CHENNAI: After roughly three months of mixing and matching with assorted basic equipment at home, Saurav Ghosal has returned to his natural habitat: a squash court. Away from it for more than 100 days, he initially thought it would take some time to get that muscle memory flowing again. He was wrong. He felt at ease straightaway. In an interview with The New Indian Express, the World No 13 also spoke about what kept him going during the lockdown, his unrealised dreams and why for him 2020 wouldn’t be a ‘year wasted’. Excerpts:
Without tournaments to look forward, what has kept you motivated?
Obviously, there have been days where it’s been hard. You go to sleep thinking ‘there is no light at the end of the tunnel’. But overall, I would like to think I have done decently over the past few months. My thought process has been, ‘I want to get to World No 1, so there are things I need to do... better than what I do today’. That’s why I’m not World No 1. So try to kind of connect the things that I need to improve on squash wise, and connect that to the physical capabilities of being able to do that, and do sessions accordingly.
After returning to the court, did it take time for muscle memory to kick in?
It’s been better than what I thought it was going to be. I have watched a lot of squash over the last four months or so. I have been visualising a lot of things that I want to get better at. Those things have helped. But of course, I have not started playing with anyone. I’ve just been doing like, solo. The next step is getting on court with someone and see how the body and mind reacts to that... That’s still a mystery because it hasn’t happened yet, but hopefully, I will be able to get into it pretty quickly.
Are you okay to play without a vaccine?
I would not want to but I would have to at some point. I think the vaccine is going to take some time. Until everyone really gets vaccinated, it’s probably going to be at some point later next year, which is a long time away. I accept that you cannot eliminate all risk. It’s a question of finding the balance where I am okay with the risk minimisation to the level that it is at that point in time. So if you ask me today, do I want to get on a flight? No, I don’t. But things change very quickly. So, maybe in two months, things will be slightly better. And I might find myself getting on a flight.
How would you categorise 2020? A year wasted or...?
There is no point in saying that it’s a year wasted. Of course, we would have loved to be playing at tournaments. But it’s an extreme situation for the world. For me personally, as a player I tried to use this time to the best of my ability to become a better player once I come back. So hopefully that will be the case. And if that is the case, then that time was well utilised.