The story of Saina’s grit – the story of her life, even — lies in the way she relentlessly stalked the world’s best player, trying to and gloriously managing to match her return for return, shot for shot, deep forehand for deep forehand. (File Photo)
Nothing comes easy for Saina Nehwal — not even an assured bronze. But she can pat herself on the back for making life mighty difficult for her opponent as well on Saturday and allowing Tai Tzu Ying to book her silver / gold at the Asian Badminton Championship only very grudgingly.
Chinese spectators at Wuhan meanwhile, were seen watching with some wonder the first and the latest destructors of their near-two-decade long monopoly over women’s singles, play out a tight 27-25, 21-19 match ending in the Taiwanese girl’s favour. It should annoy them a tad that Saina is now troubling a third generation of their players (starting with Lu Lan a decade ago right upto Gao Fangjie two days back), and though she might not have clung onto her own No. 1 tag for too long, she’s a consistent thorn in the flesh of whoever carries that tag.
Tai Tzu slipped from the top perch last week, but is undeniably the best shuttler around right now. After Saturday’s win, she leads Nehwal 11-5 in head to head, but Saina’s threateningly close to tipping over and beating Tai Tzu Ying one of these days. This 45-minute match would’ve fattened her confidence quite a bit.
The 28-year-old Indian held the lead against the 23-year-old for only 9 of the 44 points she scored in the semifinals (39 of Tai’s 48 points were with her cantering away). The story of Saina’s grit – the story of her life, even — lies in the remainder of 35 points where she relentlessly stalked the world’s best player, trying to and gloriously managing to match her return for return, shot for shot, deep forehand for deep forehand. Saina would hunt down the lead so vehemently that she seemed to match Tai Tzu’s speed which is both in her legs and her outrageously talented hands.
Saina had lost a final in Indonesia earlier in the year, looking sluggish and spent in merely making the finals. There was even the opening set where she could score just 9 points, but the first signs that today was another day came in her 6-point surge from trailing 9-15 to levelling at 15 and eventually getting into a 20-18 position.
Why she couldn’t finish we’ll come to later, but her unwavering pursuit was based on two factors. The Indian isn’t as agile, but her movement was quicker than it’s been for two years and she wasn’t caught in the front or baseline despite Tai Tzu being as deceptive as ever in harrying opponents. While her retrieving was assured, she could stay in rallies and hit much longer than before – even pre-injury.
Whether it was the toss-drop prolonged rallies or the sharp smashing shorter ones, Nehwal wasn’t found wanting in getting to the shuttle, and giving as bad as she got. PV Sindhu has spoilt Indians silly mesmerising them with her never-ending exchanges with the Japanese, but it is altogether different to manage that against Tai Tzu who gets snappy and scintillating keeping points short.
Picking a Tai Tzu shuttle is an art, and Saina was reading her well as well as picking the bird when Tai Tzu brought her down on the net using her slow, flex drops. But it was on the deep forehand that Saina showed she could catch her opponent, even as her winners came on the backhand net shots — or their smashing follow-ups. Saina smartly changed her services too.
Where Tai Tzu was much better was on the end-kill. Saina led 20-18, 24-23, 25-24 in the first and 19-17 in the second — but could not drive the knife deep enough. “Last crucial points, her line judgments were unfortunate,” coach Amrish Shinde said, explaining how Tai Tzu pounced on and bossed that situation. In those end moments, Saina must’ve seen just a blur.
Former coach Vimal Kumar reckons Tai Tzu plays with such authority with the knowledge that she can beat Saina from any situation that the audacity pulls her through. “Saina played really well, given Tai is playing extremely well herself. Now that Saina’s injury-free, you know her moving, retrieving, counter-attacking will be spot-on. Next time, she needs to be calmer when employing the pressure situation tactics. She’s close,” he said.
Coach Gopichand insisted there were many good takeaways. “Much improved performance, as she made Tai struggle. She had her chances and could’ve closed in both games, but overall went well.”
The result didn’t go her way, but Nehwal’s resistance is relentless. “I gave my best today… but she was really good… have to work harder to beat the best girl at the moment…” she tweeted. Against Tai Tzu, it will take “more harder, most hardest”efforts, but never rule out Saina Nehwal getting there.