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What does it take to make a doubles partnership work?
It depends on whom you ask. Shuttlers Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are good friends. They bond over shopping and sport. It can also just be about understanding, trust and respecting your partner, says MR Arjun.
What does it take to make a doubles partnership work? It depends on whom you ask.
Shuttlers and good friends Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, both 19, announced their arrival with a semi-final finish at the All England Open and medalled at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last month. Their partnership is a fresher brew; they’ve been playing together since 2020.
Jolly, a Kerala girl, knew of Gopichand — “of course, she is the daughter of Gopi Sir (chief national coach Pullela Gopichand),” she says — and had played against her in a doubles match in the junior circuit. That was a passing acquaintance, which has evolved in the past two years to the point where, before they received their late entry into the All England Open, they’d made plans to go shopping together in Birmingham. “Full chill scenes,” says Jolly.
The duo’s unexpected call-up forced them to postpone that jaunt, but the two did eventually tick shopping off their list after their semi-final finish. “We’re good friends,” Jolly says. “We talk quite a lot and spend a lot of time together.”
MR Arjun, 25, who alongside partner Dhruv Kapila, 22, made the quarter-finals of the BWF World Championships after being part of the victorious Thomas Cup team, doesn’t believe good friendship is a prerequisite for good partnership. “It’s all about understanding, trust and respecting your partner,” he says. They share a room when on tours, but have nights of Arjun watching a Malayalam film on his laptop while Kapila enjoys a movie of his choice on his gadget. “We bond over other things, like football,” Arjun says.
