I don't expect her to play till 32. But 3-4 more years is very possible. History tells us that Indian players(especially if you look at the male players) generally peak after 25. How long she will play might also depend on what she wins in the next few years.
Just one thing , I do not like it when player don't share there fitness training programme . in cricket the all time greats always tell what they do and all sessions /training / team work is for media and us to see. still in cricket a legend like sachin who shares his programme and still remained far ahead of others .
I am sure if a budding cricketer followed , he would know . Have you heard any cricketer speaking that he won't comment since it is. Secret or it might benefit others ? We all know their stories / injuries / how they coped and what do they do before match and how they tackle things etc . how he used to tackle reverse swing or and many little things . They even helped opponent team players and nothing is secret in cricket during IPL and county cricket .
I think Saina was talking about tactical training which is opponent specific, and not fitness training. And it is generally not a good idea to share tactical training methods. Well, Vimal Kumar revealed some of the tactics used by her(especially against Wang Yihan) in the following interview so may be this will make you happy: ------------------- Is it safe to say that mental strength let Saina down in the final? Mental strength varies from match to match. Saina’s tactical and mental ability against Chinese girls in quarters and semis was perfect. She was applying herself brilliantly. In the final, I still think she was playing the right game, and kept Carolina guessing. But I think at 20-11 in the opener she let her guard down a little and allowed Carolina to win the next 4-5 points. So even though Saina won the first game, she’d let Carolina in. In the second she started well. But to a certain extent — I think — the (pressure of) All England weighed her down. When the difficult situation came, she couldn’t cope with it. She went looking for easy points which Carolina wasn’t giving. When things were going well, Saina looked very good. But when things changed, she found it difficult to cope with that situation. At another tournament, she might have coped, but the pressure of All England made her stumble. What happened in Set 3? In the third game, she was mentally not there. Overall during the tournament, she was relaxed and playing to the plan. I would say All England final is a big loss, but we need to cheer her up. She didn’t lose for want of effort. She couldn’t address the mental aspect of that situation. What makes Carolina a tricky opponent? Carolina is intelligent and crafty unlike some other Chinese players, who tend to be mechanical. Players like her and Tai Tzu Ying are a little different and can be very tricky. Once Chinese Li Xuerui is back, she could be a challenge too. But as for Carolina, a lot of credit should go to her. She’d beaten a lot of good players at the World Championships also. What could Saina have done differently? Saina needed to find a way out. You cannot just play Carolina at the same pace. You need to slow the pace down. Carolina doesn’t like long rallies, and prefers flat exchanges. Saina managed to keep her down in the first game, but in the second game suddenly her pushes started going short and she played into Carolina’s hands. When Carolina started putting pressure, she should’ve slowed things down, pushed shuttle to back of the court. She should have engaged her in longer rallies instead of trying to hit through her attack. But it’s easy for us to say she should’ve done this and that, sitting from outside. It’s tough, but as a top player she needs to learn to cope with these things. Is Carolina intimidating with her body language? Not intimidating, but Carolina is always animated and she keeps at it. When things go her way, she’s very combative, but that’s how it is with many players. Saina’s body language in that third game was so bad. She appeared lost. There will be situations like this, she’ll need to work on it. But if there’s one person who can come out of it and fight back next time, it’s Saina. This is a huge disappointment, but she needs to and will pick herself from this setback. How was Yihan Wang finally conquered? Yihan’s was one of the best matches I’ve seen her play. Tactically Saina was really prepared. I’m pleased with how it went off. Yihan Wang looked confused, and she surprisingly did not change her gameplan. She persisted with tactics she had used before against Saina. In the semifinal against Sun Yu too, Saina was technically perfect. She didn’t tactically try many different things, or just hit smashes. Saina varied her game to a plan and when the opportunity came, went for the kill. Did you prepare specifically for Yihan? The way Yihan used to serve to her — it was a flat serve to Saina’s forehand, or to her back-court — and that would unsettle Saina a lot earlier. It was always a bad way to start. So we put in a lot of work on how she would receive the serve, so as not to give Yihan the upper hand in the rallies. We worked on other things — Saina mixed her drops and deceptive clears to the back-court. Earlier, Saina would just smash to the mid-court and that was easy for Yihan to handle. But this time, Saina hit to the lines and unsettled Yihan. Saina had put in lot of effort in preparation, but main thing is implementing in a match situation and I’m glad she could execute plans. What’s the next target? There’s the India Super Series, again something she’s not won. She has to come out and do her best. She’s putting in effort, no one can doubt that. There’s other meets like Malaysia and the World Championships where she’s not done too well. But she can look forward to it and put her best foot forward. There’s 8-10 girls right now, all at same level and all can beat each other on a given day. Winning can never be guaranteed. But my job is to cheer her up and get her back on track. No matter how gutted she is by the loss, we have to get her out of this and prepare for next meet. -------------------------- source->http://indianexpress.com/article/sp...f-final-saina-was-not-mentally-there-coach/2/ ------------------------- By the way, I heard that Gopichand was also there alongside Vimal Kumar and Madhumita to cheer for Saina to cheer for her. Is that true? I certainly didn't see him on TV.
Very interesting interview on how they strategise with different opponents. I especially like that bit on how they could have coped with Carolina.
Yes, but I am surprise he thinks clears to CM would have help. CM is so fast going back and her smashes are very effective. Clearing to her do not look as a good tactic.
I would imagine he should have been shown on TV . However can any BC member present there saw him ? As a national coach madhumita was there and I suppose he should have been too .
http://sports.ndtv.com/badminton/news/238895-saina-nehwal-learning-from-a-loss EXCERPTS: "I know what mistakes I made, but at that point during the match, they just happened. Things were not in my control. There will things that I had trained for. But on court, I just couldn't apply them. There was a fear and nervousness that crept in," Saina said. Vimal Kumar, who has been working with the Olympic bronze medallist since July last year, says Saina froze. "Shouting out instructions to a player is usually not something I do. And even on Sunday, I was largely avoiding it. I was telling her to be more composed. But I think her brain had just switched off. She wasn't reacting to anything at all," Kumar said "It is an issue she needs to address for sure," he said. His ward though dismisses the option altogether. "I don't need a mental trainer. I am strong. If I wasn't strong mentally, I would not have been able to overcome the tough year I had before this. In my opinion, players who stop performing after winning one title need mental conditioning. Not me," she said.
Yes, I wonder if any BC member watching that final match from stadium spotted Gopichand. Worth Asking. Nice..(and funny too).
There seems to be a contradiction here.... You were so close. You just missed making history by a whisker, do you feel upset? Saina : I am not upset at all. It's a game... Vimal : I would say All England final is a big loss, but we need to cheer her up. Saina said she isn't upset at all so why the need for everyone to cheer her up? It's always good to look at the positives but also understandable to be upset especially after coming so close - it's not a sign of weakness.
Saina is one of the most mentally tough ladies singles player on the circuit. (Personal observation). I agree the situation was a lot of pressure - I'd view it as unable to apply her mental strategy (which is rather different from being 'weak').
well i think there were a lot of positive signs from saina at all england, just a minor hiccup in the finals but this loss is only going to make her ready for the biggies in future for the mentality saina has, she is not one of those who will sit back and cry for having lost the final but she will prepare hard for the next time and make sure she doesn't crack the next time she is in a big final like this. .ofcourse disappointment is always there after losing. well i think she might even win the next time if she ever makes it to the all england final. .only time will tell though. it gives me immense pleasure when i sit back and think how long saina has been there and always challenged the top players ofcourse being one of them. .so many have come and gone but she has maintained her rankings for so many years now which is not at all an easy task to do.
meanwhile, saina is now ranked number two in the world behind li xuerui. saina now has 74381 points whereas li xuerui is with 79214 points. it would be interesting to see if saina can make a final push towards that number one spot as the points difference between them is not too big and li is still out of the competition so this is a good chance for saina to push her way through the number one spot.
And if she indeed reaches the number one spot , in the view of a Chinese fan it will be " fake number one " . lol
She is finally back at number 2. Great! And I think this time she has a very good chance of making it one step ahead in the Indian Open SS. She will go ahead of Li Xuerui after IOSS because LXR isn't participating and will lose points. Which means the only person who can catch Saina will be Carolina Marin. But if Saina reaches finals, then even CM can't catch her. At least that's the situation I believe. May be redshuttle or Mr.Epic would like to confirm. Ideally though, she would like to win the IOSS and secure the number 1 spot. That way it will be less likely that Saina will lose her ranking the very next week in MOSSP. LXR will quickly gain points when she returns, and Carolina Marin is already breathing on her neck. But being number 1 for even 1 week is a big deal. Then at least the Indian media will refer to her as former world no.1 when she retires.
The opportunity she once had after winning the HK Open SS breathing down the neck of WSX is back, this time its hers to lose. Hopefully she gives Indian Open a bit more respect than she had in the past and makes the country proud at the very own venue, would be perfect, the stage is all set. Amen!
