Why Saina lost: Lessons to be learned

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!