Forty-seven minutes after Saina Nehwal stepped onto the Siri Fort stadium court on Friday evening, she was about to serve for a game. On the other side of the net was PV Sindhu, 19-20 down after having taken the first game 20-16. This was unexpected. Going into the match, the fifth time the paths of the two biggest stars in Indian badminton have crossed in competition, few would have given Saina a shot. Not of winning, but avoiding a straight-games defeat in their first encounter at a Superseries event.
This wasn't to belittle Saina's pedigree. She is after all the one with all the firsts for her sport in India -- Olympic medal, Commonwealth gold, Superseries titles. She was the one who registered women's badminton in the public consciousness. It's just that she doesn't occupy that position any more. That position has been hustled by the 21-year-old waiting across the net. The advertising hoardings all around the venue would suggest just that. Sindhu is the figure leading the montage of players promoting the event. Saina hovers behind her right shoulder in the image.
Sindhu is undoubtedly the best badminton player in the country now. Saina's Olympic bronze has been upped by her own Olympic silver. She has her own Superseries title too. And where Saina is burdened by the knowledge that she is still recovering from the knee injury she suffered nearly a year back, Sindhu has the crushing momentum of confidence behind her too.
Yet there we were. With Saina about to flick the shuttle across the net. Ready to take the match to a decider. What would her strategy for that crucial point be? Would she lift it deep, forcing Sindhu into a high toss rally, or would she keep it close to the service line and hedge her bets on an exchange at the net. Ultimately she did neither. The push was weak. It didn't even reach the net cord, instead falling softly into the net. And just like that the chance was gone. Within a minute, Sindhu would claim another two points and claim the match.
"Saina would have been expecting there to be a third game," Sindhu said after the match. Not herself though. "I believe in myself that I will win. I wasn't thinking of the third game but was fighting to earn each point," she said. On the other hand, that service error would perhaps betray Saina's lack of self-belief. Going into the match Saina had said she wasn't expecting to win and that whatever came her way was a bonus.
Indeed, Saina was uncharacteristically expressive on court. When she made a reflexive retrieve, she would break into a smile. Saina did have her moments. Leading up to the first interval, she stayed nearly level with her opponent. Her knee betrayed her on occasion when Sindhu made her lunge, but she returned the favour with her trademark half-smashes. Saina's movement on court though was clearly an area of weakness. More often than not she was scrambling just to stay in the rally. Sindhu would often lure Saina to the net and then lob the shuttle overhead.
PTI/Shirish Shete
You could sense though that the crowd was rooting for the older player. "Pehle bache ko pyaar zyada milta hai (The first child gets more love)," said one spectator who had watched Saina win the Commonwealth gold here nearly seven years ago. And indeed chants of "Saina! Saina" echoed far more in the packed hall than the ones for the eventual winner. It wasn't partisan, just a hope for the fight to be closer than it was expected to be.
And just when it appeared that those hopes were misplaced, Saina seemed to find a second wind as she switched sides. She stopped attempting to match Sindhu in the air and kept her trajectories flat. With Sindhu managing to retrieve smashes placed to her sides, Saina targeted her body.
A four-point lead (14-10) was opened up when Saina caught Sindhu off guard with a tap at the net. Sindhu managed to return the shuttle but only to the middle of the court, where Saina was waiting to pounce. Sindhu stretched to her right to retrieve the smash but found only air as she herself was left sprawled on court. She took her time getting up. If Saina thought the momentum had to shift at some point, this was it. And indeed she kept the lead almost to the moment when she had the chance to force the decider.
But that moment passed. Sindhu lobbed Saina once more to set up match point and end proceedings with an emphatic smash down the line.
Sindhu later said she took the match "just like any other" and that Saina "wasn't some special player that I have to beat all the time". Yet her celebration -- a loud "come on" followed by holding both arms aloft -- explained what the match probably meant to her.
Saina matched Sindhu for large phases of the match and it was only a lack of belief that prevented her from pushing her opponent still further. Knowing the player Saina is, that won't always be the case. This is a rivalry that still has many episodes to play out.
