why an aggressive style is not a choice anymore for Treesa-Gayatri, it’s bare-minimum. What Gayatri tags along with that visible mindset to dominate, is ‘stability’.

Women’s badminton is replete with moments when those watching are wondering why one of their players isn’t smothering the shuttle, burying it into the court, while the players themselves – a little more discerning – know that the attack is coming back, depleting their smashing energies because opponents are trained for just that. India had one of the hardest hitters in women in Ashwini Ponappa, and a trigger-happy indefatigable Tanisha Crasto, but nothing deflates an attacking ambush, like women’s doubles defense. It Tests patience and accuracy like nothing else in badminton.

So, Treesa has had to learn ‘stability’ – nuancing her smashes, accepting she has to play one shot more – or more likely, a dozen, staying patient while the seeming monotone of a rally goes back and forth biding for time and position to attack, ensuring lifts don’t turn into lollipops for opponents and literally ensuring she reads every shot in the rally and isn’t caught off position. For Gayatri, it’s all these things, plus creating openings for Treesa, but also knowing how not to prolong a rally and let an opportunity to kill, go abegging.

Not unlike Satwik-Chirag, the two Indian women have ensured they suck the pace out of rival attacks with their highly strategic long, deep lifts – the stabilizing shot. These are used like flick serves, not only to pin opponents to backcourt and break up their forecourt setpieces and momentum. But the sheer control over the parabola – buys them time and makes the shuttle too loopy and spinny to smash outright, without extracting considerable power.

Treesa-Gayatri look for that stabilizing phase which is so crucial in setting up the attack, like building patterns, precisely to disrupt. It’s the sort of game Yamaguchi and Tai Tzu-ying and Yufei played in singles, deploying accuracy, deception and bird-chess, just so it could all culminate into that aggressive kill. It was soundless savagery, played with straight faced inscrutability where shuttle on the lines is more effective than popping veins. Aggression in nano-doses supplemented by composed stability is a winning combination, that Treesa-Gayatri are constantly looking to master.