For a while on Wednesday afternoon at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, 30-year-old PV Sindhu and 17-year-old Tanvi Sharma were in action on adjacent courts. The legend and the future hope were locked in keen tussles, the former trying to unlock the code to recent nemesis Thuy Linh Nguyen and the teenager going toe-to-toe against World No.2 Wang Zhiyi.
At one point, both of them were bent double in frustration, Sindhu at dropping a point that saw her trail 9-10 in the decider and Tanvi at missing a game point at 20-19 against Wang in her opener. For those few minutes, with a sparse home crowd simultaneously egging Sindhu to battle on and applauding the quality of Tanvi’s gameplay, it felt like a transition in progress.
Sindhu eventually lost a third straight match against Nguyen, going down 22-20, 12-21, 15-21 in 68 minutes, and a short, expectant while later, Tanvi bowed out 20-22, 21-18, 13-21 in a match that lasted a minute longer.
There were similarities in the scoreline, but a contrast in the narratives. When Sindhu reflected on the defeat, there was a sense of frustration but Tanvi spoke with a certain giddiness after having given a proper scare to Wang, but also aware of what she needed to improve: endurance. It is what cost her at the end of the opener when she had the chance to close it out, and then in the decider too, when her challenge eventually faded away.
“I played very well,” Tanvi would tell reporters, with a smile that signified satisfaction at her performance after getting an entry into the main draw only on Monday.
Did she believe she’d have won that match if she had taken the opener? “Yes, I think if I won the first game, I think I could have won the second too,” the teenager from Hoshiarpur said. It wasn’t misplaced confidence either; it was based on the quality of the two games she played and how often the World No.2 was scrambling around the court to keep up with Tanvi.
The Indian wouldn’t have been playing this tournament had it not been for late withdrawals, which meant she had nothing to lose. It reflected in the early exchanges as the youngster attacked the mid-court with confidence, playing hold-and-flicks and cross-court half-smashes for fun.
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Then came two lengthy rallies from 17-17, both of which were won by Tanvi, but being moved to all four corners drained her visibly and she was pulled up by the umpire to speed up the game.
Wang drew level at 19-19, but Tanvi then had the opportunity to seal the game. However, she hit a forehand smash just wide and was seen bent double in equal amounts frustration and exhaustion.
Bouncing back
The Indian started the second game in some style, opening a 5-1 lead that included two forehand variations that showed her class – one a flat push angled across Wang and another a deft touch that caught the Chinese by surprise at the net.
It brought her out of the disappointment of losing the first game and Tanvi led from start to finish to force the decider. But Wang’s physicality eventually came through and once she opened up an 11-7 lead before the final change of ends, Tanvi ran out of fuel.
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“This match, playing three games with the World No.2, gave me confidence that I can do it. I know I have to improve a few more things, like my endurance,” Tanvi, who is hoping to break into the top 25 this year, said later.
“I didn’t expect that I would play the third game against the World No.2. I was playing well in the first game as well, but there were some errors at the end. In the second game, I played very well from the start. But in the third game… when it was 7-11 or so, I got tired, but I tried my best.”
While all this was unfolding, it wasn’t lost on the youngster that she was sharing the spotlight with her idol.
“I didn’t watch her match, but yeah, it was special to me playing on the side court to Sindhu didi at the India Open.”
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As for Sindhu, there was frustration at not following up the semifinal run in Malaysia with a deeper run at home. The former World Champion had started her match well against Nguyen, but the Vietnamese shuttler’s consistency in shot-making proved Sindhu’s bugbear once more.
“I don’t think it was my day,” the Indian said. “She has good strokes; I had to keep the tempo and keep the shuttle in play. Small mistakes in those moments become decisive. I definitely need to be more consistent. Giving away easy or consecutive points is something I have to stop. After losing one point, I need to reset immediately and be ready for the next rally. That’s the main takeaway for me.”
