All England badminton: Working on fitness and focusing on bigger events the priority for Lakshya Sen now

“He has a good attacking game and I lost to him 4 times,” Sen says, after wrapping up an inspiring campaign at All England that left him “disheartened” with the Sunday result, but “overall” in a good confident space.

“I still need to work with my team on how to beat him. On most occasions, he’s been the better player,” Sen conceded.

All talk around his second All England final was about how the exertions of a 97-minute semifinal took a toll on his performance in the title clash. But Sen knows he has work to do in solving the left-handed Lin’s puzzle, and his diminishing fitness was only a part of the problem.

His semifinal opponent Victor Lai didn’t help matters.

“There’s nothing irritating about Victor, he’s very talented. And very new, so people are still trying to read him,” Sen said about the Canadian, as he problem-solved his way out of that poser, but it extracted its pound of flesh, making recovery for the final tougher.

So, how was it to go rally after rally into 50+ shots exchanges?

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Nobody expects a saunter in the semis of a Super 1000. But Lai ended up making Sen’s path to the final perilous, at the end of a week when Sen had taken out the known hazards – Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng, even ending a losing run against NG Ka Long Angus.

“Victor Lai is quite strong, and can get to (any part of the) court easily. I had to wait for my chances,” Sen described the challenge, which left him with cramps and compounded a blister.

“I was playing him for the first time. Having watched him play others, I expected it to be tough. We both played well defensively,” he recalled of a match that saw a dozen rallies of 40+ shots each. “Also the shuttle was slow, so I had to wait for my shots, play that extra stroke (to get points).”

Fitness issues

What made it tricky was the onset of cramp in the decider.

“I started cramping early in the third set. So I had to block things coming into my mind,” he revealed.

These were far more serious than just returning Jack into the box, and keeping it shut, because Lai kept popping up everywhere all at once.

India’s Lakshya Sen receives medical treatment during his men’s singles match against Canada’s Victor Lai during All England semifinal match. (PHOTO: AP)

“I had to block things like whether I’ll be able to finish my match,” the Indian shuttler said. And even whether he would get the next point, given how endless and gruelling the rallies seemed.

Some would say that had he wrapped up the Angus match in two games, he would have been less fatigued. Sen didn’t think it was that easy.

“These are tricky opponents. And close matches. You win some, lose some. It was also nervy, but it was a short third set so that didn’t matter,” he said. “There was no other way (than to win the third after dropping the second) to reach the quarterfinal.”

What will go under-appreciated is how he took out both the top Chinese. Sen had entered All England not thinking beyond Round 1 where he was to face the top seed and world champion Shi Yuqi. “First round felt like playing finals,” he said. “I wasn’t looking too far ahead.”

Sen did very well to tackle different styles subsequently, but why this might hurt more than his 2022 runner-up finish was how gettable the title seemed.

“In 2022, I was probably thinking it was a dream the whole week and happy that I was in the final. Once I knew the match (final) was slipping away against Viktor Axelsen, I enjoyed playing without expectations. This time I was better prepared to know what was coming in pressure matches. There was belief I could win, hence I’m disheartened,” he said.

Looking ahead

While he aims to peak for the World Championships next, Sen was clear that big events (Super 1000s) would continue to be his priority, the smaller tournaments not so much.

“Sometimes you are in a hard training phase, but play tournaments to keep the ranking,” he explained. So a call for consistency (winning every tournament he enters) would be futile, and dangerous even for his injury-prone torso and limbs.

“Last tak try kiya,” he would tell a pressman, adding, “There’s quite a few things we can work on to get better at keeping fitness till the finals. Phirse next time try karenge.”

Sen is also acutely aware of how tough it gets with advancing age. “I’m not 20 anymore. So it’s tough to recover as fast as before. I’m not saying I’m old. But at 21-22, you play without inhibitions. Now I need to make changes and be conscious of my diet to help recovery,” he would say.

A sore shoulder also impacted his attacking shots. “But you have to be cautious in how much you can push (in training),” he would reflect, on a tightrope he will have to tread going forward.