Beating Lin Dan, a great confidence booster, says HS Prannoy

How do you look back in the last couple of years since you graduated from junior to senior ranks?

I am happy the way it has changed around from 2012-13. Obviously, it was tough to get from junior to senior. Am really happy to get that jump initially. The last six months have been a little bit tough after the injury lay-off. I have had a couple of good tournaments. I felt I played really well in the last six months though the results don't show. I lost so many close matches in the first and second rounds. I had a couple of really good wins including against Lin Dan (French Open, October 2015) and before that, a good couple of tournaments in India Open and Singapore Open (both quarterfinals). The year 2015 was really good for me, The start was really good before the injury lay-off. I learnt so many things this year and hopefully 2016 will be much better.

What is that turnaround that you are talking about?

From 2013, to be playing in the Superseries and Grand Prix Gold tournaments was the biggest decision I took. I did not go back to play the Challengers. I did not try to increase the rankings for the sake of it. I was just trying to play big events and was trying to play bigger opponents. That helped me to learn many things. I did not know where I was standing in 2013. I started working hard. I hardly played 2-3 international challengers and Grand Prix. Rest all, I played GP Gold and Superseries. When I look back, it was a really good decision to play in all those tournaments. I may have lost so many tournaments in the first rounds but I learnt a lot. I could play many big matches against some of the bigger players like Lee Chong Wei, Chen Long, Lin Dan. I may have lost tamely to them but understood why they were so good and what I needed to do to be that good. I started to play much better in 2014. I was able to compete with them and started to play more close matches and started to even beat them. I knew how to play against them after a couple of years. It is not just about fitness and the game but you also need how to know how to play against each player. That will come with experience. Those initial two years taught me how to play against the top players.
 

What does it mean to you to win, say, against one of the greatest shuttlers, Lin Dan?

It is a great confidence booster. When you play and beat a player that you always dreamt of at least playing, wins against higher ranked players like Jan O Jorgensen (of Denmark) in India Open (March) and Singapore Open (April) in 2015 (both in second rounds), gave me a lot of confidence. I knew he was playing to the top of the game, had just played the All England final. It is already proved that he is one of the best in the world. For me to beat him very easily in Singapore Open (21-16 21-8) gave me a lot of confidence. With Lin Dan, I felt I played one of the best matches of my life as he was not giving away the match. He was fighting for the match in the third game. To pull off the game (14-21 21-11 21-17) was a really good improvement from my side. While I am really happy to play well against these guys, I need to be more consistent with the younger lot, the unseeded players, where I go into the pressure side and end up making silly mistakes. With the higher-ranked players, I am not doing those kinds of mistakes.

Do you become complacent when playing lower-seeded players?

It is not complacency. I feel when I play against the higher seeds, my mind is empty. You just follow the shuttle and respect the opponent for what he is and that you are just trying to win. Against lower-ranked players, you have that extra pressure in that you have got the chance to win that round. That puts pressure on you and when the opponent starts to play well, you begin to panic and feel that you are going down even if you are playing really well. That makes you a bit more nervous. When top players play well, you don't panic as you know they are going to win anyway.

How do you address this situation?

I am slowly learning with each loss. In 2012-13, I was very nervous with the younger lot. Now-a-days, I am more relaxed. I know opportunities are there for you to perform. It is not like there is only one match, you lose and that's the end of the world. That concept has come into my mind and am much more free while playing the younger lot but still need to be more consistent to be in the top 10 or 15. 

What goals have you set yourself?

The first goal is to be injury-free. I felt that if I am injury free, half the work is done. Small niggles and pains really bother me and that is why I am unable to give 100 per cent in training and also in matches. If I can get rid of that, then probably the game will automatically come.

How do you think the Premier Badminton League will help?

PBL will be really good. Especially for us seniors. With 2016 being the Olympic year, we all are trying to get back into the form. The last six months were tough, especially for men's singles players. We have been training well and playing well but we lack something that we are not able to really sort out. Maybe in the coming matches, if we can get those things done, what with the competition in PBL being really high and we have the India Open and Malaysia Open back-to-back (March-April), this would be a good warm-up for them. The biggest part would be that you would be under pressure as you are playing a team championship. If you can handle the pressure here, you can handle it in tournaments also.

Are you ready to take on the responsibility of guiding the juniors in PBL?

I don't know as I am also a youngster. I am just 23. There will be so many things to learn from PBL, from matches, from situations, that will help me in the coming year. I hope I can learn more and apply in my game. That said, leagues like this and Indian Badminton League really helps a youngster. IBL did help me in 2013. It was the first time I played in front of a huge crowd. They were really pressure matches. The team has told you to do something and if you don't deliver, it won't be good. The pressure was always there. I played just two matches but I had to win them. That really helped me in a lot of ways. In the ensuing tournaments, I played really well perhaps because of IBL. You travel with senior players. Champions do something different and you learn by observing them.

How tough has it been staying away from family for the sake of badminton?

That is really tough. I went home for a week in Thiruvananthapuram in December after six-seven months. Mentally if you are not fresh, it is tough to push physically. I was completely drained after these tournaments. Drained out does not necessarily mean you are physically tired. You also don't feel like training and playing in tournaments. After going home and returning to the academy (in Hyderabad), it is a different life altogether. I am mentally really good, feel like training again. I just completely shut myself from badminton. I saw TV for 1-2 hours continuously a day, something that I did not do in the last one-and-a-half years. I did all the things that keeps your mind off badminton, play with kids who are upcoming shuttlers. For them, it inspires them, the same feeling we get when Lee Chong Wei comes to India and plays for 2-3 days, it feels really great when we see him play. They only see us in paper but when they see me in person, they feel, 'If Prannoy can do it, why not us'. That gives me pleasure.

What has been your best moment in badminton?

The Youth Olympics 2010. Till the Youth Olympics, I did not have many results going my way. That made a huge difference in my game, my life, my lifestyle. Youth Olympics was as good as playing in an Olympics for me. Coming out of nowhere to win silver was really really great.

guru.krishnan@dnaindia.net; @GKspts on Twitter

KNOW PRANNOY

Born: July 17, 1992 in Delhi
Plays: Right-handed
Trains at: P Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad
Current rank: 20
Best rank: 12 (June 26-September 18, 2015)

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
Silver medallist in Youth Olympics in Singapore, 2010
Winner, Indonesia Masters Grand Prix Gold in September 2014
Finalist, Vietnam GP Open, September 2014
Semifinalist, Bitburger Open November 2014
Semifinalist, Macau Open, November 2014
Winner, Tata Open International Challenge, December 2014
Semifinalist, Syed Modi International, January 2015