India Open 2026: Back in full fitness, Satwik and Chirag look to begin season on a high
India’s top men’s doubles pair, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, are coming off an odd sort of season.
There was personal tragedy in Satwik’s father passing away, while a serious back injury to Chirag saw the pair concede a match at the All England Open. It was also their first season since 2021 when they failed to win a World Tour title.
However, they still managed to win their second World Championships medal and ended the year at World No. 3.
As they get their campaign underway at the India Open on Tuesday, the pair spoke about their injury concerns, the inevitability of beating the Korean World No. 1 pair of Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, their partnership with coach Tan Kim Her and the importance of doing well in New Delhi, where they’ve won two titles already.
In 2022, when you won your first India Open title — one of the turning points in your career. How important is it to start 2026 with a big performance at the India Open once again?
Satwiksairaj: The funny thing was, initially, we were not supposed to play that tournament because Chirag had tested positive for COVID-19 in Hyderabad. I thought that was a sign for me to go back home and celebrate Sankranti. I thought at least I could get some time and enjoy myself. I was happy. Then all of a sudden, he called me and said, ‘I just tested negative, so we can play after all.’
It wasn’t that easy to play that tournament because there was no crowd, and we couldn’t even shake hands with our opponents. But winning that tournament helped us. It gave us a lot of confidence for that year.
Chirag: We didn’t actually face a lot of tough opponents in that tournament until we played (Indonesia’s) Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the final. But it was a big thing to beat them. As Satwik says, it gave us a big boost, and then we just kept the ball rolling. We went on to win the Thomas Cup gold and then the Commonwealth Games gold. It changed the year for us. I hope we can do something special this time around, too.
You’ve had an interesting last year. You reached two World Tour finals. You also won bronze at the World Championships. It’s also your first long season since you reunited with coach Tan Kim Her. How would you rate your season?
Chirag: From the outside, it might seem like it may not have been the best of years because we didn’t end up winning a title. But we’ve set our sights so high that we feel anything less than a title is not up to the mark. We’ve been used to being consistent in at least winning a title each season for the past two or three years. So, we sometimes don’t look at the broader picture.
We’ve had some really tough times, both physically and personally. I had a back injury (Chirag and Satwik conceded their pre-quarterfinal match at the All England Championships last year after the former sustained an injury), and I didn’t really know how much time it would take to heal. I did everything I needed to do, but it still took much longer than it was supposed to.
We got down to No. 27 in the world rankings, but we still ended the year at No. 3. When I was injured, if someone had told me that I would end the year at No. 3, I would have taken it hands down. But later, when I finished the season at No. 3, I was still thinking I didn’t win a title! I guess that’s just how an athlete’s mind thinks! Still, when I look back, I think it was a really good year.
How are you injury-wise?
Satwiksairaj: We are pretty much in a good space now. We have been playing consistently since the second half of 2025. We are managing our bodies well compared to previous years, and trying to play as many tournaments as possible.
Chirag: With the back injury that I got, I wasn’t at 100 per cent. I’ve had that niggle for many years, but that episode at the All England was quite bad, and it took a long while to heal. Now, it’s getting better and better.
Service returns have become a critical part of men’s doubles. It almost feels like points are being decided within the first three shots. There have been a few matches where it seems you have had to work harder on returns.
Chirag: I don’t think you can ever be perfect. We have put a lot of focus on our service and receiving because if you are good in those first two or three strokes, you end up winning the rally. Every other men’s doubles pair would agree that you need to be good in those first two or three strokes, whether you are serving or receiving.
Do you take inputs by watching the other top players? The Indonesians have their unique serves, and the Chinese have their tumble serves. Are you trying to incorporate some of these into your game?
Chirag: We are looking to incorporate it, but also counter it.
The last time you were at the India Open, you had just restarted your partnership with Tan Kim Her. How has the last year with him been like?
Satwiksairaj: It was tough at the start because we had got used to the European style of coaching with Matthias Boe. It’s very different with coach Tan. They have different mindsets and planning methods. With Mathias, we’d train for hardly 1 hour 20 minutes, but that would be of a really high-quality training. We would be dead tired after that training.
With coach Tan, we might play for maybe two hours. Because we were spending more time on the court, it was harder initially, but we adjusted to it.
The issue with training longer is that when you suddenly have to do a routine for five to six minutes instead of two minutes, as we used to do with coach Matthias, it puts a lot of load on your body, which is tough because we have to manage our bodies with all the niggles that we have. Somehow, we managed 2025 with all that niggles.
One other difference compared to the past is that we are adding our own inputs to the training. Earlier, when we had worked with Matthias or even Coach Tan (previous spell), we would follow blindly what they’d tell us. Now with Coach Tan, we often give feedback on what’s working and what we could improve on. If we feel something is not working, we will tell him. We also continue with what worked with coach Matthias, while also training a lot on service and service returns.
Have you had any conversations about winning titles with Coach Tan? Do you feel there’s some block in crossing that line?
Chirag: All of us would want to be on the podium. At the same time, it’s not a mental block because we have won multiple titles before. In the last year, we probably didn’t play the right game, or perhaps our opponents have played better when it mattered. It’s just a matter of time before we find ourselves on that podium again. We have to keep improving ourselves.
Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae (World No. 1) have done so well over the last year. If you have to win a title, you probably have to go through them. What have you thought about that?
Chirag: They’ve been playing some really exceptional badminton. To win 11 titles in a single year is massive. They are a very consistent pair. They don’t give away points easily. If a pair has to beat them, they not only have to be at their A-game, but also very patient because you won’t get any easy points from them.
We played them once last year at the Malaysia Open semis and once in the finals at the China Open. It was close in both matches. We led in both matches but couldn’t finish them. We didn’t feel they were unbeatable when we played them.
You guys both had injuries last year, which must be frustrating because you are a partnership. Could you tell how important it is to have each other’s backs in times like this?
Chirag: As partners, you need to have each other’s back in good as well as bad times. Everybody will be there in your good times, but the ones who are in your bad times are the ones you can genuinely trust. Both of us had each other’s backs for many years now. That’s one of the major things that works really well for both Satwik and me.
There might be plenty of people coming in and coming out, but we two are always going to be constant. We both know what works well for both of us and what doesn’t. When I look back, I think we’ve had some really good moments, obviously, but we’ve had some tough times as well, and we’ve always come out strong.
It took time for it to develop. The initial year wasn’t that great. It took time for us to get used to it and get used to each other, but once it got developed, we stuck through it.
Published on Jan 13, 2026