CHENNAI: The statistics before the match were quite stark. PV SIndhu, double Olympic medallist, former world champion and worlds medallist has never won against South Korea’s An Se-Young. The match looked like another formality for SIndhu and Young. However, in the final of the French Open in Paris, points were not simple. Even Young found that out, too.
Since her win at the Japan Open, a BWF Tour 750 tournament, in July this year, Sindhu has been breathing a different kind of life into her game. She is quick (though not as she was in her early days) but has compensated it with her endurance and experience; she plays games that suit her: quick rallies, early endgames and keeping the shuttle longer in the air. Her net game has improved too.
On Sunday, she did not win the match, but did something that not too many players in the world could do this season. She won a game – second time in 11 meetings — but as An Se Young upped her game, Sindhu slowly perished 21-16, 11-21, 12-21. Though the scoreline indicates a one-sided match, Sindhu did give a fight. Against any other player, this could have been even easier to close out the match but the South Korean is a different beast on the court.
Yet, one has to give everything to Sindhu for keeping her hopes alive until the final round. At 31, when most struggle with fitness, Sindhu is playing at another level. The first game did make a difference in Sindhu’s match. She knew how important it was for her to win the first game. “I said yesterday, it's a fresh day, new day, and it's a new game, anything could happen, so I fought for every point,” she said. “I could win the first game and I was happy about it. I think in the second game, it was equal until four or five all. After that she took a lead and then maintained the lead.”
Sindhu said that even in the third game, she felt that she should have maintained the lead from 8-5. “But I think it was unfortunate that she converted that into 11-9 and then we changed the court. That's where I felt the difference was, but I have a lot of positives to take from this match.”
Sindhu said that “when you're playing with the top athletes, you have to be at your 100 per cent every single point. I know it's not going to be easy and I have to fight for every point. That's what we were doing.” She said that she should have converted the long rallies into points but unfortunately it did not happen.
The Japan Open title, and now in another final of a Super 750. Is this the best Sindhu we're seeing, or do you still feel like you still have room to grow? She said: “Definitely, there's a lot of room in it. I am absolutely looking forward to much better badminton from me, and I'm happy with this, but I think there's a lot of space, a lot of room still there, so I'm looking forward to it.”
On An’s part, she acknowledged that Sindhu is an aggressive player and she had to concentrate on her defence more. “Sindhu is a very strong and aggressive player so I focused on my defence,” she said after the match adding she concentrated on her timing. Losing the first game led her to change to gameplan. In the first game she felt she was rushing a bit with her game and in the second she tried to make amends. “I was not trying to rush and more focus on defence,” she said.
