"I never imagined winning Thailand Open without dropping any set"

FILE PHOTO: Kidambi Srikanth

Kidambi Srikanth took the Indian badminton fraternity, including himself by surprise when he recently won the Thailand Open.

The 20-year-old who idolizes his coach, Pullela Gopichand, lived up to his expectations and became the only second Indian to achieve this feat.

He was in a conversation with Sportskeeda recently. Here are the excerpts:

You won the Thailand Open remarkably without dropping a game in the entire tournament. Did you even dream of something like that before the tournament start?

I dream of winning tournaments but I never imagined winning it without dropping sets any time. I took it game by game and kept myself calm before matches.

I was pretty confident of putting up a good show as I had worked really hard on it. I am glad that the hard work paid off.

What are your expectations from the IBL?

IBL is a great platform to prove myself. One gets lots of chances to play with foreign players. Also, it being a team event and sharing some thoughts with international players is going to be really good. I am looking forward to it and also pretty excited about it.

Who do you look up to in Indian badminton as an inspiration?

It has to be Gopi sir (Pullela Gopichand). He is a great inspiration for any player. He is both a great player and a great person. There is so much one gets to learn from him.

Kidambi Srikanth

How much of a role has Pullela Gopichand played in your career?

It’s been almost 4 years for me in the Gopichand academy, and after I came here, I improved my game a lot.

Gopi sir helped me improve my skills in every aspect of the game. He is the one who shifted me to singles after my [time in] juniors, so he is definitely the one whom I would like to give full credit to.

What are the goals that you aim to achieve by the end of this year?

I am performing quite well in international circuits this year, so I want to continue with it and win a few tournaments and be there in top 25 by the end of the year. I am hoping for the best.

Your brother is also a badminton player, who was reportedly better than you when growing up. How strong has his influence been on your game?

Frankly speaking, I started [playing] badminton [after] watching him and he is always very serious about badminton, so that helped me concentrate on the game, and it worked for me.

It’s always good to have someone in the family who understands the game and everything which comes with it. It’s really an advantage to have a sibling playing the same sport as you are.

Do you engage in sibling competition with your brother? What is the atmosphere in your family like when comparisons are drawn between the achievements of you two bothers?

I guess we played only once in tournaments in singles, and he won it. It was like, when I used to play doubles, he used to play in singles, and when I shifted to singles, the same time even he shifted to doubles, so we didn’t get to play [against each other] much in tournaments.

Talking about the achievements, even he has some to his name, so there were never any comparisons.

What keeps you motivated?

I personally feel that every day is a new day and [there is] a lot to learn from it. This is how I think and make myself ready for every day.