Kidambi Srikanth is enjoying the best phase of his international career, becoming only the fifth man in the sport to win back to back Super Series Titles. His all round play has bamboozled everyone on court, but what has been simply startling to see is that he has perfected his net play, playing those drops to perfection.
Srikanth beat Chen Long, the reigning Olympic Champion in straight sets on Sunday, thereby claiming his first ever Australian Super Series title. Srikanth was ecstatic after his win and said that despite suffering from diarrhoea he was able to compete well.
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I am very happy with my performance today and everything worked perfectly for me. I played very well, but since I arrived in Sydney, I have battled gastroenteritis and have suffered from diarrhoea, so I have not been at my best physically. But since I made the final, I wanted to continue playing as well as I could,” said Srikanth
“I was not thinking of winning or losing. I missed competitive badminton during my injury-break last year and wanted to enjoy the match. These conditions are such that you can’t really attack, it’s a bit slow. You have to be prepared to play a long match. In all the breaks today, I had the advantage and the coach told me to keep it going and not make simple mistakes which could allow him to get back into the match,” he added.
Srikant has come back on tour after a long injury layoff and was thankful to his support staff for making all this possible.
“I’m playing better after the Sudirman Cup. I should thank my physios (Kiran and Solomon Johnson) for keeping me fit for these two tournaments. It was tough for me on Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m just happy to be doing well for now,” he said.
It’s heartening to see Srikanth embrace all these issues, take it on the chin and still out perform the Olympic champion on the biggest of stages. Hopefully he can continue this and take Indian badminton to new heights.
