Bangalore’s badminton coach Krishna Kumar recalls a tall Ayush Shetty — when he trained at I Sport Academy for five years — setting himself a unique challenge even as he was skimming 6 feet.
“Daily for 30-40 minutes, even back then, his mind was set on perfecting the net,” he recalls about what in itself isn’t particularly strange. “He would declare that out of 10 attempts, at least 7 times he would get himself a point on the net chord! And he would make it. That much precision he trained for,” the former coach says, revealing the cheeky skill to nick the tape and ensure it tipples over to the other side.
Ayush now trains at the bigger Prakash Padukone academy with Sagar Chopda and Vimal Kumar, having helped him add variations from the back court to his game. But Krishna Kumar, a coach known for his technical finesse, insists this ‘dribble game vs self’ is something that can be traced back to Mangalore, where he started.
On Thursday at the Taipei Open, playing another net-master, Kidambi Srikanth, Ayush won 21-16, 15-21, 21-17. Ayush had messaged Krishna Kumar a day earlier to say, ‘This time I will beat him easily.’
However, Srikanth, not quite back to his old levels but definitely playing sharper than he had in recent times, was no easy opponent. In what turned into a dogfight at the net between two absolute connoisseurs of that delicate dribble, Ayush, merely 19, prevailed against the pro at 30. To Ayush’s credit, though, he barely scored any from net chords; it was the net game where he proved to be better on the day.
Slam-bang attack
It was a rare and pleasantly surprising solid attacking performance from Srikanth, i.e. very few smashes sprayed out of bounds. But at the net, his stomping zone from where he reached World No. 1 and won more titles than any other Indian male in singles, Srikanth, was forced to blink. Still, his attack promises some spark in the coming months. On Thursday, however, Ayush prevailed in 61 minutes.
It was particularly notable because Srikanth brought the game to the net, focusing on his variations and short length attack. Both Indians were smashing with a whip – Ayush, of course, with a harder hit from his 6’4″ range. But at the eyeball confrontation, Ayush managed the tumbles on the front court that forced Srikanth to lift. The Ayush big smash took care of the rest.
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“Ayush would request me to train for half an hour before everyone else. Just to perfect the control of the forecourt. Practising net chords is rare, but the emphasis on net was because he realised if he could create good openings at the net, then the attack could get going,” Krishna Kumar recalls.
The men’s singles game has moved on from silken strokes and style, and perhaps the Ayush-Srikanth match was a pointer into just how one-dimensional the game gets with a slam-bang attack, though both have some delectable deception.
When Srikanth wasn’t killing on his follow-up stomp strides with the backhand, he got drawn into the dribble trouble. With his reach and racquet skill, Ayush can play from a little further behind while still asserting control. It’s the Viktor Axelsen game-in-the-making: testy dribbles, force a lift, one stride back for a whiplash smash. But training for what is more forearm, not the shoulder, was foresight on Ayush’s part. “He was exceptional on net chords played on purpose. It was hours playing 11-point dribble-games which became a habit, and now seeking perfection,” the coach adds.
Vimal Kumar, though, is sure to replay the day’s match and show Ayush how Srikanth flicks the shuttle back to open up the court, something the youngster needs to learn.
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As such, with Srikanth not giving up, and moving well on the court for his cross smashes and own net fest kills, things reached the decider pretty quickly. After Ayush accelerated at 15-15 in the opener and took the first, Srikanth amped his attack to level sets. From 10-13 down, Srikanth wasn’t fading out and levelled at 14-14.
Controversial point
It was at 15-14 that a stroke of ill-luck struck Srikanth, and he had no recourse to reviews. Returning from the midcourt, Srikanth watched as one push zoomed past his outstretched racquet, and the shuttle fell out. Srikanth celebrated. But the linesperson and chair umpire ruled it as Srikanth’s racquet nicking the shuttle on the way, awarding the point to Ayush. The older Indian was gobsmacked – on his haunches, arguing, but not being heard for a whole 2 minutes when even the chief referee refused to reconsider with the net umpire weighing in for status quo.
As happens in such cases, the unfairness of it, as he perceived, wrecked his concentration, and he lost the set 21-17 from 16-14, which could well have been 15-15. A tame parry into the net ended Srikanth’s resistance.
Nicking an opponent’s outstretched racquet was certainly not a skill he trained for, Krishna Kumar laughs. “When I sat for his matches, he certainly could win net chords at will. But his bigger skill was if he got pushed to the corner, Ayush could get the shuttle back 8 out of 10 times, or 9,” he says.
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A lot of 1 vs 2 would see Ayush scrambling to the corners. “He has this tremendous skill to change direction when in danger, and it’s no weak return. But at the net, while Srikanth is older and experienced, Ayush is younger and sharper-skilled,” he says as Ayush prepares to take on Brian Young in the quarters next.
Srikanth will debate it – and it was debatable bigly – but Ayush Shetty might well have invented a racquet-chord.
