Kidambi Srikanth finds little time off practice these days, leaving coach Pullela Gopichand with one less task in hand. Until a few months ago, apart from practice, Gopichand would also look into Srikanth using his spare time gainfully. But under the new academy coach, Mulyo Handoyo, practice sessions have grown more exacting. "We're training through the day. So now there's little off-court time to manage and Gopi sir has no more worries," laughs Srikanth.
The longer, more gruelling sessions are working to his benefit. For one, despite struggling with fitness issues, he made the Singapore Open final in April and has also qualified for the World Championships in August. "I never imagined I would make the final since I was nowhere close to full fitness," Srikanth, who lost to fellow Indian B Sai Praneeth, tells ESPN. "I only went in thinking that entering the quarterfinals would give me a chance to make the World Championships. Only once I saw Sai at the other side of the net [did] it hit me that I was in race for the title."
Against a wristy Praneeth, also his academy mate, Srikanth won the first game comfortably and was up 7-2 in the second before errors crept into his game in what was a scratchy final. "It's when you try to play sharp and accurate against someone who knows all your favourite shots that you make mistakes," he says. "You have to be able to keep your emotions under check."
The first Indian male badminton player to win a Superseries title, Srikanth fell out of the top 25 at the start of this year following an ankle injury. "I haven't played enough tournaments so far this season to really allow rankings to bother me," he says. Currently the third-highest-ranked Indian male player at No. 26 -- after Ajay Jayaram and Praneeth -- Srikanth, 24, is in no particular hurry to make the climb. He skipped a couple of tournaments at the start of the year to find more time for training. "It actually helped me," he says. "I also haven't been setting myself targets because I know I'm not fully fit. In the last couple of tournaments [German Open, All England Championships and India Open] before the Singapore Open, I was lacking in confidence and couldn't really play my best. Right now, I probably need another 20 per cent to touch full base fitness. Luckily I have a good eight to nine weeks between the Australian Open and World Championships, so it will help me get back to my peak form."
"I need to control my instincts and play safe rather than trying to overdo things. The smash, for instance, is a part of attacking play and really works against some players but [against] those that it doesn't, I should be able to come up with an alternate plan." Kidambi Srikanth
His next tournament appearance, the Sudirman Cup, is less than a week away and the former world No. 3 feels India will have to play their best to stand any chance against Indonesia and Denmark.
With one of the speediest jump smashes on the circuit and an offensive on-court style, Srikanth feels it's time he adapted his approach, at least for certain opponents. "I need to control my instincts and play safe rather than trying to overdo things," he says. "The smash, for instance, is a part of attacking play and really works against some players but [against] those that it doesn't, I should be able to come up with an alternate plan. Aggression hasn't always worked for me and it's one area I'm working on closely with Gopi sir to turn more adaptable."
Srikanth's flagging fitness has made it doubly difficult for him to clock longer hours at training under Handoyo. It has also eaten into his favourite pastime. "It has been quite tough on the body," he says. "Earlier we had three short sessions but now it's two sessions -- tougher and longer -- and we're on court at least five hours a day, which is helping me build endurance. The flip side is that I can no longer sleep 12 hours a day."
Mentor to 2004 Olympic gold medallist Taufik Hidayat and brought in by Gopichand at the start of this year to train Indian players, Handoyo says he sees glimpses of the Indonesian great in Srikanth. "It's a great compliment," Srikanth says. "I really need to keep it up. It will probably take a couple of more tournaments for me to regain confidence."
With a watertight six-day training schedule a week, Sundays are all Srikanth has to himself. "It's when I sleep like a log," he says.