Inspired by Srikanth Kidambi’s feat, Ajay Jayaram looks ahead to an injury-free 2018

The world rankings on January 26, 2017 showed Ajay Jayaram as the India No. 1 men’s singles shuttler, ahead of Srikanth Kidambi. With Srikanth still struggling to find his feet post an injury break, the Mumbai shuttler not only held the India No. 1 position till mid-June, but even surged to his career-best ranking of No. 13.

When the year ended, Jayaram was nowhere to be seen in the top 20. In a year that witnessed the renaissance of Indian badminton, the 30-year-old has quietly slipped to a lowly 38th.

While every other top Indian shuttler made their mark, injuries robbed Jayaram of a chance to shine. He made a very important decision regarding his career at the start of the year when he ended his ties with the Tom John Academy in Bangalore, but since then he has not been able to gauge how this vital step has turned out for him.

A stubborn hamstring injury kept him out of action since the World Championships. While he did play in the North Eastern Warriors’ first match at the ongoing Premier Badminton League (PBL) 2018, he admitted that he is yet to heal fully, even though he is training without pain these days.

Sportskeeeda recently caught up with the two-time Dutch Open champion and former Korea Open runner-up. In an exclusive chat, he spoke about his tough year, Srikanth Kidambi’s remarkable rise and of course, his exceptional sketches, which have quite a fan following by now.

Here are the excerpts from our conversation:

Q: You left the Tom John Academy in Bangalore at the start of the year to move back to Mumbai. What prompted you to take this step? How do you think your decision has worked out so far?

A: Honestly, at that time I didn’t really think much. It was more like I just wanted to be home for a longer time.

I haven’t been able to push myself much this year because of the injuries. I could not really gauge how well it has worked out because I could not train much. Post-World Championships, I skipped six or seven events.

But, otherwise, the training sessions in Bombay have been going on pretty well. I have been following pretty much the same strategy I used to follow in Bangalore.

Q: Isn’t it challenging to be on your own? Would you be looking for any changes regarding coaching in the new year?

A: I haven’t really thought much because, for the past couple of months, I have been mainly focussing on working with the physio. Hopefully PBL goes well for me. Once I get back to the regular flow, I will definitely think about it.

Q: It’s been a very tough year for you. How have you managed to stay motivated? What did you learn from this phase?

A: Yes, it’s been a very rough year for me definitely. I started off as the India No. 1 and then got injured. It was definitely very challenging mentally. I have been injured in the past. I have been off for six-seven months. That has been more of like a black-and-white year. I knew it would take that long to recover.

But this has been dragging on for a long time. So, in that sense, yes, it has been very challenging. But, at the end of the day, you know it’s just adjusting to the situation and finding a way around it, which is what I am currently doing.

It’s just accepting it and doing the best you can. In that sense, I think I am doing fairly well. I think you keep on learning at every step of your journey.

Q: You achieved your career-best ranking of 13th this year, which turned out to be a pretty painful year for you. Is there any regret that you could not be a part of the big success that Indian badminton had in 2017?

A: Well, I guess I wouldn’t choose to look at it that way. I am very happy for the way Indian badminton has progressed this year. But I think I would have been disappointed at any point if I was injured and had to be away from tournaments. So, in that sense, I couldn’t really connect those two.

But, as such, I am definitely disappointed to be away from so many events I was really looking forward to playing. Pretty sure I would have done well had I been injury -free. But that’s how it is.

Q: What are your thoughts on Srikanth Kidambi’s superb season? How much does it inspire you to take the big leap?

A: This has been totally Srikanth’s year. It’s unbelievable that he has actually won four Superseries tournaments this year, and that too, back-to-back twice. It’s actually very inspiring for all of us to have someone within the team who has done that.

On a general term, it’s definitely very motivating. The belief that you can actually dominate at the world stage…you get that when you look at him. I am definitely looking forward to getting in full flow where I can train without any inhibition. Hopefully, 2018 turns out well for me.

Q: How much of a help have your exceptional sketching skills been in such a frustrating period for you? Do you have any plans of an exhibition?

A: It’s a big stress buster for me and I have enjoyed it a lot in this injury-ridden period. I cannot manage to do it every weekend but I try to do it as often as I can.

Maybe, someday I will go for an exhibition when I have a lot more sketches.