Lakshya Sen is not called the most dangerous (read: unpredictable) player in a draw for nothing. You never know what you'll get with him - either a brilliant win or a baffling loss, a medal match or a very early exit.
This rollercoaster was out on full display in Delhi as the 14th seed got knocked out in the second round of BWF World Championship, losing to world No 92 Garret Tan of USA 21-19, 19-21, 17-21. Less than 24 hours after a fightback win in the first round that had the crowd calling him "superstar", he was rudely dragged back down to earth by a teenager, who was dizzy by the end in match that in his own words, he had to play "catch-up".
"I was always playing the covering up game. I still had my chances but eventually he was taking those points, and I was under pressure and always trying to play the catch-up game," Lakshya said after the loss. "Towards the third [game] both of us were completely exhausted. I think I gave it my all in the end, but it was just not enough to win... a little bit disappointed."
If asked for a TL;DR version of where Lakshya lost to the 18-year-old, who was playing in the junior World Championship last year, the brutal answer would be - 'in his head'.
It wasn't the length or intensity of the match; these are the kind of energy-sapping match that Lakshya normally wins because he is one of the fittest counterattacking players there is. It wasn't even the clever tactic from Tan's team -- comprised of two women, Cao Hok Paula Lynn (USA team manager and Tan's childhood coach) and Lauren Lam (a US doubles player who'd lost to the Gayatri-Treesa pair on Tuesday) -- to target Lakshya's backcourt play.
It was the fact that under pressure in a windy court with very loud home support, Lakshya couldn't handle his own nerves and his opponent's firepower simultaneously. You see, there's a very different kind of pressure associated with being Lakshya Sen in Delhi - you know when he enters the arena by the sound first, the cheers echoing around and spilling out onto the media interaction zone. On Wednesday, there was even an addition of a dhol [drum] to add to the atmosphere and even PV Sindhu came to watch, even though she had a match later.
In the last round on Tuesday, he had dropped the first game to the world No 128 but managed to transform nerves and pressure into resolve and won in dominant fashion. Here, when Tan came out swinging early with angles all over the back court, it was evident that he had another battle on his hands.
It was Tan who got the slender interval lead in game one, 11-10, and it stayed neck-and-neck for most part, despite Tan playing from the slower side. Lakshya managed an escape act by getting to 21-19, but it had not been as easy as he would have liked.
The alarm bells, though, still did not ring. After all, this was a Top 20 player against an inexperienced teenager, and rank outside. Lakshya tried to come out with punchier player in second from the faster side. But Tan held on to his lead this time, and made it a formidable 9-4 with clever, close in plays. The Indian makes a small comeback with 4 straight points, but Tan still had the interval lead at 11-8.
The Indian continued to be tentative in his judgement and line calls, while Tan kept using all his chances to attack - testing Lakshya's normally staunch defence. Surprisingly, Lakshya was a lot more composed from this same side in Tuesday's match - indicating a change of drift on the court, something Sindhu alluded to later as well.
Tan got to 5 game points and Lakshya upped the ante to save 4 of them with his famously quick reflexes, but the American got in the fifth and last with angled smash winner, which would be his best weapon in the upset win.
In the decider, it was Tan who took the early initiative and lead at 7-2, from the purported worse side.
There seemed to be an effort from Lakshya to keep the shuttle slow and flat, perhaps to combat the drift variations while not giving Tan the height to smash at the back. But he was also making errors on the lines, which proved costly.
The crowd took it upon themselves now to raise morale, cheering louder every time Tan made an error and chanting Lakshya's name with increasing intensity. But the teenager was quite calm amid this hometown storm, drilling in winners and getting a very handy interval lead with another angled smash 11-4.
From the side that troubled players today, Lakshya had a Herculean task to stay alive. He started this climb positively - winning 6 points with the counterattacking skills he excels at and bringing himself back.
The point at 12-16 was the best indication of what Lakshya can do when he is fully dialled in -- retrieving and keeping the shuttle in play no matter what, till your opponent blinks -- it was an energising moment for him and the crowd.
The gap narrowed to 17-15, Tan had a fall and called for medical assistance after a fall chasing a shuttle left him dizzy, Lakshya had his legs massaged by his coach (it was that kind of a physical match) and this seemed to be the turning point.
Surely the home favourite who had rediscovered his intensity wouldn't now lose to a teenager who needed a medical break? The crowd was fully involved, having smelt blood. They wanted to carry their player through.
But Tan was too good in the end, a superb angled smash winner giving him the biggest win of his young career so far. Indeed, he looked more unnerved while talking to the media after than when he was knocking out his heavily favoured, seeded opponent.
To the fans who came to watch the crowd favourite, this was a bitter blow. To those familiar with Lakshya's game, this is just how his career trajectory fluctuates.
As for Lakshya, it's back to the drawing board and working on his mentality further. He has always spoken about the mental aspect of his game - the emotional fallout from Paris Olympics, not enjoying badminton briefly, and learning to block out the noise. This is a skill he will have to sharpen even further as he moved on from this, for more tournaments on the tour and then the Asian Games.
"Yeah, it's going to probably hurt a little bit more, but again we have a lot of good tournaments coming up, so we have to just focus on that, and prepare for that," he said after. 'Focus' will be the keyword here for Lakshya.