Back from a quick trip to the US, PV Sindhu shares her conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook when they met during a launch event last week. “He loves playing badminton, and he loves India too. I told him: Why don’t you come, we’ll play! He said, definitely, I will,” Sindhu says with a chuckle.
In a grim year riddled with early losses and only a final and two semi-finals, Sindhu has kept smiling. From consistently scripting history as a two-time Olympic medallist and world champion to enduring an up-and-down phase either side of an ankle injury that sidelined her after the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold, Sindhu hasn’t forgotten the common factor in both: the only way up is to get down to working harder.
In this chat with HT, India’s most decorated shuttler talks about the work she’s putting in to regain her best touch, the hunger to do that, overcoming the injury phase and allowing her emotions to take over at times.
Excerpts:
The Asian Games is up next, and you have a feel for such big tournaments. How are the preparations with Muhammad Hafiz Hashim and your team?
It’s going pretty well. I’ve had some good practice sessions; been going a bit also to Bengaluru on and off (to train at the Padukone academy). That’s been going well. The Asian Games, a lot will depend on the draw. But practice-wise, things are looking good.
People only get to see you play matches, perhaps not the work that goes behind it. So, how much work are you putting in at training now, in a period where, as you said, you’re trying really hard? How different is it from when you were winning almost everything?
When I was winning everything, it was almost perfect (smiles). You’re happy, you come back and you want to win more. But there are days also when you lose, you are down, you want to get into that rhythm but you’re not able to. I’m sure there are situations where you win some and you lose some. It can never happen that you win every time, right? Especially right now, after the injury, coming back in January and trying to find that rhythm again…it’s been OK, but there have been ups and downs. It was important for me to have that patience and keep trying harder and coming back stronger. I know it is not easy, but it’s also important that mentally you are strong enough to face these things. Because with rhythm, sometimes when you’re not up there, you might feel upset, or that nothing is working out. You keep trying but still you keep losing. That doesn’t mean you should stop trying, rather you should keep trying again and again until it comes.
What is it that you are working on? A specific focus area, like getting your attacking instinct back?
It’s more of everything, more of all strokes. Because sometimes your movement on court is slow; when you’re mentally weak, you can’t catch the shuttle higher. All these things matter a lot, not just the attacking part. That’s when your defence comes in, your rallying, your endurance. Physically you need to be stronger. I’m working on all these skills right now. Especially in the women’s circuit currently, everyone is so good that no one is going to hand you an opportunity just to attack. You have to be ready defensively as well. So, you have to keep working on everything.
Does that have a lot to do with confidence as well? When you’re not feeling up for it mentally, it probably just doesn’t come…
Exactly. When you’re confident, sometimes everything goes. When you lose 4-5 points, you get a little bit nervous, your confidence goes down a bit. So, it’s about mentally being that much stronger.
You wrote on social media to Ratchanok Intanon on Tuesday, wishing her a speedy recovery after she announced she was ending the season due to injury. Having gone through the same last year, is that something you could relate to?
Every athlete faces this. It’s not easy for anyone to go through an injury. During that period, you don’t know what is happening and what is next. You lose confidence, mentally you’re down, you don’t know when you’re going to recover. The recovery part is the most critical, those are the times when you need to be stronger. I know that. I relate to it. And she’s my really good friend, so I just replied to her saying, get well soon.
What helped you remain strong in that phase. Like you said, you didn’t know what was next and that could be a weird feeling…
For me it was more about knowing that I can come back. That motivation was always there and the people around me kept reminding me of that. Even though at times I was down and feeling low, they would tell me, ‘You can do it, you can improve and come back stronger’. I slowly started working with everyone around me — my trainer, coach, physio, mental trainer. Overnight it wasn’t going to happen. Gradually when all things come together, you’ll find success.
Did you miss badminton then or was it a blessing in disguise after an emotionally and physically exhausting period?
I definitely missed badminton. I wanted to play tournaments. But it’s also important to give your body rest, to know what your injury is and how to take care of it. Yes, there was a period when I was low, but thankfully it all came back for me. I’ve been playing tournaments again, getting to a couple of semi-finals and a final. But I think I can do much better and improve a lot more.
What do you like to do when you’re not playing, training or thinking about badminton?
During the pandemic, I was into painting and learning some cooking. But right now, it’s all back-to-back tournaments and training, so there are no rest days as such. Sometimes on Sundays, I play with my dog.
Dogs can be good company, isn’t it…
They’re the best stress buster. You can just go sit with them. And they really understand you.
You’ve had seasons like 2018 when you made at least the quarter-finals of almost every tournament. So, when you have a season like this, do you take it in your stride or is it easier said than done?
It is a part of an athlete’s journey. Sometimes you are in a situation where you’ve played your best and the opponent was better. You need to accept that, give credit, and understand that it’s a game where you can’t win every time. Yes, there were times like in 2018 where I made the quarters and semis of almost every other tournament. But when I look back, and even now, I like to analyse what happened. There are situations where sometimes you’re low in confidence. You’re giving everything but nothing is working out. It’s important to know that it is OK to lose, but at the same time also realise and learn from your mistakes. And accept the fact that you need to come back stronger.
How much of that analysis is done by you and how much do you rely on your coach for that?
Even though you do self-analysis, your coach who is sitting behind (during matches) can help. Because he sees you from the outside, how you’re playing and what is happening. When we are out there on the court, we may not know what exactly is happening in the match. Maybe some persons know that this is what we’ve been doing and this is how we can change it. But as a coach, he would know much better. Seeing your matches and analysing is also important. I’ve played with almost every player. They know my game and I know their game. They are also going to do their analysis — where they can catch me and where my weak points are. So even I need to make sure I do that.
After your quarter-final exit from the US Open in July, you wrote an emotional social media post where you said the loss “left a significant emotional impact” on you. What made you do that?
I had to accept that I played all out, but sometimes you have to give credit to the person across. I’m sure every player goes through that situation where they’ve done everything and it just didn’t work out on that day. So, I just put that out there, how I felt. Emotions are always there. On court, we’re aggressive. But off court, we’re normal human beings with emotions.
Even the greatest of athletes show that. We’ve seen Federer and Djokovic cry after defeats. Behind that largely present smile of yours, do you have days when you feel like just letting your emotions out?
Ya, ya. There are lot of situations like that. At times, after my match is finished, I get really upset and I cry too. Maybe on court I’m a bit different. But off court, when I lose matches, I do get upset and cry. But you need to realise that it’s OK. You need to let out what you feel. You need to be prepared for what’s ahead because you can’t think it’s the end of the world. I know it’s hard and it’s upsetting. But it’s important to relax for a day and come back tomorrow.
Andre Agassi in his book wrote about how he dealt with his low phase. Jemimah Rodrigues said she read interviews of Virat Kohli from 2014 and could relate to what he was going through during his challenging phase before he came out of it. Do you take inspiration from something?
I do read some interviews, and I’ve seen Virat’s as well — when you’re sad and nothing is working out, how you are and how you come out of it stronger. Initially Virat too went through a situation where he couldn’t score. But coming out of that is incredibly important, even for the greatest athletes. I’m sure every athlete goes through it.