Unnati Hooda after defeating PV Sindhu at China Open- ‘I stayed patient’, Sindhu says, ‘She got lucky with net chords’

The Haryana teenager, trained by her father and a bunch of sparring mates at Rohtak, has been considered a special talent since she was 14. There was always a stubbornness and abrasion to her game, where she feared no reputation, knew she had the strokes, power and pace to trouble big names, and never lacked self-belief. But it would need more than self-assured poise to get past Sindhu, even while she struggles to go deep into tournaments and is severely impeded in her speed, if not power.

It would need more than self-assured poise for Unnati to get past Sindhu, even while she struggles to go deep into tournaments and is severely impeded in her speed, if not power. (BWF/Badminton Photo)

Hooda had come prepared. She had been preparing for months, in fact, after being blasted by a big rattling Sindhu game at Syed Modi last winter in Lucknow. They were ranked No 35 and No 15 respectively. She knew the big smash would always loom from Sindhu and she needed to absorb that pressure, but she had plans to deny any elevation to belt down her hits and keep her busy, head dragged down in retrieval, on the front court.

This she did by severely testing Sindhu’s lunge. Her height gives her the expansive attack, and even the reach to get to the front court. But the low lunge has always tested Sindhu, and Hooda kept peppering the forehand spots with pinpoint drops – some from imbalanced positions.

Undaunted, unintimidated

Hooda set the tone early, and never allowed Sindhu to snatch the lead in the opening set. A clean striker with the racquet, Hooda also has some pretty nifty footwork and anticipation. Her game pace might get tested, starting with Akane Yamaguchi on Friday in the quarters, but against Sindhu, her game-plan was watertight.

She didn’t get intimidated by Sindhu’s reach, knowing that even if she retrieved 20 shots, she could fox her on the 21st. So she eschewed errors on the lines, took the uncertainty of minimal court drift, precision mistakes out of the equation. With a good 45-day training block, Hooda’s fitness was optimum, and she came prepared for long rallies even as she claimed the opener 21-16, with a clean break from 13-13.

Undaunted, her personality always has been, and those around the Indian team talk of her self-assurance when she was unfazed by Sindhu’s reputation even when she made the Uber Cup squad at 14. There’s no needle as such, but Hooda did hurry her serves (or simply, serve the soonest) and twice found Sindhu not quite ready to receive. Having broken the age-old rule of no coaches when two Indians play, the duo also got on with setting down a clear rivalry, where they would use every help available to beat the other.

It has always been tricky for Sindhu when she plays Indians – though her last loss came to Ruthvika Gadde years ago, while Saina Nehwal has beaten her in some important finals. Here was another fearless opponent, and it took two enormous cross-court smashes for Sindhu to break the second set 19-19 deadlock. Except, the smash is always her last throw of the dice, and the headaches were mounting.

Sindhu trailed 11-14, levelled at 15-15 and went on to push a decider, but it was at 13-13 in the second that Hooda made her point. After the rushing serve, the immediate point thereafter was one of the longest, blisteringly paced rallies played by Indians on the circuit in many years, and Hooda drew the best out of Sindhu even, like Nozomi Okuhara used to. Hooda used a variety of drops and tosses, at a fast clip, to harry Sindhu and leave her panting.

Upkaar Hooda, Unnati’s father, would say immediately after the match that they had skipped lunch preparing for the big match against Sindhu. (BWF/Badminton Photo)

More nuanced was the body attack. Sindhu’s body defence, owing to her frame, has always been tentative, but Hooda didn’t quite smash into her torso; she simply looped the shuttle at awkward lengths, forcing Sindhu to thwack it out of the court in an untidy parry.

Most youngsters would be deflated at coming up to 19-all and being denied the match in straight sets. Hooda, though, came to fight. In the decider she opened up the court cerebrally. Her ability to play set-up points leading up to a winner or drawing out an error is rather impressive. She could lull Sindhu into thinking she had a chance, could push her to corners, trigger really awkward positions from which she struggled to recover for the next return. And then she brought out her own smash.

Shoulder-heavy smash

It’s not a power bazooka, but it’s more than strictly workable. She puts a lot of shoulder on it, and two down-the-lines stunned Sindhu a little, as Hooda opened up a 15-10 lead. Continuously chasing, with Hooda calmly inscrutable in front of her, Sindhu couldn’t quite take control of any rallies, besides going for the smashes. Hooda’s own scramble defence is not too shabby. And she simply threw herself at the shuttle, and even if she didn’t retrieve half a dozen smashes, she bought herself time and breath with subsequent mopping of the court.

It was pretty evident when Sindhu went for the lines and sent one wide, trying to keep the shuttle away from Hooda that she wasn’t entirely comfortable. Two errors from overhitting brought Hooda to the threshold. And the win was sealed with an expansive cross-court smash – that ought to make Sindhu very proud of her.

The legend admitted to finding it tough to control the shuttle and respond when Hooda took the lead. “In the third, she took the lead, and maintained that. To cover that was too late. But overall there were good rallies and she was lucky. Both ends had their challenges. Also, sometimes it was going slow, sometimes it was just going out. It was very hard to control. And she had some lucky points, on crucial moments she was having those net chords,” Sindhu told BWF.

She saw this as a good sign. “It’s good for her. Wish her all the very best. She’s done well for herself. She’s doing well. She’s coming up. It is good Indian badminton is picking up and is really doing well now. It’s time to change that now. Many more girls like her, a lot more, are coming up. It’s a good sign.”

Upkaar Hooda, Unnati’s father, would say, “Patience was the key. Patience in waiting for chances. The defence was really good. Because Sindhu is really a special player.” They had skipped lunch, preparing for the big match.  The hunger and determination to succeed, those in her team say, is quite insatiable. Beating Sindhu will be seen as only the start of a career – an appetizer.