Two time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu returns to action at the India Open 2022 as she looks to prepare herself for bigger challenges coming up this year. The star Indian shuttler highlighted how she needs to up the ante and learn new skills in every tournament she features this season.
The star Indian shuttler admitted that it is important to bring new facets to her game and keep evolving. Sindhu feels that is a way to keep her opponents guessing her next move.
“I need to tune up my skills and also learn new weapons; I think everybody is going to read your game. It’s very important that you keep changing strategies every single time when you play with a particular player. Nowadays, they watch your matches; previous matches and they know what needs to be done. So we need to strategize accordingly,” said Sindhu after her opening win against Sri Krishna Priya in the first round of the India Open.
Sindhu honestly revealed that there are too many events to play from January to December but as an athlete one can only choose to play a few and ignore the others as it depends on the physical and mental wellbeing of the shuttler ahead of some tournaments. She also added how there is a long scheduled this year with Commonwealth Games and Asian Games adding more burden.
“There is a long stretch. Back-to-back world championships, and this year we also have the Commonwealth and Asian Games. For me, I have to stay injury-free and make sure that I train harder and be fit for these events.”
Sindhu also stated how important are first matches to set to the tone for the rest of the tournament. Therefore she pointed out how she never let her guard down and finished it off pretty soon.
“Always, the first match is important. I went with the flow, maintained the lead and finished it off,” the 26-year-old said after winning the first round of the India Open against Sri Krishna Priya.
Lastly speaking on her strategies before entering the court, Sindhu added how it depends on the player. She highlighted how sometimes that change in strategy happens during the game where a player has to figure out the weaknesses of the opponent.
“It depends, as I mentioned, it changes with every player. Sometimes during the match, I realize that I have to be consistent with my rallies. Everybody knows that my weapon is attack. So like my opponent won’t make me play my game. They won’t give me space to attack. So I have to play defensive at times, and I will have to make sure I will be perfect on that. Not just play one type of game.”
