First, PV Sindhu needed to return to combat mode. The cutting scythe of an attack was her always. The cruise mode of 2019 will follow. The ever-tempestuous Carolina Marin had drawn the best out of Sindhu at the 2016 Rio Games as the Indian debuted her roars. And it was Marin again in 2023 that crystallised a resurgent Sindhu’s aggression at the Denmark Open semifinals, as the Indian backed her excellent badminton with an equal measure of blistering verbals, giving it back to a blustering Marin in a heated faceoff at Odense.
Marin won 21-18, 19-21, 21-7. But just like Prannoy had rattled Viktor Axelsen at Japan before beating him at the Worlds, Sindhu’s unyielding resistance in the first two sets ensured doubts are sowed in the Marin mind for months to come.
The surest sign of PV Sindhu getting into Marin’s head happened when, in trying to push the pace, the 30-year-old crossed an unspoken line of courtesy in badminton. The Spaniard had watched the Indian level the set scores 21-18, 19-21 and had started stabbing out her racquet under the net to drag back the shuttle from the way in, to rush the serve and resume the next point. The second time she did it, racquets clashed like swords under the meshing, and in an unprecedented eyeball confrontation, words were exchanged at 9-2 with Marin leading in the decider.
Both were issued yellow cards for unsportsmanlike behavior and misconduct after the rarest of these incidents were witnessed on a badminton court.
Earlier, as both traded some whiplash winners, and the midcourt exchanges saw neither willing to blink, the umpire had already been cueing up a litany towards Marin. First, he asked both to tone the celebrating down as scores went back and forth though Marin was clearly more of a culprit. She was warned thrice at least. Later, Marin, who’s always used her pace to get the better of Sindhu, tried to hustle and hurry the Indian and was repeatedly told to not serve before Sindhu was ready to receive.
The umpire had been kept busy, and an eager Sindhu was faulted for her racquet touching the net on a front-court scythe. But it was during one of the many serve receptions at 8-2 in the third that Sindhu pulled out, and with dripping irony, told the umpire, “I’m giving her time to shout.” The underhand clash of the racquets would happen soon after, and both argued at the net as the encounter went truly into a confrontational zone.
Later, there would be a reconciliation.
“I’d like to request everyone not to spread hate. Emotions run high in the heat of the moment, but hating is not the solution,” Sindhu wrote at the end of a long post on Instagram.
“Thanks for a good battle. Both of us were fighting to win that game but on my side I never wanted to fight against you personally. In front of everyone SORRY to show this kind of behaviour. See you soon mate!” replied the Spaniard.
“Things happen in the heat of the moment, Carolina. Especially when we were fighting for every point as hard as we were. See you soon, the dessert is on you this time,” responded Sindhu.
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Marin who kept coming back from 3-11 down in the second to 10-11, and then from 11-14 to 14-16, was amping up the pace and collecting points in a bunch. Sindhu had done brilliantly well to catch Marin on her backhand low defense on the forecourt to string up a good lead and used her steep smashing to the flanks to get there to 11-3 in good time. What began thereafter were stinging eyeball-clashing rallies, fast-paced back and forths from midcourt and Sindhu not backing down under the pressure of Marin’s aggression. Each time Marin closed in, Sindhu would slap it back with some rad flat defence, before getting her winning kills.
Marin too dug deep, and even as Sindhu pushed towards a decider at 20-16, the Spaniard saved three of those set points with her accelerated attack to come to within 20-19. One of Marin’s masterpieces was her halfturn pivot on the backhand defense from the backcourt corner from which she recovered in a snap to take the next shuttle. Sindhu would send a net push fast and follow it with her round-the-head smash for 21-19 to drag Marin into the decider.
The Spaniard did well to claim the first three points of the third set, undeterred after having lost the second. Her plan – which worked – was to not allow Sindhu a breather, and crowd her with pace during a rally, and beyond it. Things would get very testy in the process. At some level, Sindhu allowed herself to be pulled into the swirl of stomping noise and web of Marin’s antics and lost sight of the match to be won and it ended 21-7 in Marin’s favour. But she had managed to leave posers buzzing in the brain of the Hueleva champion, with her second set pushback.
The first set was the best badminton-wise.
Sindhu played some eclectic exchanges. Her striding to the net to trap Marin at her short backhand corner was persistent. She had the crosscourt smashes steaming, piercing deep. And there were oodles of aerial deception as she struck the shuttle at a high point and dropped it in empty spaces in from nt court.
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While her confident lunges and explosive strides at the net have been noted by many, it is her racquet positioning at the net that has acquired lethal abilities. Be it the backhand stretched pop to send the shuttle tippling like a hairpin or the stick-push straight racquet wristknocks. Marin had few answers to some of Sindhu’s round-the-head smashes and crosscourt-powered hits with quick reaction times on the bird.
Yet, Marin could pull out her pacy attack at the close of the first set and the start of the third to stamp her authority. All the rest of the shenanigans were vocal mental-games pushed beyond the edge on the day. Yes, it was pace that got Sindhu again to make it 11-5 head to head. But she’s never looked this close with a well-rounded game and healthy appetite for a proper scrap, to break the Marin defense for good.
Both are coming back from injuries and being pushed to the fringes while the Fab Four – Yufei, SeYoung, Tai Tzu and Yamaguchi took over on the Tour. The time away and smaller power reserves than before plus patched-back fitness at this age have added to the desperation of holding onto leads, and led to things brimming over on Saturday. Clash No 17 will be keenly awaited, as the rivalry acquires a racy edge in the coming months.
