Lakshya Sen needs to know his defense isn’t just dazzling, but dependable too | Badminton News

Lakshya Sen’s sensational defense can drop jaws and create crowd highlight packages, a little like Rishabh Pant’s one-handed sixes. But at the China Masters this week, Anders Antonsen slapped a 21-18, 21-15 victory onto Sen in quarters – though early in the match, Sen pulled off his behind-the-back dazzling defense for a winner.But it was yet another example of the Indian, giving up when things got tough. Sen is gutsy, but not gritty enough. He can dazzle with his unique talent – his many eye-popping shots, the quick reactions, the slowly-developing kill smash, but he’s not determined enough to fight the boring attritional battles.
Antonsen looks constantly restless to the casual watcher, but his resilient game is reliable. But what brought Sen down were old refrains. Almost broken record reels. A 5-point lapse of concentration, taking the foot off the pedal from 13-11 to 13-16, which remains a mystery in his game. The grief-giving sort of mystery, not an enchanting one. 11-8 up, Sen was comfortably catching the Dane on his far forehand with neatly effective down-the-line smashes. But all it took for Antonsen to turn the tables was drawing Sen into longer rallies, which frustrated the Indian no end.
It’s a curious case because Sen is not low on endurance. He posts some of the best numbers in all metrics that combine towards stamina, so he’s not low on fuel. He has the defensive mettle to last those rallies, he can run, he can anticipate, the slow courts actually help not put too much pressure on his defense and he is a tremendously intelligent shuttler, one of the world’s smartest in reading his opponents. At times you wonder, in fact, if he enjoys defensively dazzling spells too much and unnecessarily prolongs rallies, just because he can.
Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen. (FILE)
But all evidence points to him getting greatly annoyed when his opponent hunkers down and defends doggedly (not as spectacularly as him, but matching him on work rate), and then the patience snaps, and Sen gives it all away.
It happened in the second set on Friday when Sen was a set down and trailed Antonsen 7-10. He gave it his everything to deny the Dane the mid-set lead, but 7-11 was an accurate microcosm of what always goes wrong with Sen. The Indian was in control of the rally alright, even when it extended. But Antonsen – because it’s his job to oppose as opponent – got stuck in, and started defending fairly brilliantly himself. Antonsen was barely clinging on, pushed to different places on the court demanding low retrieves one after another. Sen finally pinned him on the left of the court, vastly out of position to reach anything that he would send to the right. Imagine an open goal in football, with his favourite goalkeeper Ederson completely out of the frame. Why then would you aim for the right sideline and smash totally wide?
As his father and coach, DK Sen approached him at mid-set interval, Lakshya could only wryly smile and shake his head. An 8-10 would read very different from 7-11. He had just constructed the point admirably well, so there was no problem with his strength or the brain smarts or strategy. But Sen botched it so sensationally that you could sense a confidence crisis from a thousand miles away. Also, the impetuous rush of blood – to overdo the smash, as an almighty release because Antonsen had frustrated him greatly.
But it wasn’t the only time.
India’s Lakshya Sen during the Men’s Singles Semifinal badminton match against Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024. (PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary)
As the match careened towards a loss, Sen started smashing wildly missing the lines. He beat Jonatan Chrie at the Olympics and will beat Antonsen and Shi Yuqi in the future, but there’s something to be said about their discipline in controlling the smash-kill so it doesn’t wander out of bounds.
In a different sport, but Indian tennis player Karan Rastogi who sparred with Maria Sharapova at the Bollettieri academy had once spoken about how the glamour queen of tennis, would place a coin on the court near the lines, and aim 500 shots at it, without stopping. Just to get the discipline in of hitting the same spot. Those must have been highly unglamorous training sessions, but they stopped elevated heart rates, that see an opening, a wide empty court, from hashing a routine smash winner.
Indians have watched Kidambi Srikanth spray smashes with growing consternation, and the talented Priyanshu Rajawat misses those plenty too. But when Lakshya Sen falls apart with callous smashes, you begin to question the grit, because he came agonisingly close to the Olympic medal, and will find himself in these situations again. The 13-11 to 13-16 foot off the pedal is a deeper malaise. But the bungled smash at 7-11 has easier solutions, rooted in mental discipline.
Frankly, the rush of blood and hyper-aggression might not even be an accurate diagnosis, and his coaches know better. As with Srikanth, Sen probably gets terrified that if he doesn’t go for the lines and keep the shuttle as far away as possible, Antonsen might somehow retrieve it and prolong the rally. But backing himself to be able to fight once more even if the opponent does reach the shuttle, is the only way to not attempt the rash smash, even in a non-desperate situation. Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn has struck consency solely on acing these.
Lakshya Sen needs to know his defense isn’t just dazzling, but dependable too. It’s the only way to find composure when he attacks.