Time's certainly running out for Saina. The once "future prospective World No. 1" is now a foregone threat. She's come to a point where she desperately needs a 1st set win to grow in confidence and win the match which is deeply disheartening. She's just played against the Olympic Champion and IMHO looked unimpressive. The scoreline does suggest it was a close affair but I wouldn't give any credibility to Saina for posing a tough challenge but rather blame Li Xuerui of being passive and nervous throughout the match. In the Australian SS as well, I can foresee Saina losing out in the first round itself With the Commonwealth, World Championships, & Asian Games around Saina in no way is peaking the way she did in 2010. She's allowed herself to carry on on the circuit for over a year now with that lumbering movement & declining agility on court. At this juncture, even Jing Yi Tee or Kirsty could very well create an upset win against Saina at the Commonwealth. But, there is hope. Saina's got nearly a month between the Australia SS and CWG and then another in the lead up to the World Championships. Hopefully, she'll optimally use this time and the next couple months to better herself and turn around and return to her true old winning form before the next Olympics.
Erm Most other players work in advertisements and endorse brands, but how does that affect one's performance. That she'd allow herself to get this fat and move slow and lumber around court is disappointing.
dont think so... in IBL she show her power.. in India open... Uber cup.. and reach QF for Indonesia Open.. just more strunggle to point..
I feel Saina is playing decent recently, especially after shedding some weight. With her current form, I dont see Eriko Hirose beating her tomorrow. I wouldn't have said this confidently 2-3 mons back. Only players who could defeat Saina (on her current form) are - LXR, Yihan Wang, Wang Sixian, Li Han (probably), Ji Hyun Sung (probably). I know I havent named few upcoming players, but as i said, Saina is playing good. Akane Yamaguchi Vs Saina should be an interesting match - whenever it happens! This is my personal perception after watching her in Uber cup, though my assumption could be wrong.
She does have a great chance of beating Eriko tomorrow and avenging her R1 exit at the Singapore SS. Gotta be honest, today's close match against Thulasi made me lose a bit of hope. Perhaps, Saina didn't play to her full potential or maybe Thulasi wasn't as bad as pre-conceived by me.
If one knows his opponent well enough and is confident to beat him, he plays with lesser speed - or with the opponent's speed. So the score doesn't really mater, and so the unforced errors too. e.g. - Some random 30th ranked player losing 18-21 18-21 against LCW doesn't always mean that LCW played bad or the lower ranked player played good. If decided, LCW could thrash him under 10, but he wouldn't really stretch himself much, knowing the outcome of the match beforehand. Probably this was the case with Saina/Thulasi match. Thulasi is a good player by the way.
And she beat not only Hirose, but WSX too! Great going Saina. I had almost stopped believing in her off late!
Congratulations for her first superseries title of the year and 7th overall superseries title. Well done. All the very best for Commonwealth games.
I felt bad when people wrote me off: Saina Nehwal HYDERABAD: After the much awaited triumph Down Under, Saina Nehwal arrived to a grand welcome here on Monday night. The smile was back on her face as the only Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal spoke about the tough times she endured during the last 20 months. Excerpts: How do you rate your victory at the Australian Open? I rate this win very high. After my Olympic bronze medal, this is the best victory for me. The last 20 months were tough and this title has made me forget all those hard days. I had won gold at the Commonwealth Games, titles in premier tournaments and also a hat-trick of crowns but this is something very very special. What was the low point in the last 20 months? There were a few but the worst was when I lost in the first round of the Singapore Open this April. I cried and asked my mother whether I will win again. But soon I recovered and was determined to regain lost ground. How did you handle criticism? Initially, it was difficult. But I realized I had nothing to prove to anyone. Rather than feeling bad about what people were saying I thought more on where I was going wrong. I wanted to concentrate on getting better. I was doing all the hard work but injuries hampered my progress. There was a lot of talk about PV Sindhu and her rivalry with you. Did her success and your losses hurt you? I know this talk will be there. I want her to win and if she plays well she will win. But why should anyone compare Sindhu with me or me with some other player. I am not worried about any opponent, but felt bad when people had written me off. I still have age on my side and I have the will to do well. Where did you go wrong after 2012? Firstly, I suffered injuries because I trained very seriously for the Olympics. With injuries you can't do anything. It affected my fitness and when I am not in shape how can I do well. What is your target now? My target is to keep myself fit and beat the top Chinese players regularly. If I beat them, the titles will follow. I had worked tirelessly on my fitness. Believe me I am in a better shape than I was in 2012. Surprisingly this time you dedicated the title to yourself and not to your parents or coach? Yeah, it's because this victory wholly belongs to me. It's because of a lot of hard work I had done that I was able to win the title. Source - Times of India