It’s not the new gimmick in town, for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have been applying it for a few years.
It’s just that their peculiar form of sword-to-shield defence, where high moonballing lob-lifts, help blunt out opponent attacks, are such subtle punctuations amidst the general savagery of their smash-offence, that not many take immediate notice of the uncharacteristic shot. Not in an easy-looking 21-18, 21-16, 21-19 sashay.
Playing the always-tricky Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen at the quarters of the China Masters, Shetty knew the Shenzhen courts were slow, and the Danes were sturdy in defence. What this effectively meant was that the Indian smashes would get retrieved, and rallies would prolong – those are unhelpful circumstances for the attacking duo, needing a strong Plan B. “We knew conditions were quite slow, we didn’t really push ourselves to attack, and go all guns blazing. We knew they had a strong defence, so we kept our calm, didn’t rush into stuff, knew rallies would be long, we kept calm,” he said.
The Satwik speciality, though Chirag plays it equally deftly, is the smash-stubbing lift. It’s a disarming weapon, where the racquet usually held vertically and used for scything and hammering down smashes is held parallel to the court floor and across the body, as it goes collecting the down-smashes, which the Danes didn’t shy away from raining down. The eventual high lift, with the pace sheared off it, needs incredible wrist-control, and both Indians are masters at scattering rival smashes by not only blunting the smash, but making hitting the next one very difficult because the lifts are so strategically floaty that you need to track back and leap awkwardly to put them away.
If there ever was a defensive counter-strike, it was the Indian high lifts. The same racquet that serves as a sword for Satwik-Chirag, turns into a shield. The lifts, followed by an attacking 1-2 smash combination, was first used to take the crucial 11-8 lead. Indians took the opener, leading 14-8, 17-12, 20-14, against the World No 3 Danes. It was once again effectively used to seal the first set, as Satwik-Chirag, now fallen to World No 9, transitioned from defence to attack as the racquet face quickly switched directions.
Astrup, though, can be very stubborn, and a couple of service faults from Satwik made things jittery. The second set got tight, with not more than two points separating the two teams. Though the Indians led 11-10 and 16-15, the Danes relied on faster parallel exchanges, and Astrup repeatedly crossed, keeping the shuttle at face height. The low attack even saw Rasmussen edge ahead 18-17, but it’s here that Satwik played the gentlest of straight pushes, and followed it with another anti-smash lift to go up 19-18.
The final point though, saw Satwik persist with three unbridled smashes, with Chirag chipping in with one more, as subtlety was wrapped away. What was important though was that the Indians had answers to when they were drawn into long exchanges, and a defence that doubles up as a set-up to lure out smashing errors in the net.
It’s not been the easiest of returns to the circuit either. Asked if there was no rustiness and they had found their feet quickly after three months, post Olympics, Shetty was candid. “Not really (easy), the first round vs Chinese Taipei was dicey,” he said. “We lost the first 21-12, didn’t know what was going on. Slowly, steadily we started getting into the game, and got our rhythm back,” he added.
Satwik too revealed how the mindset was repaired. “It’s been 3 months almost, there were so many downs after the Olympics. Coach Boe left us, and mentally and physically also it was bad. But to be honest, now we are playing very comfortably, there’s no pressure. Our mindset is very clear, no matter what, we’ll just enjoy, don’t take pressure,” he said.
He stressed the past wasn’t allowed to haunt them. “Olympics is over. Now it’s a fresh start. Now we will just play our natural game. If you lose also, accept it. Pretty clear mindset wise. Our ex doubles players Manu (Attri) and Sumeeth (Reddy) have been exceptional with us, helping us, from last two months… Hopefully we go deep into the tournament,” Satwik said.
In the semis, hoping to enter their second successive China Masters final, the Indians will play a new Korean pairing of Seo Seung-jae (the 2023 World champion) and rookie Jin Yong.
Lakshya Sen goes down to Antonsen
Lakshya Sen, attempting to make his first China Masters semi, went down 21-18, 21-15 to Danish Anders Antonsen. Sen seemed to start off from where he left in the Olympics with a sensational behind-the-back reflex and winner. But despite leading 13-11, he fell back 13-16 as rallies got longer, and he couldn’t finish off despite closing the gap to 18-17. He trailed start to finish in the second, and accuracy failed him when going for the side lines.
