It was a great year for Saina Nehwal but it was also not a great year.
It was a great year because the list of Indian sportsmen and women who have reached the pinnacle of their sport is a small one and in 2015, Saina joined that list by becoming the first Indian women’s badminton player to get to No 1 in the world.
But it wasn’t a great year because Saina won just two tournaments in 2015 – the Syed Modi International and the India Open – and finished sixth race to the Dubai Superseries leaderboard, with Carolina Marin and Saina’s three Chinese rivals all ahead of her.
If she can break through the final glass ceiling and put her hands on the big prize, then not just trophies, but history beckons. Getty Images
It was a great year because Saina reached the finals of the All-England Championship and the World Championships for the first time, not only a significant personal breakthrough as no Indian badminton player – male or female – had reached a World championship final before.
But it wasn’t a great year because Saina lost to Marin in both finals and ended the year with injury trouble and a first-round exit at the World Superseries finale in Dubai. Marin’s win-loss record for the year was 36-8; Saina’s was 25-10.
It was a great year because Saina made history all over the place and we should all be very proud of what she has accomplished.
But it wasn’t a great year because the harsh truth about sports is those who win the big tournaments – the Majors – are remembered and treasured above all else.
How many of us remember Serbian Jelena Jankovic was once the World No 1 in women’s tennis back in 2008? Jankovic has never won a tennis Grand Slam and her achievement, at least on the world stage, is effectively a footnote in women’s tennis. Meanwhile Marion Bartoli, who never got close to being the best women’s tennis player, will forever be remembered as Wimbledon champion.
None of this is not to denigrate what Jankovic has achieved in her career, which is considerable, but only to illustrate that history belongs to those who win on the biggest stage. Roger Federer’s greatness spreads outwards from his 17 Grand Slam titles. It is a number every tennis fan has on the tip of his or her tongue. That Federer trails Jimmy Connors in overall singles titles 88 to 109 is a stat few know and fewer care about.
Likewise, Jack Nicklaus is considered to be the greatest golfer ever because he has won 18 Majors, more than anyone in history, including Tiger Woods.
This is the gap in an otherwise glittering career that Saina, who will turn 26 in March 2006, still needs to fill. To do so, she has to find a way to lift her game to the level Marin has set in order to win a big tournament or two. The timing is all the more important because the Rio Olympics lurk around the corner. Winning a medal, let alone gold, will be no easy task.
What’s more, sport is a constant arms race with new threats perpetually appearing on the horizon. At the Dubai Superseries, Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, still only 20, waltzed through the field. She beat Saina and Marin in the group stage, Marin again in the semi-finals and then topped Wang Yihan in the final. And she did it all without dropping a game.
The good news is Saina is expected to be fully fit by the end of January, 2016.
"She has four injuries. But the most severe are the injuries in the groin and ankle areas. The ankle and groin are almost cured... I can say 75 to 80 percent. And I expect her be 100 percent fit by the third week of January. As of now she is still in the rehabilitation stage. Within a few days she will be returning to full practice," physio Kiran Challagundla told the Times of India on 27 December.
When her body isn’t holding her back, Saina has proved her skills are a match for anyone on the court. She has also learned what it takes to get to the finals of badminton’s biggest events, having done it twice in 2015. Determination and belief are the other necessary ingredients. Saina has to believe she is the player to beat, not the others.
If she can break through the final glass ceiling and put her hands on the big prize, then not just trophies, but history beckons.
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