Marin’s Hyderabad double

After defeating Sindhu in the opening tie of PBL 2, Hunters’ Marin dispatches Saina in straight games

A CHIPPED bone can make you come to terms with some uncomfortable realisations; like Saina Nehwal candidly admitting that Carolina Marin trumped her in quick movements, and had better control from one side of the court with the shuttle whizzing away on Monday.

But it takes Nehwal’s unchipped heart to easily say that the crowd at Gachibowli were bound to cheer Marin more than her, and move on to more pertinent matters at hand.

Hyderabad is home. It’s where she grew up. It’s where she grew into the superstar of Indian badminton. It’s what she left behind too. So, Saina Nehwal, playing perhaps her first big (occasion) match at Gachibowli since her move, would shrug off what she saw as crowd support for her longtime nemesis Marin, playing for Hyderabad Hunters.

“She’s playing for Hyderabad, so they’ll cheer for her, of course. It happens. Cheering goes either ways. I just have to play and try to win the match,” she said after going down 15-14, 11-5 to the Spaniard who can get into some bullish form once she pockets the opener and turn devastating in closing out just like she did against PV Sindhu on Sunday.

The opening set – a 15-14 lottery really – was an anachronism, given the tearing hurry of the 11-pointer game. Vintage Saina would emply a better anticipatory defence and much more action at the net – so this wasn’t Nehwal of 2014-15 when she made the two big finals against Marin in Birmingham and Indonesia.

But there was just about a hint of what keeps the eternally bouncy Marin on her toes additionally when she plays against the Indian. There was a whiff of a promise that Nehwal – if she clocks the desired mileage in training and can shake off the rust – will find a way to get past Marin like she did in Dubai in December 2015.

Sindhu showed a lot of spunk in her defiance against Marin, but Nehwal – though it didn’t go into the decider – briefly controlled the pace of the rallies (decelerating them against Marin’s natural instinct) in the first set.

Both have a potent smash – though Carolina Marin, who enjoyed healthy crowd support at Saina’s home, trumped the former world no. 1 with her pace and agility. Marin’s has a wicked kick and southpaw twist to it. Both traded in the quick ‘uns, soon after they’d walked in looking all serious intent.

The 26-year old was unsparing, with a smash that whistled past the body – those can be trickier than the body smashes. And Marin had her whippy crosscourt ones, with half a dozen points in the middle of the first set coming only through those slam-bangs, Nehwal even flirting with the back lines playing the high-risk game.

It was at 3-3, though, that Nehwal brought in all her experience – through one of her most underrated strokes: the backhand cross-court net shot. Imagine a pot being stirred anti-clockwise, or Kumble bowling his leg spin or the rotating wrists during a helicopter shot; Nehwal spun the shuttle with that action and it was the only time Marin was almost nowhere in the frame where it fell.

Marin’s deceptive revenge came in the deciding point at 14-14. The cross-court to close the long rally fell way away from where Nehwal stood waiting for a down the line.

The second set was a blur – there was even a 6-0 tennis score – as Nehwal struggled to grapple with what the unfamiliar Gachibowli was doing to the shuttle.

“I gave good fight in the first. I couldn’t control the shuttle from the other side. She’d played here yesterday, and could play safe, and inside the court. Even I felt the match going away, but drift was too much. That touch which she had… she had the good touch,” she explained, not as an excuse, but stating here opponent’s comfort at her new home.

She was frank in conceding other deficiencies. “Carolina’s movements are fast, that’s what sets her apart from other top players,” she added.

Nehwal conceded she needed to improve, couldn’t stay sluggish if she was to match Marin and how she’d take time to come back and play with the best.

She confessed she wasn’t at her best with not enough time on court, and fast movements and ‘impact’ strokes would take some brushing up. PBL would be used to gauge her improvement, see what her knee can take.

“I need more matches to play top players,” she ended. All England is the target where she’ll head with a healed chipped bone and supreme humility with which she accepted Hyderabad’s part-snubbing of her. When she sat to cheer on her Awadhe Warriors teammates though, some “Saina Saina” roars went around. It happens, she would smile and say.