Lakshya Sen's mental makeover with Mon Nimrod Brokman

Bengaluru: India No. 1 shuttler Lakshya Sen appears to be in a good space, both on and off the court. His recent runner-up finish at the All England Open Badminton Championships reflects the steady upward curve in his form over the past few months.Behind the scenes, mental conditioning coach Mon Nimrod Brokman has been working closely with the Almora-born shuttler since last year to sharpen his psychological and cognitive preparation.Lakshya has credited Brokman — a former commander in the Special Forces unit of the Israeli Air Force and a former competitive fencer — for helping him make those gains.In a conversation with TOI, Brokman spoke about Lakshya’s mindset, training methods and what makes the young Indian stand out. Excerpts:A year working with Lakshya, how did you break the ice with him?Top athletes are very protective of their environment and usually welcome new people slowly. Everyone wants to be part of their journey, so they test you first, which is normal. But Lakshya was quite open — you don’t see that often in elite athletes.He was willing to try different training methods such as hypoxia training, where oxygen levels are reduced through a machine while the athlete cycles. We also worked on cognitive training, which develops executive functions such as decision-making, focus, attention, reasoning and spatial recognition. We also did performance neurology to improve hand–eye coordination.You conducted emotional profiling and other tests on Lakshya. What did you discover initially?After analysing the data from different tests, we realised that Lakshya is a high-arousal athlete. That means he performs with higher excitement and energy levels — he is more jumpy and pushy.Athletes such as MS Dhoni or Roger Federer are different. They are low-arousal athletes who perform better when their energy levels are calmer. Lakshya is more like Rafael Nadal or Virat Kohli — athletes who thrive on intensity and adrenaline.For some athletes, high arousal can hurt performance, so you train them to calm down. With Lakshya, however, we decided to use it as a strength because it suits his style of play. We brought that awareness to him and used it as a tool.Take us through the All England Championships?I was with him in Birmingham. From the first round — against Shi Yuqi — I told him to treat every match like a final. He trusted his capabilities and that helped him in tight situations.He stuck to his own game and didn’t fall into the trap of opponents trying to force their style on him.Lakshya seems to find another level in big tournaments. What explains that?It’s his “bring it on” attitude. The bigger the challenge, the more motivated he becomes. You see that kind of mindset among special forces personnel as well — they are trained to embrace tough situations.Lakshya enjoys those challenges. His attitude is: “Let’s go for it. Whatever needs to be done, I’ll do it.” Great athletes believe they can rise above the challenge.What is his biggest strength?His relentless desire to succeed. We saw that clearly at the All England. At times he was barely walking because of exhaustion, yet he could still smash with speed, power and accuracy.His playing style reminds me a little of Rafael Nadal and Muhammad Ali. It’s about patience and mental endurance — the belief that “I’ll stay here as long as it takes to build the point and win the match.” That requires enormous mental strength.Lakshya defeated several top players at the All England, what work has gone into consistency?Often athletes hold themselves back because of self-imposed limits. One of the key things we are working on is removing those limitations — allowing him to open up mentally and go all out in terms of attitude.That doesn’t mean abandoning tactics. It simply means having the mindset to embrace the challenge fully. At the All England we saw that balance — he played patiently but also attacked when needed.