Siddharth Jain is back again

Jamshedpur, 4 February 05:

MEETING Siddharth Jain at the Jamshedpur Nationals was a pleasant surprise. I'd last seen him more than a year back at the Academy, when he'd come with his kid and wife... I heard he hadn't been too well then with a thyroid problem; and he was planning to shift to Chennai.

Siddharth's absence at the Academy was quite a blow to those of us who longed to see intense badminton; that his exit was alongside his contemporaries -- Vijay Lancy, Nikhil Kanetkar and Thomas Kurien -- made it worse. Consequently, I was quite anxious to see how he'd fare in the Nationals, having been so removed from competitive badminton.

He was drawn against some rank outsider in the first round, but his opponent was a rallyer, and that was always dicey -- Siddharth had a strapping on his right knee -- the one that had given him so much trouble right through his career. But this was the first time I've seen him so relaxed. He had a broad grin on, as if he was on holiday -- which he was, come to think of it. He'd come here to see his mates; and the competition -- well, he was out of it after ten years.

Ten years. And all through that time, or at least towards the latter half, Siddharth was one of the most serious members of the Indian team. No fooling around, no half-measures -- so much that most of the time he had a tortured look on his face. Also, the injuries kept bothering him, whether it was the knee or the rotator cuff.

He won the Junior Nationals in 94-95, but it was only in 1997 that he joined the Academy, much after Gopi, Lancy, Nikhil and the others. "I came to Bangalore too late, I should've come earlier," he says. Once he joined, he "developed lots of skills. Earlier I was a proper defensive player. After coming to the Academy I started dribbling and developed an attacking game, which was useful when I went outside the country."

Since then, he had some wonderful results, with the French Open title in 2000 being the biggest. The same year he lost the Senior National final and Scottish Open final to Gopi. He was also part of the team that reached the Thomas Cup inter-zone finals in Kuala Lumpur in 2000, 12 years after a Prakash Padukone-led team last did it. He beat Roslin Hashim -- who later became world No.1 -- in the tie against Malaysia.

Anyway... he got through his first round opponent after a sticky match. Siddharth ran up the points but his opponent kept him on court longer than he was comfortable... old flashes of his brilliance, on the dribbles and half-smashes, although the length wasn't quite there. He won 4 and 4. His run continued past the second round, in which he won 7 and 9 against Sumit Dahiya, and would face his old Academy buddy, Thomas Kurien, in the third round.

That should be interesting... hopefully, Siddharth should make a match of it. But he seems to have little confidence. Just before the match, he was joking about it with a friend.
"Don't worry, Tommy boy has never beaten you," said the friend.
"All that's going to change," replied Siddharth.

Kurien plays a different style: he is more attacking, but less versatile than Siddharth, who, at his best, had a rock-solid defence, a hard half-smash and an effective net game. He was the only one in the country who could trouble Gopi consistently. In fact, in the final of the BPL Open in 2000 in Bangalore, he had Gopi in all kinds of trouble... Gopi battled Siddharth and cramps in his hand, coming through in two tough sets... and then he reached the semifinals of the Malaysian Open and Singapore Open, before stomping everyone at the All England.

And in the early part of the game, he completely dominates Kurien with his finesse and sharp strokes, running up a 6-0 lead. But it's too good to last. Kurien is one of the fittest in the country... gradually he pulls up, makes it 9-6. Siddharth fights back... brilliant defence... breaks Kurien, equals at 9-all, goes ahead at 10-9. Kurien makes it 10-all and 11-10. The pace is killing Siddharth; a misjudgement and a toss error helps Kurien take it at 15-10. Not bad for a player gingerly walking around on one leg.

In the second game it's too much, Kurien goes away to a 6-0 lead. Siddharth breaks twice, but Kurien runs up 7-0... Siddharth's still relaxed, chatting with the linesmen... 8-0... 9-0... 12-0... Jesus, is he going to beat him at love? Siddharth is suddenly tense, motions with his left hand. He wants Kurien to give him one point. Kurien pretends not to see... 13-0... Siddharth is desperate... 14-0... it's all he can do to keep from shouting out: "Hey Thomas, give me just one point, okay?"... and Thomas deliberately misjudges a good toss. Siddharth has serve.

Thomas slices out. Christ, that was close... I'm by the baseline, clapping vehemently for a lost cause. Siddharth shakes his head at me. He takes two more points, finally loses at 15-3.

Afterwards, he comes up and says: "You let me down. You clapped too late."

I didn't think he would have noticed. But that Siddharth was two years ago -- when he didn't notice anything outside the court.

That's a long time ago. This is a new Siddharth, someone who's getting used to a new city, a new life. He's got a family and he likes Chennai.

"I miss being in the Academy," he said. "That fun was there. But it's okay, you have to move on. Nobody from my batch is playing now, except for Nikhil and Thomas."

"What's it like, being out of top-level badminton? Do you miss the adrenaline?" I ask.
"You have to accept it. Oh, I've played so much. I've played ten years. As a person I learned a lot. That's the main thing. Playing is for a few years, after that you have to carry on."

He has changed. Not just from being a "quiet person" to someone who has "opened out", but to someone who has learned to relax on court. At last.