From past difficulties on and off court, Satwik-Chirag grateful for the present and on right track for the future

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have laboured through a lot, both on and off the court, in this past year. And now, they seem to be getting back to their best.

In the last month, the men’s doubles pair from India bagged its second BWF World Championships bronze medal and has followed it up with back-to-back final appearances on the Tour.

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While Satwik-Chirag’s wait for their first title since May 2024 continues, they reiterate that they are on the right track. Sportstar caught up with the duo on how the pair came out of troubling times, faced unpredictability on the court, and how it’s planning to evolve with the changing game.

Excerpts

Q: Since the Paris Olympics, you both have been through a lot, be it personal loss or recurring injuries. How have you been able to have each other’s backs in these tough times?

Satwik: After the Olympics, it took us time to digest the result. I was also having back issues then. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then, in January, I think, Chirag had a few niggles.

My father passed away, so it was a very tough time. Even at the All England, we faced some issues. We were getting better, but then there used to be something to stop us. I think it’s part and parcel of the game; you need to respect your body. You never know where you will get injuries from.

Chirag was there helping me and telling me, ‘It’s okay, nothing will happen’. We knew that once we’re fit enough, we can give our 100 per cent and be at the top. Last few months, we’ve been just holding on. Coach was there to help, and [Pullela] Gopi [Chand] sir was also there for us. In these times, you get to know who’s really behind you and supportive. We’re grateful for the things we have now.

Q: In the World Championships semifinal, we could see those flick serves troubling you. Even flat exchanges have not been your best suit. How have you both managed to tackle these two aspects?

Chirag: Before the Worlds, we had met them once [Li Yiu and Bo Yang Chen] in the Thailand Open final, but at that time, I think we won it in two games; but this time around, in the third game especially, they started flicking us, which we didn’t expect them to do.

We were trying to take the shuttle high because they were serving quite well in the front. I think we could have taken a different approach where we were not dwelling so much on receiving and playing the wait-and-watch game, rather than attacking right away.

Credit to them for mixing it up, but it can also backfire sometimes if you keep varying your service too much, because the opponent can catch you, and then your service game drops. But that day, it worked for them.

I think everything can never be perfect [on their flat game]. I think even my attack is not 100 per cent perfect. There’s always something we need to work on. I think the flat exchanges and the defence are a work in progress.

Everybody has their style of play; ours is where we try to get as many attacking opportunities as possible. But at the world level, you can’t really play with just one sort of strategy. You need to have multiple ways of scoring points. And I think over the past couple of months, we’ve definitely improved our flat game.

The wins that we’ve had in the last three tournaments, I think we’ve beaten pairs who would have wanted to beat us only by playing flat, but we’ve been able to counter it quite well. It’s still a long process, but I think we’ve suddenly become a lot better than we were in the past.

Q: A few times, especially in these last three tournaments, we’ve seen you squander a healthy lead. That was the case even in the China Masters final. Are there nerves at play, and if so, how do you both work together to tackle that?

Chirag: I think we have also won from when we were down in the past. So I don’t really agree with that. In those matches, I think we can say the opponent let the lead slip. They had a healthy lead, and they lost from there.

In the final, where we led 14-7, we had a couple of points where we broke our strings, and I don’t think we made any nervous mistakes where we gave away easy points because we were scared or anything. We could have been a little smarter in placing the shuttles in the right places and been tactically better.

I don’t think nerves kicked in at 14-7 because it’s too early a stage to feel jittery. Credit to them for coming back from that. We could have closed out that first game, but we weren’t able to do that. Even at 14-14, I think it became quite topsy-turvy where we were close enough to seeing it out even after they came back, where they got a couple of netcords as well. Personally, I don’t think we lost because we got nervous. They played better, and we didn’t put the shuttle in the right places.

Q: How are you feeling physically now? Any injuries or niggles worrying you both at the moment?

Satwik: We have got a few days off, and right now we are in a good position. There’s bound to be a few niggles when you’re playing continuously and playing finals, but nothing major. You just need to take care of your body.

Q: What are the things that you would like to work on, be it individually and as a pair?

Chirag: Individually, I would want to become a lot better in my defence. I have never been a very defensive player. So it doesn’t come naturally. Together, we’d want to work on defence and also receive serves better. I wouldn’t say we are at our best yet. We still have a lot more to come, a lot more to offer. I definitely feel that we are on the right track, and the best will be there soon.

Satwik: I need to work more on the front court. And as Chirag said, there is always a concern about receiving serves. And moreover, we wanted to play a little more consistently. You can see Koreans playing more consistently, being more confident. I think we need to work towards that style and mentality as well.

Published on Sep 23, 2025