New Delhi: Making it to the All England Open Championships final has given him the self-belief to beat top players but Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen on Tuesday said he will need to maintain his fitness going into the upcoming big-ticket events.
The 20-year-old from Uttarakhand had been sensational en route to the men’s singles final at Birmingham, and he attributed his transformation to the experience of playing in Indonesia and the World Championships last year.
“Those matches against Viktor (Axelsen), Kento Momota and Kenta Tsukamoto also gave me the confidence to play. A lot has changed since I played Viktor in 2020. There is a difference in my approach and now I have the self-belief to go out there and beat the big players.”
Sen achieved a career-best ranking of world number 9 and he said it will help him to qualify for big events and also get a good draw in world tour events.
“I have to keep the ranking in mind because it will help me to qualify for big events like the Olympics and I also have to keep myself fit going into big events.”
Lakshya said the semifinal win over defending champion Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia at All England, where he attacked in the last few points, is the most memorable match of his career.
“The All England semifinal is the most memorable match that I pulled out with crowd supporting both of us and I would say in Indonesia, I played Momota and Viktor 2-2 time each, I was losing very closely and it was frustrating but it was big learning,” he said.
“When you are few points behind, you need to try different things at those moments. Against Lee Zii Jia, I changed my pace and played attacking. My strategy is to go on the offence for one or two points, not give that upper hand to opponents.”
Talking about the All England final, Sen said: “The atmosphere and everything made me nervous before the match and starting from the toss, where he chose the perfect end and could take control from the beginning that was important.
“Toss made a big difference. I could have taken more control in the beginning but the lead was too much and so it was hard for me. I played well in second, I got rhythm and if I could have taken it then I could have had a chance.”
