PV Sindhu (left) and Ratchanok Intanon. (PHOTOS: Sindhu Instagram and Ratchanok X handles)
A pair of 29-year-olds, who last won the World Championship titles 12 and 6 years ago, they might be. But Ratchanok Intanon who first hit headlines at 17 as a world champion in 2013, and PV Sindhu whose world title came in 2019, are defying age-related concerns to keep pushing for performances on the Tour.
Playing in the season opener, Super 1000 (like one of four Grand Slams of tennis) at Kuala Lumpur, Ratchanok Intanon defeated Indonesian upcoming Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-13, 15-21, 21-16 with a hard fought entry into the semifinals.
At 29, battling injuries and fitness worries, the elegant Thai player, who remains mesomeric in her strokemaking, is hitting second wind and was a fighter against the 22-year-old opponent, ranked one spot above her at 16.
Sindhu, who will kickstart her season at the India Open next week, was all encouragement and hood vibes when sending out a social media message to Ratchanok. “Let’s go may!!!!” she wrote, May being Ratchanok’s nickname.
Ratchanok has 728 matches as against Wardani’s 173, and is nearing the 500 win mark, currently on 489. She had lost to Wardani at Malaysia Masters last May, but fought back after being pushed into a decider on Friday.
PV Sindhu hasn’t had a great time on court with results, but has spoken about being determined to continue and push for the big titles, expected to be back on court within a month of her gorgeous Udaipur wedding. The All England remains the holy grail, for both 29-year-olds.
Ratchanok was battling in a draw with 6 shuttlers, all under 25, except Beiwen Zhang at the year’s first Super 1000.
Ratchanok scribbled back, saying, “We have to earn more and more haha… Thank for listening and sharing life with me… this is really hard life…@pvsindhu.”
Earlier, the grand old fighter of the circuit, American Top 15ner Beiwen Zhang was forced to retire in her match against An Se-young.
Ratchanok’s style-alikes Tai Tzu-ying and He Bingjiao have retired, while the others from golden generation Chen Yufei, Akane Yamaguchi were not present at Kuala Lumpur. Fellow 29-year-old Nozomi Okuhara lost early. But the May-Sindhu friendship and their determination to continue fighting stays undiminished.
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