My body and mind are in the right place now, and I’m raring to go: Kidambi Srikanth

With a convincing 21-4, 21-11 win over Sloveninan shuttler

Alen Roj

on Tuesday night, the twelfth seed Kidambi Srikanth began his quest for the

German Open

on a confident note. Playing in his first international tournament since aggravating a stress fracture in the Korea Super Series in September 2016, the 24-year-old, has set his sights on winning the title now. In a tete-e-tete with Hyderabad Times, the shuttler opens up about how he managed to pick himself up and get back to his winning ways, after a break. Excerpts.

It must feel good to win your first international match after five months...
Oh yes! I was restricted to the bed for so long that I had time to discover myself, and reinvent myself and now, I am back with a bang. I think right now, I have my body and mind in the right place because after a particular level, the game boils down to how well you play on that particular day. So right now, if you ask me, I’d say the whole of 2017 looks good. And I am raring to go.

So, will we get to see a brand new Srikanth with a whole new gameplay?
Well, it is not like you will get see a completely new Srikanth or anything.... But since I was on a long break of sorts from court, I have had the time to sit and compare my game from before I got injured and mull over what I could do next. So in that sense, you could say I have made a bit of a discovery when it comes to my gameplay. Being out of action also changed the way I looked at the sport, or rather, how I approached the game and the competition. I realised that I ended up injuring myself because I pushed myself too much. It is important for a sportsperson to be aware of the limit up to which he should push himself. So, during my break in October and November, I made it a point to learn how to maintain myself during practise and tourneys.

For a budding sportstar like you, an injury must have been such a scary proposition...
The injury was discovered back in September, and yes, it was pretty bad and scary too. I did have a lot of apprehensions. I was a bundle of nerves. but at the back of my mind I did know that I was going to bounce back. I thought of all sportspersons who have bounced back even after surgeries. That gave me the hope that if someone else could do it, I could too. Having said that, I also knew that it would take some time and that I had to be patient. And that’s what I did...
So what kind of preparation went into getting ready for the German Open?
for the past one month, I have been training under new coaches from

Indonesia

. I used to start the day at 7 am and train continuously till 12; take a break, and get back to court at 4 pm sharp and continue till 7 in the evening. But before that, I was solely focussing on getting 100 per cent fit. It wasn’t so much about how I was playing on the court as it was more about how fit I was. The few months’ break from the game can take a toll and we wanted to ensure I was 100 per cent ready. And, I guess i am! (smiles)