Here’s the transcript of Sumeth Reddy’s interview
Q: It was a very emotional moment for both of them. How do you see what this medal means to them?
A: It is very emotional, and it probably takes a day for things to really sink in. I think both of them have their own baggage, starting obviously with the baggage of silver medals and all of that. But I think this is a very big achievement for both of them.
Gayatri would be relieved that she has also achieved something big in her career. Treesa was also very hungry from the start of her career. She wanted to do something big and prove her point that she is not playing tournaments just to compete. She always wanted to be the star of Indian badminton.
I think this again is a big, big achievement in her city as well. I think that is one of the reasons why they were very, very emotional.
Q: How do you deal with two players who have such different personalities on court?
A: I think we have two different players here. Treesa is the person who is always charging at the opponents and being the combative one. I think you need to deal with them differently.
Obviously, you encourage Treesa to calm down a little bit when she is becoming too aggressive or smashing too often. At the same time, you encourage Gayatri to be a little more aggressive. I think there needs to be a fine balance between overdoing and underdoing it.
As coaches, it is our duty to let them know that sometimes they are overdoing it or probably not doing enough. That is where the coaches need to play their role.
Q: How difficult was this tournament, especially with the home crowd and the expectations?
A: It is obviously always difficult, especially when it is in India and you have the home crowd. Thousands of people are there trying to encourage them, and they want to make sure the crowd goes back home happily.
Especially since India have had that medal drought for the last 15 years, if they don’t get any medal, I think that would be the saddest thing.
For the sport also, I think such tournaments need to happen and our players need to win. I am really happy that our event could be the reason for that.
Q: What was the strategy behind their performance?
A: Obviously, we only talk about the strategy, not regarding the medal or something like that. It is just about what needs to be done and what the opponents can be expected to do.
Those are the basic things — nothing more, nothing less. It is the same thing we have always told them.
Mostly, I used to just mention the points to go and pick, and they would convey that. Obviously, there is also a father-and-daughter bonding, and that would be a better approach according to me as well.
Q: After the first game, they rotated much more in the second and third games. Was that a conscious change?
A: Yes. Since the last 30-40 days, the rotation has got better. They have been rotating a lot more.
If you remember, most of them would say that this would always stay back. But I think in this tournament, that is not the case. Both of them shared the load equally.
Getting to the specifics of this match, I think it is just confidence. They could not build up the confidence to rotate a lot more often.
Once the score changed to 13-10, they were a little more confident and they were in a flow. They would rotate pretty often.
Q: How does that rotation help, especially when Gayatri started becoming more aggressive?
A: Again, you cannot force too much because if the lift is really towards the baseline, I think rotating will be a little more difficult. You need to wait for the opponent to play a mid-court stroke, and then that is when the rotation would happen.
If you are even on the baseline and trying to rotate, then you tend to get caught. So, I think they just waited for the right time to rotate and then they did it.
Q: There seems to be a huge difference in their net and back-court games now. How important has that been?
A: Especially, I think there is a huge difference in their net game. The conventional thing was Gayatri in front and Treesa at the back.
But if you see in this tournament, Treesa was excellent at the net and Gayatri was excellent at the back. I think that was worked upon, and you can see the output.
Q: You have spoken about encouraging more players to take up doubles. Why is that important?
A: I am really happy and I would say more players should play doubles. If, with very few pairings, we can have two pairs in the quarter-finals and one assured semi-final, that would be great.
I am pretty confident that even Satwik-Chirag will make the cut this evening.
Doubles is really doing well and doubles is not a secondary event. Doubles players are earning well and they are famous enough. So I don’t see a reason why people don’t take doubles as their event.
They should play a lot more doubles, and I am sure with time people will realise and take doubles as their event as well.
Q: Gayatri was injured before the Asian Championship. How did that process unfold?
A: Obviously, it was more like an accident where she had to keep her foot on another player, and it was very sad. Even then, they were playing really well. Probably they could have seen some good results in those tournaments as well.
But again, you need to accept rather than thinking too much about it. Obviously, she was very low. Gayatri was very low.
But from Day One, rather than thinking about why it happened, they were focusing on what needed to be done.
Treesa used to focus more on a stroke and improving her confidence, while Gayatri started on the first day with her fitness. You can see today they were good enough to play another 20 minutes after the match as well.
So, I think they focused on that.
Coming back to the Philippines, it was a selective decision. Especially because after so long, I think it was advisable. Gopi sir and I had a discussion that it would be advisable to play easier tournaments so that they could play more matches and gain some more confidence.
I think that decision turned out to be a good one.
Q: How much focus went into their physical condition?
A: Like I just said, there was a lot of focus on the physicality with the trainer as well. But it was not just the physical part.
I think with the quality of the stroke, you become physical. You don’t need to move so much if the quality of the stroke is really good. The opponent is struggling and you are the happier one because you make sure the opponent is moving.
So I think both things were working — the physical part as well as making the opponent struggle to move. Maybe that was the biggest thing they focused on during training.
Q: Looking back now, do you feel everything that happened before this tournament has worked out for the best?
A: Today, if they are sitting here, I think rather than looking at the reason, we can say whatever has happened has happened for good.
Rather than the Asian Championship and everything else, they are now here and they have achieved this. So, yes, I think whatever has happened has happened for good.
