CHENNAI: WINNING the Australian Open Super 500 meet has brought much-needed relief for India's premier singles shuttler Lakshya Sen. Having been at sea for large parts of the season, Lakshya ended his season on a positive note by bagging the title at Sydney, beating Yushi Takaka of Japan in the summit clash on Sunday. With injuries not helping his case, Lakshya had suffered as many as 11 first-round exits this year. His form picked up during the Hong Kong Open (September), where he lost in the final to Li Shi Feng of China. With three deep runs in the following weeks — Q/F in Denmark & Hylo Open, SF in Japan Masters, Sen seemed to have found some rhythm before aforementioned success Down Under. With the season done & dusted, the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist is now keen on maintaining momentum. In a media interaction on Tuesday, the 24-year-old from Almora reflected on the testing times he has faced this season and how he started enjoying the sport once again with the help of mental trainers. Excerpts...
On the run-up to the Australian Open
It has been a great last few months in terms of the tournaments and at the beginning of the year, I was struggling a bit with some injuries and then mid-year, I could, like, be fully fit to play, especially before the World Championships. I had a good training period before that and since then, I have played a lot of tournaments and been fit enough to play a lot of tournaments and compete in them and the results have been great. The last few months, I was just trying to focus a lot on my physical aspect of the game, like, being physically fit, dealing with a few injuries.
On his first-round exits
So like in the beginning of the season, I was really just working a lot on, like, just being match fit and especially with the mental trainers. When I started working this year with them, the main aim was to just go out there and enjoy playing badminton again and not think too much about the results and just focus on enjoying badminton again. And I think especially post-Paris, there was a time where I was not doing so well. So, a lot of the things I was dealing with mentally, I think I had to just let all those thoughts go and just enjoy badminton and enjoy playing the sport again. Because also, in between, I was injured a little bit and that was keeping me away from the sport. So, yeah, the main aim was to just get back into good shape and just enjoy playing badminton again.
On injury woes this season
There were a few niggles here and there. I had a back issue for two, three months from, like, the Singapore and Indonesia (Opens), those tournaments and even before that. So it was not a major injury, but I was getting some back spasms because of the high match intensity or the loads in the back. And I just needed a few good strength sessions to overcome that. And, yeah, a few changes in the training with smart load management helped me get through those two, three months period.
On how he overcame the mental barrier post Paris Olympics
I feel the last year, especially post the Olympics, it was a little bit hard for me to find motivation again to train really hard and play a few tournaments. I also took a break for some time after last year and the results were also not great. I was still competing in a few tournaments but if I look back now, I was not really 100 per cent there. But I think as the season started this year, I was dealing with a lot of injuries and a few bad results. I was just, in the last one year, I've been just focussing on the small things and not thinking too much about the results, about the past competitions as well. When I started working with the mental trainer (Mon Brockman of Israel) again, I think it was important that I find that motivation again. So I think somewhere (in the) beginning of this year, I could again really focus and get back into full training. But yeah, I was not 100% fit to compete in tournaments at times.
But again, (it is) just focussing on doing the things right, and on the processes, especially in training, just doing the basic things right. And just enjoying the game, not thinking too much about the past results. Because at some point, I could start feeling that okay, it's been like three, four months, five months since Paris, I was in a really good shape in a good place to win a lot of things. But again, I didn't do that. And I was feeling a lot of pressure or the burden of the last few losses.
So at some point, I had to really sit back and think that okay, if it takes me another 10 tournaments, another 20 tournaments, I'm ready to do that. I'm not going to hurry so much into fighting it all out. I think I took a step back from that and just like started enjoying the training, enjoying the process again.
And I could feel a lot better on court, like the last part of the stages. And then once I was fully fit, especially before the World Championships, I had good training logs, two, three good training logs before that and was ready to go out there and perform. And then I was just happy to compete again, compete and try to win tournaments.
On his goals ahead of next season
I think the competition is really high and there are a lot of good players out there. But again, I had a really good few tournaments here in the last part of the year. So I would love to continue this form, this momentum into the next year as well, the tournaments. And yes, there are some big events next year. But I mean, as of now, I'm just focussing on what I can do right in the next few months. I hope I continue the same way and just take one match at a time and not think too hard.