It almost looked like the former World No 1 was willing herself over the finish line. In isolation, the moment was out of character. Yue is an honest player but she isn’t Tai Tzu Ying. Every winner off Sindhu’s racquet or every unforced error from Yue was followed by a guttural roar.
For a multiple Olympic medallist, the reactions looked out of place. But then, it wasn’t lacking in context.
The 27-year-old had already won two titles in 2022 but the near misses were compounding when she landed in Singapore.
Since winning the Swiss Open in March, she has had some trouble against fellow members of the elite. Korea Open, Thailand Open (lost in the semifinals), Indonesia Masters, Malaysia Open and Malaysia Masters (lost in the quarterfinals) and Indonesia Open (lost in the first round) was her losing run when she began that third game against Yue.
An opportunity had presented itself as the likes of Tai and Ratchanok Intanon had withdrawn. All of a sudden, Sindhu was the highest-ranked player left in the draw. For a person accused of not collecting enough titles — something her own coach, Park Tae Sang himself had referenced during a Twitter Space in January 2022 — this was too good a scenario to throw it away.
So Sindhu clung on against Yue before schooling Saena Kawakami in the semifinals. The final on Sunday became a one-game shootout (Wang Zhi Yi and she had split the first two games because of the drift). To her credit, Sindhu took the lead early doors and never relinquished it. After she won the match 21-9, 11-21, 21-15, that guttural roar told you everything you needed to know. The relief was writ large on her face.
Park himself matched Sindhu for emotion as he raised both his arms following the win.
“I want her (Sindhu) to participate in many tournaments and go there to win,” he had told in that Twitter Space in January.
“Even winning the smallest tournament is important. I have tried to tell Sindhu that it doesn’t matter which tournament she’s taking part in, but she needs to win so that she has the confidence to win. She needs to get that confidence back.” So it’s to understand why both ward and coach were over the moon.
What gave Sindhu added pleasure was it wasn’t the easiest of weeks, performance-wise. Even though she didn’t face a single-seeded player, she dropped three games across the five matches.
“This is my first title as a 27-year-old so I can say this is a special one,”she was quoted as saying by BWF. “They were hard-fought battles so it was a bit upsetting but each match mattered. And finally, I could get this win, cross that barrier. I hope this trend continues for the rest of the year.”
For a serial winner of the biggest prizes, it’s a bit funny but it’s also true that this is her first ever 500 title and her biggest since winning the Worlds in 2019.
With a loaded 40 days coming up — the Commonwealth Games followed by the World Championships — this is just the tonic the doctor ordered.