Lakshya Sen was out of the blocks like a sprinter and sustained the frenetic tempo for most of his 36-minute hammering
At 6-6 in the second game, Lakshya Sen had just been engaged in a 29-shot rally by Jonatan Christie. After having won the opening game comfortably, and taking an early lead in the second game, Lakshya saw Christie cut down the gap and catch up with him. The defending champion from Indonesia tends to go on a roll when he finds his rhythm, so it was a critical moment for Lakshya to respond. And he put forth some response.
From 6-6, Lakshya went on a stunning run of 11 out of the next 12 points, shutting Christie out completely and closing out a straight-game win. Sometimes they say the scoreboard doesn’t reflect the story but Lakshya’s 21-13, 21-10 win against the world No 2 in just 36 minutes was a just reflection of the Indian’s domination.
In a match of many highlight reel-worthy moments from Lakshya, one stood out. At 10-6 in Game 2, Christie played a gentle punch clear to the backcourt as Lakshya returned a tight net shot. As he was backpedaling, Lakshya leapt in the air and played a booming jump smash that gave Christie no time to react despite him being ready to retrieve it in a mid-court defensive position. The zing in that shot was a thing of joy, registered at 434 kph as per the broadcaster.
Speaking to The Indian Express in Lucknow last year, where Lakshya ended a long title drought at the Syed Modi Super 300, coach and father DK Sen had identified one key area of improvement for him going into the new season. “Tactically, one of the things I want him to improve is where he meets the smash. If you go back and see some of the matches he lost, when Lakshya is moving backward and jumping for a smash, he sometimes connects with the shuttle when he is on the way down. When he is moving down, and the stroke is also downward, the shuttle ends up in the net. Point of contact with the shuttle should ideally be when he is on the rise,” senior Sen had said. That smash winner at 11-6 couldn’t have been a better snapshot of that execution.
Fast starts
But this performance wasn’t just about Lakshya’s attacking domination. One of the other things Lakshya had said during his title run at Syed Modi was how he was making a conscious attempt to start games better, and not concede an early lead. “From the first point, I have been trying to hit the court warm,” he had said in November. And it is something he reiterated – after not starting well – on Tuesday in Birmingham in the first round, as he recovered from a slow start to beat Su Li Yang in three games.
The start against Christie was anything but slow. He was out of the blocks like a sprinter who heard a pistol go off instead of just the umpire saying “Love all, play.” Christie’s tentativeness at the start helped Lakshya, but the 23-year-old didn’t let his opponent settle either, playing up-tempo badminton, looking to inject pace every chance he got. The result was a 6-1 lead. Christie started to get into some rhythm after that, a body smash helping him close the gap at 4-6, but Lakshya quickly reestablished a 5-point lead at the mid-game interval, with a whipped flat forehand crosscourt winner.
After the interval, the Indian snatched at a forehand from midcourt in a moment that betrayed a sense of being rushed – a fine line between high tempo and miscalculated urgency. But from there on, Lakshya’s all-round game clicked into place, his acrobatic retrievals dove-tailing nicely with the precision in his smashes. A brilliant rally at 16-12 saw Lakshya picking up the shuttle from inches off the floor after a tight net exchange, somehow staying alive in a rally he had no business winning. It was decisive too as he went up 20-12 for 8 match points, and he converted the second.
“Right from the beginning, I had a good approach and am looking forward to continuing this momentum,” Lakshya told BWF later. “In the beginning, it was about maintaining composure and keeping the shuttle in play, moving quickly on court, as he was also trying to play really fast. I just tried to contain him, going for smashes when possible. We both knew the game was going to be fast-paced. I was prepared for that.”
When Lakshya is clear-headed and dialled in – in the athlete’s zone, as the adage goes – he is tough to crack. At Syed Modi, when he was in one of those moods, his Singaporean opponent Jason Teh had said, “I just couldn’t keep up with his pace, his attacks… just couldn’t retrieve some of his shots, and in that situation, it is not easy playing him.” For Lakshya, it is about channeling these situations more frequently. And somehow All England – Lakshya is a former finalist here – invariably seems to bring that out of him. In the run when Lakshya went from 6-6 to 17-7 in Game 2, he was accessing that mental sweet spot for fun.
“Just the way, I approach this tournament with extra motivation to do well every time. Two years ago and even last year, I did well. Now, I’m focused on the next round and really determined to succeed here,” he said. He takes on a familiar foe in China’s Li Shj Feng next, from the junior class of 2018.