‘Need to start from scratch’: Beaten, bruised Sindhu on road to recovery
The 2024 Paris Olympics the “ultimate aim”, the hunger for the former world No. 2 is to bring the best version of Sindhu back on court
Two years ago, when PV Sindhu stood on the Tokyo Olympics podium with a bronze medal wrapped around her grinning face, she had scaled an unmatched peak in Indian badminton as a two-time Olympic individual medallist and the 2019 world champion.
Now, when she finds herself pegged back by indifferent form and confidence-dampening early tournament exits coming off a four-month ankle injury layoff, a deflated but not dejected Sindhu is willing to press the reset button to try and regain her top game and champion mindset.
“There are situations where you might have to start from scratch again, where nothing is working out. And I don’t mind that,” Sindhu said in a candid interview to HT ahead of the Asian Games. “Because you have to work hard, and there’s no alternative for that. So if I want to get up there, I need to start from the beginning again and work harder than what I’ve done earlier. When you have that hunger and motivation that you can, nothing else matters.”
When Sindhu was up there, she made winning look routine. She took off on 14 quarter-final or farther runs in 2018 but is currently grappling to string together a consistent patch of wins (in a title-less year so far, she has reached only one final and two semi-finals) after winning the Commonwealth Games singles gold last August.
Even the most accomplished of athletes and grittiest of minds tend to express extreme emotion after defeats (haven’t we seen Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic weep after a loss?). And behind that ever-glowing smile, Sindhu too has moments of emotional meltdowns in the aftermath of a tough result.
“At times, after my match is finished, I get really upset and I cry. Maybe on court, I’m a bit different... But you need to realise that you need to let out what you feel,” Sindhu said, adding that she opens up to her friends and family about how she feels. “At times when I’m really sad and low, I tell them, ‘I feel nothing is happening, or that whatever I’m doing, nothing is working out. I’m working really hard’. It’s important to have people in life who motivate you, support you by saying, ‘It’s OK, we believe in you and you can come back stronger’. Such small words also tend to give you belief and keep you going.”
The badminton star said she has read interviews of Indian cricket great Virat Kohli and how he plucked himself out of a low phase during the 2014 tour of England. “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,” Sindhu said. “I’m sure every athlete goes through it, and I keep reading or listening about it and how they managed to come out of it.”
In the company of new coach Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, she is eager to come out of her lull by regaining her on-court rhythm, going beyond working on getting her attacking game back which, in turn, has a lot to do with confidence in the mind — “when you’re mentally weak, you can’t catch the shuttle higher”.
The 2024 Paris Olympics the “ultimate aim”, the hunger for the former world No. 2 is to bring the best version of Sindhu back on court. “Right now, I want to get my rhythm back. And I feel like I’m almost there,” she said.
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