Kidambi Srikanth had an exceptional run at the Malaysia Masters 2025, for the first time in nearly six years, the 32-year-old made it to the finals of an international tournament. The last time he finished at the podium was back in 2019 at the India Open. The former World No. 1 had a meteoric rise and then a crashing fall to World No. 65 owing to injuries and inconsistent performances. At the peak of his prowess, he had become the first Indian to win four BWF titles in a calendar year in 2017, which was followed by a gold at the Commonwealth Games.
Kidambi showed glimpses of his old self at the Malaysia Masters as he blazed into the finals but ultimately lost the final showdown against China’s Li Shi Feng 11-21, 9-21.
Speaking to RevSporz exclusively, National Badminton Coach, Pullela Gopichand and personal coach Gurusai Dutt raised the curtains on Srikanth’s preparation ahead of the Malaysia Masters.
Your thoughts on Srikanth’s performance and whether he still has a lot left in him?
Pullela Gopichand: I’m happy and delighted. It’s a great result and it’s good to see him win. It just shows that he still has it in him. And I’m hoping that in the time to come, he will have more results like this and he’s a little more consistent.
Well, I think game-wise we can see that he has the speed, he has the lasting ability. And surely that means that he probably has a few more years.
What about Prannoy, he started off on a great note?
Pullela Gopichand: Yes, I think the way Prannoy has been playing has been good. He’s had his struggles physically. So every day is not going to be the same as the previous one or he might have physically off days. But I think from an effort perspective, I don’t think there’s any drop, especially from Prannoy’s side ever. So, good to see his wins and I hope that we get a couple of those big tournament runs like what Srikanth has. Because I do believe that he has a lot of potential.
Kidambi Srikanth has also been working closely with Gurusai Dutt and Parupalli Kashryap.
Gurusai Dutt: “He’s been working really hard in training over the last three months. There was clearly a big change in his attitude towards training. He was constantly at it, always working with the coaches, really focusing on himself, especially in terms of his fitness levels, so that he could play these kinds of matches.
He was reaching out to Gopi sir, reaching out to me, to Kashyap. He was very open to it, and that’s a change that definitely happened. He made himself do that, and that’s the difference you’re seeing now.
For a player like Srikanth, who has been World No. 1 before, who has beaten the top guys in the past, and who has had some of the best achievements as a men’s singles player from India, he was going through a rough time in his performances. But he knew what needed to be done.
Yes, of course, there were some injury issues that held him back for a while. That was a major setback for him. But once that was sorted, and he understood that he needed to train, and wanted to train, with the help of me, Kashyap, and Gopi sir, we built a good team around him.
We have also been open to listening to the senior players, Srikanth and Prannoy of course, because their inputs matter to us, they matter to me. So clearly, these last three months have been a little different in terms of Srikanth’s approach to training, and it is showing.”
Is there anything that Srikanth is doing differently when it comes to mental conditioning?
Gurusai Dutt: “He doesn’t have too many things in his mind. He just goes with the plan and goes for it. There are no negative thoughts in his mind. His problem was fitness, if he’s fit enough, he can play. He has the mentality to pull matches, especially if there’s a situation where the match is at 15-all, in those stages, I would give Srikanth an 80-85% chance of pulling off a win.
But he was lacking fitness and confidence in the past, he was going for really sharp shots and taking half chances, and it only happens when he’s not confident about his fitness. That had happened for some time and he understood that. He pushed hard, on and off the field. That was a change we saw.
With Srikanth, mentally, there’s not much you have to do. He knew what it takes and what his strengths are. And once he’s in the zone, it is very difficult for anyone to crack him.”