A straight-games 21-15, 21-14 defeat on Wednesday against world No 14 Sim Yu Jin at the Japan Open Super 750 on Wednesday in Tokyo meant that PV Sindhu has suffered five first-round exits and three second-round exits in 2025. It’s been a frustrating year for the Indian superstar and she admitted that she hasn’t able to find the consistency yet, more than six months into the calendar and a World Championships on the horizon.
“It’s been a tough year so far. I mean, it’s already been six months now. I mean, training-wise it’s going on well, but it’s just a matter of time and the consistency that I need,” Sindhu told BWF. “To just keep going and to maintain that pace and make sure I’m playing those long games and long matches. I think I need to go back and practice them again. It is hard to say because I’ve been training really hard and I wanted to change things and work things out. But, I mean, sometimes it’s life. So you have to just keep struggling until you get there.”
Her defeat against Sim was a head-scratcher because she showed flashes of attacking brilliance, and in extended rallies, still had the attacking power to put the Korean under trouble. But the unforced errors – and there were far too many of those – meant Simt was never really under any scoreboard pressure. Sindhu’s slow starts in both games she was constantly playing catch up.
“I’ve given her a huge lead in the beginning. I covered, I came back but then it was already too late because, a small error again and I need to catch up. It was basically like I was chasing her more than me taking the initiative,” Sindhu spoke, when asked where she struggled on Wednesday. “Overall I made some errors, I feel that when I was playing strokes, the shuttle was actually going into her hands, she was able to easily take it instead of me actually making her move. Even my coach was mentioning that I was hitting it to her hands. She was making me move more of most of the times and I think that’s where strategy-wise it went a bit wrong.”
When asked if Sim’s deceptive stroke play troubled her, Sindhu said it was more about allowing her opponent to play the way she wanted. “Everything starts with the way I play. Where is she, you know, contacting the shuttle. So basically if it’s in her hands, she’s easily able to play those deceptive strokes because, it’s not really hard for her to try new strokes. I think that’s where I was lacking at,” Sindhu added.
Last month, during her visit to the Sports Sciences facility at the SAI Center Bengaluru, Sindhu spoke to the media about adapting to the demands of the modern women’s singles gameplay. “These days I need to maintain my patience during longer rallies. I am playing rallies that have 30 or 40 strokes. So accordingly, I need to do my physical fitness and endurance. Because I need to withstand being on the court for a very long period. So that way we have been doing changes, and it’s good that Irwansyah has come and is training me,” she had said.
“As I said that women’s singles has changed and it has been more defensive with long rallies and long matches. We have been working on that, especially in term of being more patient enough to continue that rally and keep the shuttle in the court for a longer period of time,” she had said. Unfortunately at the moment, it just isn’t coming together on the court for the 30-year-old.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
