How Roger Federer and Serena Williams helped fuel Saina Nehwal’s incredible revival

Perseverance and hard work are important pillars of success and Saina Nehwal definitely has both, displaying these qualities umpteen times on the global stage. To add to this, coach Vimal Kumar’s belief has added a new wing to her never-say-die game. The 2017 World Championships medal, a bronze, was a result of all these characteristics working together to present an injury-free Nehwal, who could not only move well on court but deceive her opponents with her new array of strokes.

For Nehwal and her support team, the medal was “special” not because it was her second in the flagship event, after the 2015 Worlds silver medal, but that it ended a barren spell for the former World No. 1 in terms of titles and form. A career-threatening knee injury last August has forced her out of action for several months only to see her form and confidence dipping. Nehwal’s last major win came over two years back at the India Open Super Series in March 2015, though, she has won a Grand Prix Gold title this January. Apart from that, she has not entered the semi-finals of any big event and lost to unheralded players on her return.

Vimal, who is the guiding force in Nehwal’s second innings of her career, believes that the 27-year-old has progressed a lot but still needs to get better physically to sustain the challenges on big stage. “I would rate Saina’s game 7 on a 1-10 scale. Technically, I liked the way she played her first match in Glasgow against Sabrina Jaquet and Sung Ji Hyun. She was stroking well and I was pleased to see her selection of strokes. To play at that pace, a few more notches need to get better,” Vimal told this reporter on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi.

“The most important thing for Saina is her physical aspect and I keep on telling her that she needs to find that right balance to remain injury-free. The conditioning aspect will be important in the coming months as she still has some small niggles in her operated knee. In training sessions it’s okay, but during big matches when she has to really push herself hard, again and again, it can be troubling. The good thing about her now is that she is positive and enjoying the phase.”

The injury not only affected Nehwal’s physical ability but mental aspect as well and motivational sessions with examples of legends like Roger Federer and Serena Williams helped her regain her confidence and self-belief. “Every top sportsperson goes through this phase. The most prominent injury cases you can see is in tennis, you see Roger Federer and Serena Williams, and how they have overcome injuries and dominated tennis at the age of 35."

"These are examples I give Saina, I tell her ‘you are only 27 and you have to be patient, you cannot take a back seat and say my career is finished. These things are beyond your hands and what is in your hands is to come back stronger.’ We discussed this aspect on a regular basis,” the former national coach revealed on how he prepared her for a turnaround.

2017 has been a year of resurrection for tennis legend Roger Federer, who returned after a long injury layoff to win two Grand Slams, while Serena has won the Australian Open title after struggling with her form last year.

There were also questions thrown at the 54-year-old coach if Nehwal was already looking ahead to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. But Vimal said, “It’s too far. She has many other important tournaments coming up in 2018 like the Asian and Commonwealth Games. Before that, she would be looking to qualify for the year-end Super Series finals, which would be our priority now. We are not immediately thinking about the Olympics Games.”

Analysing the eventual World champion Nozomi Okuhara’s game, Vimal said the slower shuttles at the Emirates Arena shooted the Japanese’s game and she retrieved well, something that wasn’t easy for her opponents to penetrate.

“I thought Sindhu should have won the first game. From 14-18 down, she came back well in the first game and if she had applied same determination she showed in the second game, she would have won the match in two games,” he felt.