B Sai Praneeth's phone buzzed with a rare congratulatory message from coach Pullela Gopichand on Friday. "He just said congratulations and good job," says Praneeth, who had just beaten Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk at the Singapore Open. Thailand's Tanongsak isn't the biggest opponent B Sai Praneeth has beaten in his career. The 24-year-old has a number of upsets to his name. He had beaten Taufik Hidayat in what would prove to be the former Olympic champion's final contest at his home court in Indonesia. Last year, Praneeth would add another world number one - Lee Chong Wei - to the list of his upsets in the first round of the All England Championships.
While world no. 11 Saensomboonsuk has a Super Series title (2016 Denmark Open) of his own, he isn't nearly at the same level as Hidayat or Wei. But Praneeth would nevertheless count his 15-21, 21-14, 21-19 win in Singapore as one of his most significant ones. And coach Gopichand does too. "In the past, even after I had beaten Lee Chong Wei, Gopi sir would only ask the coaches how I had done. This time he sent me a message himself. It feels very good when Gopi sir sends you a message," says Praneeth.
At the end of an hour and eleven minutes on court, Praneeth had his arms aloft, having reached the semifinals of the Singapore Open. This is his first time in the last four at the Super Series level. It is a statistic that is particularly telling, considering Praneeth is in his seventh year on the international circuit.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. Praneeth, who won a bronze medal at the 2010 World Junior championships, only the second Indian to medal at the tournament after Saina Nehwal (who won gold in 2008), was long considered amongst the most talented youngsters. "A lot of variety in strokes from each corner, very wristy and good at deception. An all-round player - one of most talented players in recent times in India," was how Parupalli Kashyap had described him in an interview soon after he had beaten Chong Wei a year ago.
Indeed, for anyone who had seen his game - almost effortlessly graceful and languid -- his lack of success on the international circuit (He has a solitary Grand Prix title) was jarring. His upsets of the greats of the game were mere flashes of brilliance, never amounting to anything of substance. He would look wonderful while winning a point but would fail to close out matches, convert wins into tournaments and tournaments into rankings. Indeed he would lose his next match soon after beating Hidayat and Wei. Unsurprisingly, his rankings have languished in the low thirties and forties.
Struggling to find an explanation, Praneeth's mental strength and the willingness to grit out hard situations have been questioned. And he's had more than his share of them. Sai Praneeth spent the whole of 2014 battling foot, ankle and shin injuries, and the next year not "feeling fit enough. "Injuries have really affected my performance," Praneeth would say. "Some injury or the other would crop up and I had to skip tournaments. It was like playing a tournament, and then taking a break for my injuries and then again playing."
That bad luck seemed to chase him this year too. Soon after reaching the finals of the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January, he injured his shoulder, which ruled him out of the national championships and subsequently the All England and Swiss Open. "If I had done well, perhaps my rankings would have gone up to the twenties," he says.
Instead he would remain at the Gopichand Academy training for his comeback. A second round exit at the India Open followed by a first round loss at the Malaysia Open Super Series didn't bode well. Indeed the number of three game losses particularly bothered Praneeth. It was a longstanding trend of his career. He lost 21-18, 19-21, 18-21 to Lin Dan in Malaysia. A few months earlier at the Denmark Open he had lost 17-21, 21-19, 15-21 to Tanongsak. Both opponents had gone on to win the respective tournaments. "It wasn't a technical problem. It was a confidence issue. I had been coming close but losing. And once you keep losing, closing out those final few points becomes hard," says Praneeth.
But Praneeth says he felt he was about to turn a corner for no other reason but the fact that the odds had to favour him at some point. "It was a matter of time that things had to start going my way," he says.
Indeed, he admits he has been lucky at Singapore. Lin Dan, Chen Long and Lee Chong Wei pulled out of the tournament while nominal top seed Victor Axelsen lost in the first round. "I was waiting for this opportunity. The draw was open and that gave me a good chance," admits Praneeth.
Of course he has taken his chances. Once questioned about his fitness and mental toughness, Praneeth has played out three straight three-game matches, all lasting over an hour. He was trailing 16-13 in the final game against Tanongsak before eventually clinching the match.
While he is now in uncertain territory, Praneeth is looking forward to the semifinal against Korea's Lee Dong Keun and perhaps even a possible final against Kidambi Srikanth, who won his quarterfinal on the other half of the draw. The Korean beat Praneeth 23-21, 21-10 in their only previous encounter two years ago. This time though Praneeth is confident of returning the favour. "I've never been in the weekend of a tournament before. Now that I am here, it is time to perform," he says. If he does, it won't be a message but probably a call that he will get from coach Gopichand.