I’ve tried to be smart about my training and the match loads, says Lakshya Sen

Mumbai: It had been almost a year since shuttler Lakshya Sen last won a title. But he has come close. He had reached the quarter-final at four events this year and got to the summit clash of the prestigious All England Championships for the second time in his career. Then there were the injuries and niggles that kept him away from a few events.

Through all this time though, regardless of the hits and misses, he has carried one important thing with him. Something he earned when he won the BWF Super 500 Australian Open last year — confidence.

It was that belief in himself and confidence in his game that came to the fore last week, as Sen clinched the BWF Super 500 HYLO Open in Saarbrucken, Germany. In the final he beat familiar foe and former world No.1 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-17, 21-10.

The first game of the final turned out to be quite long, with Sen letting go of a decent lead before finally securing the first game 21-17. In the second though, which he won 21-10, he was running away with the win.

“I was focused on taking it one point at a time. I had a big lead at the start of the second game. It was a comfortable lead and probably (you could think about winning) and (it’s difficult to) not get affected by it. But I just wanted to finish the match off and win the tournament,” he said on Tuesday, during a virtual interaction organised by the Badminton Association of India (BAI).

“(Earlier in the season) the performances didn’t go as planned, but I was ready and fighting hard to win every tournament I played. I’m happy that it happened last week, it feels good,” he said.

“The confidence has always been there, but due to some niggles I couldn’t really perform to my level. But I’ve tried to be smart about my training and the match loads around it.”

The week in Germany started off with three consecutive three-game matches, including the opener against Finland's Joakim Oldorff, which Sen came from behind to win. As the tournament progressed though, the world No.13 felt more and more comfortable on court.

“Playing five matches in a week really helped me perform well in the semi-final and final,” Sen said. In the semi-final, he beat world No.12 Toma Junior Popov 21-17, 21-13. “As the matches progressed, I kept getting better with the feel of the court.”

The title adds to his growing list of accolades, which includes the bronze medals he won at the Thomas Cup and men’s team event at the Asian Games earlier this year.

The 25-year-old started the season well, reaching quarter-finals at the India Open and Indonesia Masters, before putting in a lot of mileage on court during his run to the final of the All England. The star player, who has been injury prone, started to once again struggle with a few fitness issues since then.

“It was a good performance at the All England, playing in the finals and I was really in good shape,” he said. “But post that, two-three months down the line, there were some niggles and injury issues which kept me away from the court.”

He added that the injuries were not major, but he did choose to withdraw from a few events in order to not aggravate the problem. One of the tournaments he withdrew from was the Super 750 French Open, which took place just a week before the HYLO Open.

“I had to withdraw from the French Open because of the shoulder pain that I got after the Denmark Open (a week prior to the event in France),” he added. “The injury was not major that I couldn’t play, but again, I had to be smart about the training and match loads.”

That week’s break kept him fresh and ready for the event in Saarbrucken, where he had also triumphed in 2019.