Why Saina lost: Lessons to be learned

Before the quarter-final match between Saina Nehwal of India and Bae Yeon Ju of South Korea in BWF World Championships, 2013 at Tianhe Indoor Gymnasium in Guangzhou, no one would have thought this match would end the way it did. Win and loss are a part of sports, but the manner in which someone wins or loses sometimes has a long term effect.

Saina, being the 3^rd seed in the tournament, was favorite to win against the 13^th seed Korean. The match was destined to end differently though.

Saina started the match very confidently, in an almost flawless manner. She hit a number of winners (many of them well placed smashes) that her opponent had no reply to. Barely five minutes into the match, even before people could warm up to it, she had notched up a healthy lead of 9-3. Even these three points that went to Bae were unforced errors by Saina rather than points earned by Bae. From here onwards, Saina’s unforced errors started coming more frequently. She conceded three straight points and the score all of a sudden became 9-6. Fortunately for Saina, at this point, Bae hit a backhand return into the net and that stopped a 3-point run for her.

But Saina returned the favour immediately. She sent a long serve casually and served it too long. (10-7). However, Bae couldn’t keep the serve and the momentum swung back to Saina. At this point, she got her game together and took four consecutive points to go up to 14-7. Here, she was looking in total control and it looked as if she was going to finish the match in the next fifteen minutes.

At this time, she again sent a casual looking short serve that fell too short of the line. Her body language was quite casual at this time, given that she had a healthy lead and was scoring fast. And this is where the momentum of the match changed.

From there, Saina’s unforced errors started, and in a very short time, Bae recovered to 14-17. From here on, Bae went to to raise her game constantly. The rally at 18-16 that was taken by Bae proved a turning point. It not only brought her within one point of Saina, but also gave her the belief that she could do it. Consequently, she managed to tie the scores at 19-all, helped a lot by the bunch of unforced errors by Saina.

Here, it was evident that Saina was in a hurry to finish the points. She wasn’t too keen on playing the opponent. She was trying to hit winners a tad too early in the rally, which was causing her to be unable to place the shuttle well. At 19-17, two unforced errors followed, and she allowed the opponent to get on with her on equal terms, after having lead in the game throughout. She did manage to earn the first game point, but even that was earned through a dangerously close line call. It could have gone either way. It was a return on the serve from Bae which landed right on the line. The situation didn’t demand such a risky shot when she was clearly the better player and could win the point merely by playing her opponent.

However, from there on it was over for Saina, as Bae cashed on the opportunity with both hands, leveled the game 20-all and then earned a game point to go up 21-20. It was an unbelievable situation for Saina, who was not too long ago sitting pretty at 14-7, expecting to wrap the game fast. And here she was, having to save a game point. She did save one game point, but Bae earned another one. Saina hit a forehand backcourt clear into the net and handed the game over to Bae 21-23. Once again, I am not sure why she played such a tight clear. Over confidence? Why the hurry to finish the point, when the opponent is retrieving well? Was she not feeling well?

Bae 1 – Saina 0.

Second game was an entirely different story. An absolute contrast to the first game. In the beginning, both players played on absolutely equal footing, scoring at the same pace. Saina was ahead at 5-4 and this is where things changed. From 14-7 in the first game, Saina was constantly losing her focus and momentum, whereas Bae was gaining hers. She looked to be in fantastic rhythm, one which was completely admirable. She had found her rhythm, she was gliding over the court like a robot. Here, Bae scored five continuous points and that proved decisive in the end. Soon, Saina found herself at 6-11 going into the interval and that proved decisive.

At this juncture, one weakness of Saina that came out, which is also a general problem with all Indian players is that when the chips are down, Indian players don’t buy time on the court and give themselves time to think alternatively. Most other players, start buying time (redoing shoe-laces, asking to wipe the mat, take more time to get ready for the serve or return the serve, etc.). Players from other countries start insisting on changing the shuttle even if they lose two consecutive points on the same shuttle. I am not suggesting that asking to change shuttles is necessary or the right thing to do. However, these are some very valid and acceptable strategic practices that all players use to buy time when on court, or if nothing else, to create time gaps potentially breaking the opponent’s concentration.

Here at this juncture, Bae was running amok, amassing points and Saina was watching her absolutely helplessly, doing nothing except returning the serve from Bae like a good kid. She seemed completely lost and out of ideas, playing nearly absent-mindedly like a new-comer on the international circuit. Either that, or she was physically unwell.

Bae had a healthy lead at the break (11-6) and converted it into an easy win in no time. After the break Saina, barely managed two points, making it 12-8, and after that, it was Bae all over. She made Saina looked almost like a novice, racking up the next next required points by just giving away one. Saina tried playing high clears trying to find the back line when she was losing points continuously, and in that attempt, she gave away many easy points by hitting the shuttle long, helping Bae wrap up the game faster than she may have thought.

In the first game it was Saina who was hitting smash winners; in this game it was Bae who was smashing Saina all over, including some body smashes. How one-sided the second half of the second game was can be understood from the fact that it lasted less than five minutes, with Bae scoring ten points and Saina scoring three. It was a meek surrender by Saina at game point 9-20 – not even putting up a fight that Saina Nehwal is so well known for.

Lessons to be learnt?

1. Saina plays with just one mindset – attack. When the opponent is not ready to be attacked, she runs out of ideas and often ends up losing.
2. Saina (like most Indian players) doesn’t buy time on court to allow herself to rethink or give herself time to regroup.
3. In the first game when Saina was leading 14-7, it seemed she started to take her opponent too lightly. One or two of her returns at the net looked lazy. Needless to say, those unforced errors could have been avoided. Another sign was when Saina gave away two points absolutely free by error on serve. On one occasion, she sent a long serve too long, and on another, she served a short serve too short. On both occasions, she seemed a bit too casual (perhaps because she was hitting the opponent everywhere in the court and thought she could win even by playing like that). At the international level, no player can be taken lightly. I have seen Lee Chong Wei lose matches like that. He is a slow starter and usually looks casual in the first game. I have seen him losing by letting the opponent gain momentum during that time.That’s precisely what happened to Saina in this match. In the beginning she scored so easily that she may have thought this match was going to be a walk in the park for her. But the opponent caught up soon, and even before she realised, she had gifted the first game to the opponent. And by the second game, her opponent has grown so much in confidence, found such rhythm that she had become unplayable for Saina. Saina merely watched her opponent walk away with the match helplessly.

In my opinion, this loss of Saina was a tactical loss. She is a player is any day better than Bae (even on current form). But the way Saina and Bae applied themselves in the match was entirely opposite. Bae started on a shaky note and went from strength to strength. Saina started very confidently, looking invincible but in the end surrendered meekly.

Hope Saina will put this rude shock behind her and come back even stronger. Like the character Saina Nehwal is so well-known to be!