New aggressive game working for Ajay Jayaram

By Dev S Sukumar

As 2011 draws to a close and 2012 looms ahead, Ajay Jayaram finds himself with the possibility of leading India’s badminton challenge along with Saina Nehwal. Jayaram, the quiet and unassuming player from Mumbai, briefly became the top-ranked Indian player at world No.27 in early December, two places ahead of Parupalli Kashyap, who had occupied that slot over the last one year. The rankings fluctuated once again this week, and Kashyap edged past him to No.25. The race for Olympic qualifying must now be weighing on both their minds (unless both make it to the top-16, only the top-ranked player will qualify). The final list of qualifiers will be apparent only on 3 May 2012, and both Jayaram and Kashyap will be hoping to log as many ranking points as possible until then.

But Ajay insists that the possibility of qualifying for the Olympics is less on his mind that the level at which he will perform. “Qualifying for the Olympics isn’t the main thing,” the affable Jayaram says. “It’s more important to perform well there, to aim for a medal. The Olympics is going to be there in my mind, but my priority is to get big results in the Superseries and the Syed Modi Memorial GP Gold at Lucknow.”

Jayaram is a soft-spoken sort who keeps a low profile. He is essentially a strokeplayer in the classic Indian mould, relying on deception and courtcraft rather than power and aggression.(Prakash Padukone’s childhood friend, Bharat Sosale, even told me five years ago that Jayaram’s style reminded him of the young Padukone).

But Jayaram had no big weapons to call his own and his results tended to be inconsistent even at the national level. Things began turning around last year when he joined coach Tom John for a stint in Portugal. John, a notorious taskmaster who pushes players beyond their limits, began to inculcate an aggressive streak in Jayaram’s game.

The change in his game has reflected in his results this year. He reached the third round of the All England, followed by a quarterfinal at the Swiss Open. He peaked mid-year, when he beat players of the calibre of world No.12 Kenichi Tago in the first round of the World Championships (Jayaram eventually fell in the third round), followed by world no.7 Nguyen Tien Minh and – most memorably – world no.6 Sho Sasaki in November. With these three big victories, the top ten doesn’t seem so distant for Jayaram any more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7uClt01E-Jw

“Over the past one year, I’ve changed the way I played,” says Jayaram. “Deception is my forte, but I’m more aggressive from the back court now. I’m hitting harder from behind and I could get winners against (world No.5) Chen Jin with my aggressive shots. As far as skill is concerned, I’m up there, but in terms of fitness, I need to keep more shuttles in play, that’s the main thing. I’m able to catch the top players with deception, and create openings. I just need to stay in the rally longer. My strength is deception; I find it very effective against some players. It’s an Indian trait, but its effectiveness varies according to the opponent.”

Jayaram readily credits his coach for the turnaround. Tom John, former England coach who has worked with the Padukone and Gopichand academies, has a unique style of coaching. He constantly badgers his trainees and challenges their sense of self-worth, forcing them to shape up or ship out. It’s a style that will weed out the men from the boys. “Most of the change I owe to him,” says Jayaram. “His style of coaching gels with what I need to do. He made me more aggressive. I felt the change in my game last year. By the beginning of this year, I was more confident. ”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=an6ijjiwK6Q

Apart from his three big wins, he has tested the likes of Chen Jin and Peter Gade. He took Chen Jin to three games twice in their three matches, and has acquited himself well against Gade and No.1 Lee Chong Wei, against whom he lost 21-19 21-18 at the India Open Superseries.

“Chen is a retriever, and my first match against him was the closest of the three. He pushes the pace and keeps getting the shuttles back. I won the first game, but I didn’t have enough patience in the third game.”

Jayaram is one of the more brainy types in the Indian team, for he likes to crack CAT-level math problems in his spare time. He is refreshingly honest about his abilities and his goals. “You can get the odd victory over the big players, but it’s important to keep winning, to be consistent,” he says. “I’m reasonably happy with my game this year, but it hasn’t been consistent. The results started coming in the middle of the year, and I was getting close to the top players. As I said, I need to get more consistent.” A top-15 ranking isn’t out of the question, but Jayaram knows there’s plenty of work left to get there.

Ajay Jayaram’s important results in 2011:

Hong Kong Open, Nov: 1^st rd: beat 6-Sho Sasaki 14-21 21-18 21-14

French Open, Oct: beat Guru Sai Dutt 18-21 21-9 21-10

Japan Open, Sept: beat 7-Nguyen Tien Minh 21-18 21-19

Vietnam GP, August: Semifinals: lost to Sho Sasaki 12-21 21-14 21-16

World Championships, August: beat Kenichi Tago 21-12 21-19; beat Vladimir Ivanov 21-19 21-17; lost to 6-Chen Jin 18-21 21-12 21-11

Indonesia Open, June: 2^nd rd: bt Joachim Persson (Den) 17-21 21-19 21-16; 3^rd rd: lost to Peter Gade (Den) 24-22 21-12