Brice Leverdez of France. (Source: Reuters)
As ‘Boleh Boleh Lee Chong Wei’ (Lee Chong Wei, You can) rose in crescendo, a group of French fans sitting alongside raised their clapper decibel. Brice Leverdez was playing the match of his life.
Badminton is next to nothing in France – easily overshadowed by tennis. But Leverdez had picked it as a 12-year-old on holiday – a few days after he didn’t know it even existed. He wasn’t too shabby at it and got picked for the regional centre and national team in quick time. By 18, Sydney Olympian Bertrand Gallet had decided to coach the bright kid though results took a dozen years to fetch up.
On Tuesday, when Leverdez beat Chong Wei in a thriller at the Emirates Arena, he had gone into the match sticking to a carefully discussed strategy. When the second game went into extra points after Chong Wei’s shot hit the line, the Frenchman’s coach following it online read the confused scoreline 21-19, 22-20 before the TV review reversed the line judge’s call, and messaged his congratulations. He would later send a follow-up: “You should’ve won 21-15, 21-15, you as@#$%^”
Leverdez is not part of the national team coached by Danish legend Peter Gade, and has stuck by his personal coach of his teenaged years who’s not allowed to travel with the national team. “Peter doesn’t know me yet, but we’ll figure out how to work in the future. I’m used to travelling alone. I’m old enough to travel alone,” he would say later.
Leverdez has been seeking the elusive calm needed to win matches all these years. “I want to go on court and enjoy, and I’ve been looking for that state of mind where I’m relaxed for years,” he said.
The 31-year-old Frenchman had beaten Chong Wei in a freak result in Denmark last year. “I knew that he knows that I play well against him. Tactically, I knew what to do. It was kind of crazy match. If I think of it, I’d probably say I was lucky or something,” he’d chuckle.
At the end of Game 2, he knew he was up for a long match. “I knew when the shuttle fell that it was in, and I looked at the clock and said ‘Damn, 53 minutes’. The third game was won mostly mentally, because I felt my legs tire after the second.”
Rallying is not his style of play, and he’s honest about how lucky he was with some net shots, though he underplayed the pressure he exerted on the Malaysian legend, cheered on by a stadium that came alive sensing an upset, and the two sets of vocal fans.
Leverdez owns a clothing line — “Currently my badminton does better than my business!” — and the Frenchman is keen to devote more time to the game after this win. “I need to give 40 per cent time to my business to earn money. I want to go further in the tournament, not just win first round,” he would add.
The Frenchman has no pretensions to being an exceptional player. “When you beat Chong Wei, you think you’ve opened up the draw. But nothing opens up. Knowing me, I can lose to anyone, and win against anyone.”
Preferring the larger halls in Glasgow and London to the dimly lit cauldrons of Asia, Leverdez said it’s a practical preference. “I can see properly in bigger well-lit halls to make my attack pinpointed, precise.”
On Tuesday, he saw mighty well, and might just have ensured Lee Chong Wei calls it Lights Out.
