It wasn’t the proverbial ‘enjoying the last phase of her career’ sort of smile from Saina Nehwal as she neared her 21-19, 21-9 win. Winning has always been laboured, difficult and just plain hard work.

Badminton isn’t a thing of joy, where smooth movements, physical prowess or talented strokeplay can help her impose herself on the game, and find delight in the opponent’s decimation. Badminton remains one right jostle for Nehwal, a struggle till the match is won.

So when she smiled and stuck her tongue out with relief after a particularly blistering rally against Cheung Ngan Yi, it was a sheepish acknowledgement that the preceding fast exchange had properly shredded her nerves in her World Championship Round 1.

The 32-year-old was leading with a hefty margin in the second set, having eked out the first. Cheung had been error-prone and her lengths were all over the place. Yet, in this rally, she got stuck into the Indian.

🇮🇳 @NSaina cruised into the Round of 32 post a comfortable win in R64 of the #BWFWorldChampionships2022 🔥👌#BWFWorldChampionships#Tokyo2022#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/XH3ivEGDFa

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 23, 2022

Nehwal kept attacking with downward scythes from the front court, and Cheung kept retrieving a dozen of those, sending her returns to get the Indian scurrying, and baiting her into a smashing error. Finally after what seemed like forever of that frustrating feeling where a retrieving machine wears down an attack by being stubborn, Nehwal got one past Cheung. The Indian would shake her head, stick her tongue out and smile at coach P Kashyap, drained from that rally’s exertions. Even a first-round win in her 12th outing at the World Championships against a 29-year-old would demand its pound of fatigued flesh.

Nehwal is at that stage of her injury-leaden career where every World championship match could well be her last. In the face-off between the seasoned shuttlers, both wracked by patched-up battle wounds, holding on at World No.33 and No.50, this was a battle of minds, and who wouldn’t fall apart first. At one point, Kashyap sat hunched with his head in his hands, and Cheung’s coach sunk back in his chair, feet and hands crossed, resigned to the fact that there was only so much their instructions could push their players.

Nehwal was winning the war of deceptive clears from either end, as Cheung fled the prospect of a forecourt duel with a very sharp Indian. Her cross-court drops with the occasional smash were adequate against the Hong Kong player clearly struggling from past injury woes. But where Nehwal surprised many was in her front-court low retrieving.

Saina Nehwal has always confounded badminton watchers with how she exactly succeeded at the highest levels, with what critics call her lumbersome, slow court coverage. “She has a lot of good things, but good footwork (movement) isn’t one of them,” commentator Steen Pedersen would note. She’s not the tallest, her steps look heavy and Nehwal carries the look of someone who’ll invariably struggle to reach the shuttle. And yet, all through her career, she has managed the precise lunge at the net, without allowing opponents to use the forehand far corner as an area to attack her.

On Tuesday, she demolished half of Cheung’s resolve by sending back most shuttles at the net, forcing the clears, which she comfortably pounced on from mid-court to backcourt. Kashyap rebuts the theory that Nehwal’s court coverage is a weakness at all.

“I don’t think they’re right entirely. She has been a good mover always (even) before. Shuttles don’t get back magically,” he asserts. “She’s not smooth, I agree. But she’s quite good when she’s fit.” While most experts look to the striding and the feet, to glean quickness, Kashyap reckons it’s her brain and hands that quell those worries. “Anticipation and understanding are very good. Not the most elegant strokes-wise, but any (court) condition, whether it’s fast or slow or windy, her hands are steady and she doesn’t make easy errors. That’s just good control and presence of mind,” he adds.

The scoldings kept continuing though, even after the match was done. In the break, he would ask her to form up her crouching stance when receiving serve and not appear like she’s standing without any plan or purpose.

After the match in 37 minutes, it was just remnants of some earlier quibble.

“She needs to start better. She was nervy at the start and almost throughout the entire first game, trying to adjust to the conditions.

Next, she has to sort out her service options and have clarity in it,” he would say later.

Throughout the match though, it was him repeating the same suggestion. “Just to keep her discipline with regards to the tactics,” he said.

It has been speculated of her before, why Saina Nehwal continues to play at 32 after ticking most boxes that her abilities allowed. A former World No 1, she has a silver and bronze from the World Championships, holds the Indian record for most Tour titles, and was India’s first Olympic medallist in the sport. Twice a Commonwealth champion, why would she sit crying at nights when not picked for this one?

Badminton is all she knows, winning is all she craves. Nehwal clearly believes she has some fuel left in the tank, and nurses an impressive ambition to push the top names in the sport.

The body seldom supports that intent, but when fit, she can tangle up opponents getting them to fall over their feet with her carefully curated deception.

She’s simply a bright brain in a match-up. So some things remain constant. The cross-flicks at the net with a wisened sure wrist and the drop shots at neatly varied angles still fetch her points. Her judgment is impeccable – she even signalled one that went wide herself, with stretched arms, and got on with the next point without dwelling on the over-hit.

The lunge is precise and at 17-8 in the second, Nehwal was all class: Cheung had bottled herself up in far corner and the Indian had an open court to go for a smash kill. She wisely scooped it closer to the net instead, ensuring no rush of blood. The net chord briefly halted the shuttle, and in what remains the sport’s classical etiquette, Saina Nehwal immediately apologised to the opponent for that slice of luck.

It surprises her why people want her gone from the court, when she’s funding her trips and trying to win matches against top names. It stunned her of course that she wasn’t trusted to bring India’s second medal in women’s singles from the CWG. But mostly, Saina Nehwal can’t wrap her brain around why people are deciding her time to exit this career. She reckons she owes noone anything. Slated to play Busanan Ongbamrungphan next in round 3, it will be another wringer of a battle. Once again, she’ll play to her strengths, smile through the errors and on good days, win against a top opponent.

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