Saina Nehwal has to regularly reach semifinals and final to stay on top: U Vimal Kumar

It is said that it is easy to reach the top, but staying there is the real challenge. That's exactly the position in which India Open Super Series winner Saina Nehwal finds herself at the moment. The legendary Prakash Padukone faced the same predicament as he tried to maintain his world No. 1 ranking in 1980-81.

Nehwal will officially be crowned the world No. 1 on Thursday when the official rankings list are released by the world governing body, Badminton World Federation (BWF). The rankings follow the Thursday-Wednesday cycle and Nehwal, by virtue of her latest triumph, will become the first Indian woman shuttler to be No. 1 in the world, emulating Padukone, who was the first Indian to do so in 1980.

U Vimal Kumar, currently Nehwal's coach and Olympian, has seen Padukone become world No. 1 then and has, since last September, guided Nehwal to the pinnacle in women's badminton.

“One common thing between Prakash and Saina is that both were 25 when they became No. 1. Of course, both are different eras,” Vimal told dna from Bengaluru.

Formerly chief national coach and national champion, Vimal was one of those who was inspired to pursue badminton after Padukone won the All England title in 1980 and became the top player in the world. “Those days, shuttlers needed to do things on their own. Prakash shifted to Denmark to focus on professional badminton. Now, Saina has sacrificed her comforts in Hyderabad, her family and friends, and staying in the stadium room (in Bengaluru). It is tough.

“Prakash motivated a whole lot of youngsters to take up the sport and I was one of them. Because of Prakash's accomplishments at the highest level, I sacrificed my seat in a medical college to concentrate on badminton.”

Over the years, Vimal has come to know Padukone closely and is now the co-founder, director and chief coach of the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bengaluru.

While there are not enough records that say exactly for how long Padukone held on to the No. 1 ranking, Vimal said: “He was on top for the whole of 1980, consistently reaching finals of almost every tournament. Immediately after becoming No.1, he was top seed for the World Championships in Jakarta. He lost in the quarterfinals to Hadiyanto, an Indonesian, whom he defeated easily in the All England quarters. Prakash still maintained his ranking, winning titles at international tournaments. He was the top player in 1980.

“In 1981, he lost all the three finals, the ones he won in 1980 – the All England, Danish and Swedish Opens. With his decision to move to Denmark to play professional badminton started the slump in his ranking.”

Vimal said it is difficult to comment on how long Saina will be able to hold on to No.1 ranking but said that she regularly has to make it to the semifinals and finals of international tournaments to stay on the top. Vimal said, “Saina has to be a lot more consistent and cannot afford to lose in earlier rounds”. He added: “There are so many girls on a given day who can beat each other. Saina has to maintain her level of reaching the semifinals and final to keep her top ranking. It is not easy to win all the tournaments, though. The Chinese will also be very wary of Saina, Ratchanok Intanon, Carolina Marin, Tai Tzu Ying.”

So, what difference has Vimal made to Saina's game that has led her to be No. 1. “Specific stroke routines. Trying to bring in variations to her game and also the physical aspects. There will not be more than two sessions in a day, even though they will be more intense. I want to ensure quality and not spend hours and hours on the court. She is the sort of girl who will work and not stop. When to stop has been a problem for her and times, I had to tell her to stop. When you go through a difficult phase, you think you are not working hard. That is the first thought for a sportsperson. Then you go and work harder. You need to look at your game, make some changes.

That way, she is a good learner, grasps things well,” Vimal explained.

Talking about the present male shuttlers in the country, Vimal said that World No. 4 Kidambi Srikanth, who won the men's singles title of the India Open, has all the qualities to win the World Championships and has the makings of becoming a world No. 1.

Doesn't want to remember All England final
Nehwal came close to winning the All England title in early March but lost to Spanish Marin after being up a game. “It can happen,” Vimal, who was coaching her from the courtside in that tournament, said. “I analysed her game in my own way. I follow a lot of tennis players of the 1980s. The Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe matches, Jimmy Connors-McEnroe matches, Stefan Edberg-Boris Becker, Pete Sampras-Andre Agassi, Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalries. More than the tennis, I look at how they handle pressure situations. Every top sportsperson cracks under pressure at some stage. Nadal went through it against Stan Wawrinka in 2014 Australian Open final.

“Every sportsperson has to accept the fact that you cannot fight your mind. Something very similar happened to Saina in the All England final. I knew her mind was blank. She got to a stage where things were not working for her. She looked completely lost. When returning from Birmingham, she was quite low, really disappointed. Within two days of returning, she phoned from Hyderabad saying she was coming for training and that she has completely forgotten about the final.

“I wanted to analyse what went through her. She said, 'I don't want to be reminded about that'. She does not want to talk about it.”

Asked if Padukone also went through similar situations when on top, Vimal said: “Somehow, players in the 1980s did not show emotions. Only McEnroe was different. Ivan lendl, Borg, Morten Frost, Prakash did not show their emotions. We could not make out what was going through their mind. Whether that is right, I don't know. That way, they could adjust to pressure situations. Today, Carolina Marin is more vocal, something like McEnroe. Saina, too, gets pumped, gets angry at times, gets fired up. There are different ways of handling them. It differs from person to person.”

Meanwhile, Nehwal left for Kuala Lumpur on Sunday night to participate in this week's Malaysia Open Superseries Premier, where she is third seed behind Chinese duo of Li Xuerui and Wang Shixian. Saina will face Indonesia's world No. 47 Maria Febe Kusumastuti in the first round on Wednesday.

Indians playing today (Rd 1):
Men's singles: 4-Kidambi Srikanth vs Rajiv Ouseph (ENG), Parupalli Kashyap vs Lee Dong Keun (KOR), HS Prannoy vs Scott Evans (IRE)
Men's doubles: Manu Attri/ B Sumeeth Reddy vs Andrei Adistia/ Hendra Aprida Gunawan (INA)
Women's singles: 3-Saina Nehwal vs Maria Febe Kusumastuti (INA)
Women's doubles: Jwala Gutta/ Ashwini Ponnappa vs Keshya Nurvita Hanadia/ Devi Tika Permatasari