Talking badminton with Razif Sidek

Bangalore, December 2001:

"…and they had four juniors smashing at them while they would calmly send the shuttle back," badminton doubles coach Vinod Kumar was saying. "He could send the shuttle back, diagonally across the court, with just a backhand flick…"

Vinod was watching Razif Sidek, Thomas Cup and All England winner, working with a few Indian youngsters at the Sports Authority of India, Bangalore. The two of them were conducting a doubles camp for some of India's most promising players.

Sidek is a roundish man with a cryptic smile. He shoots phrases at the players from time to time, some of them enlightening. "Octopus," he calls a player who ended his session prematurely complaining of tired legs. The delinquent and his friends took some time to figure that one out. (Octopus… Jelly Fish… Jelly… legs like jelly.)
It takes some pressing, but Sidek finally manages to squeeze in some time for an interview:

What's your opinion of the Indian players at this camp?
These are junior players, right? Some of them are very good. Around three pairs have talent, I would say… potential to do well.
You cannot do much in one month. I took some time to see their game and work out the practise sessions. They will have to continue to practise at the same level after I leave.

They are not in very good physical shape. Talent alone will not do. So I've tried to increase fitness… maybe I cannot make them as fit as the Chinese but if I can make them 80 per cent as fit, then they can depend on their skill to win matches.
It is about balance. Balancing physical fitness, skill, thinking, consistency…

Can they sustain the training after you've left?
They have to play together. Here the combinations are not permanent, each partner is in a different place. Well, that's not my problem, that's theirs.
You have to be consistent during practise. And try to enjoy training. I cannot get them to train hard suddenly over a month. So I'm gradually increasing the intensity, otherwise they'll break down (laughs). You have to gradually make them fitter and fitter. So I'm alternating hard training with soft training over the week, with a day's off on Sunday.
You have to do that for some six months at least before the results start to show.
Some of them are very good. Good potential. They've shown a lot of improvement in the last one month, so who knows what they can do over six months?

Razif is a member of the best-known family in badminton: the Sideks. All five brothers (Misbun, Razif, Rashid, Jalani and Rahman) were eminent members of the national team, reflected in the Thomas Cup triumph in 1992, when Razif captained the side.

What was it that made your family special at badminton?
I started playing badminton when I was seven or eight. My father was not a very good player, but he taught us to be really involved. We were disciplined, and we loved badminton.

I was good at football and athletics too, but my father wanted us to take up badminton, and promised to back us. He wanted us to believe we would not be second to anybody if we worked hard enough.

We started playing among higher age groups when we were very young. I joined the national team when I was 18, after high school.
We kept playing with the national team members, slowly we got fitter than them. We only wanted their consistency, experience and skill. Slowly we got better than them and they had to retire!

That's the way you become good: keep playing with those who are better than you. Compete with your partner; get better than him. I see some players saying: he's got a better smash than me. He doesn't want to play him. You've got to use that to your advantage. Get him to smash at you, try to retrieve it. You'll miss once, twice. Then you work on your technique. Is my grip right, is the position of the arm right, and so on.
Why must you run away from your weaknesses? You must challenge yourself to get better. If he beats you in practise, you say, never mind, I'll beat him tomorrow. You cannot play against yourself.

Four World Grand Prix titles, two World Cups, one All England, an Olympic bronze, two Commonwealth titles, Thomas Cup, one Asian Badminton Championships… lots of pressure.

You've been in several high pressure match situations. Did you do anything particular to handle it?
I used to take a walk after dinner. Everybody gets nervous when the next day is a final or a semifinal. Don't go too far, just walk around; do something.
Mental toughness is about psychology, about psyching yourself. You cannot respect any player too much, once you are inside the court you have no respect for him.

Most of your titles came with your brother, Jalani.
It didn't matter that my brother was my partner. On court it doesn't matter if he's your brother or your friend. We didn't depend too much on the coach; we knew what was happening on the court and he didn't need to tell us anything.
I've seen some players train, but they never use their heads. They play some stroke and they don't know why. You must know why you play a particular shot. Whatever you do on court, you must know why.

Do you know how the Chinese train? No. Do you know how the Koreans train? No. So you watch them at the tournaments. If your player loses you figure out what was wrong and get him to work on it.

What was your training like?
For the last month before a tournament, we used to do three hours on court. That was very difficult. Then, weights. During practise, if you can concentrate for one hour, that's very good. I don't think you can focus for more than one hour a day.
A lot depends on the coach… how he motivates the team. Setting their schedule is important. Thomas Cup is in February, right? You should start training from December.

Your Barcelona bronze was Malaysia's first Olympic medal…
I was disappointed. We would've probably won against either of the other two semifinalists (Eddy Hartono/ Rudy Gunawan and Li Yongbo and Tian Bingyi). Park (Park Joo-Bong/ Kim Moon Soo) has got a style different from ours, so we were worried. The match was very close, but you can't complain.