India Open 2024: World champion Kunlavut aims “to being just a badminton player”

When he steps onto the court this week, Vitidsarn won’t just be looking to defend his India Open title from last year, he’ll also be hoping to rediscover the form that culminated in his World title.

India Open 2023 winner & reigning World Champion Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn during the inaugual press conference of the India Open 2024 badminton tournament. | Photo Credit: PTI

Becoming World Champion might be a career defining milestone in most athletes’ career, but it’s not proving to be a particularly happy one for Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Five months after he won gold at the Badminton World Championships in Copenhagen last year, the 22-year-old is struggling to match the form that saw him create history by becoming the first Thai player to win the men’s singles title.

When he steps onto the court at New Delhi’s IG Stadium this week, Vitidsarn won’t just be looking to defend his India Open title from last year, he’ll also be hoping to rediscover the form that culminated in his World title.

In the first half of 2023, Vitidsarn had reached the semifinals of the Malaysia Open and Singapore Open, the finals of the USA Open, and won the India Open and his home tournament – the Thailand Open. That run was followed by his maiden World gold – one better than the silver he won the previous year in Tokyo.

Then when he won his maiden gold medal at the BWF world championships in Copenhagen last year, it was a result that too justify the reputation that had been built around Vitidsarn – on the back of his extraordinary stint in the juniors where he won an unprecedented 3 singles gold medals.

Including the World Championships Vitidsarn had built up a solid 33-9 win-loss ratio. “I was playing really well last year. When I won the world title it was an accomplishment of my childhood dream. It was probably one of my best years,” he said in New Delhi ahead of the India Open World Tour 750 . At least that was the case until the Worlds.

Indeed, with his title he had done something even his idols – Thailand’s Boonsak Ponsanna and three time Worlds finalist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia - had never accomplished.

That though has been followed by a torrid 7-9 stumble – including first round exits at the Arctic Open and Denmark Open and losing all three group matches in the World Tour Finals. At the Malaysia Open last week, Vitidsarn, ranked seventh in the world beat Kenta Nishimoto, ranked 12th, in a tough three-game encounter before losing his next match against World number 21 Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei.

FILE PHOTO: Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn will be defending his Indian Open title this year. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma / The Hindu

According to Vitidsarn, his form snapped after he took a break because of his commitments following the World title. “After the worlds I got back to Thailand. People welcomed me and all that was good and made me happy. But after the Worlds’ I had a lot of media attention. I had to give many media interviews and had many other commitments. All that took away time away from practise. I couldn’t practise constantly last year after the worlds. Because of that I withdrew from many tournaments,” says Vitidsarn, who skipped the China Open and Hong Kong Open after his World title.

When he did get back, it wasn’t nearly as easy to find his form. For one, as a newly minted world medallist, he now had a target on his back. “Because I have the world title many players now focus on me. It put me under pressure. (Also because) I didn’t participate in as many tournaments so when I got back played lot of tournaments. I was under a lot of pressure. So that’s why my performance wasn’t as good,” he says.

Although Vitidsarn has dealt with a few injuries including to his back just after the World Championships, he insists that has had nothing to do with his dip in form. The issue is solely mental, he admits. “I don’t have any problem physical but my not so good performance is because of what’s going on mentally,” he says.

Despite the lean run though, Vitidsarn isn’t panicking just yet. He says he’s spoken to his coaches and the advice that’s come through is that he needs to address his issues simply by getting on the court as much as he can. “I’ve not gone to any mental health practitioner or psychologist. I’ve talked to my coaches. At the end of last year, I had skipped a lot of tournaments to rest and my coach has told me I just need to play more matches. This year will try to participate more. After this (India Open)I will focus more on the World Tour 500 tournaments,” he says.

More matches, says Vitidsarn, will give him more opportunities to learn to deal with pressure. “As I participate more, I’ll get used to the players and the courts. I’ll try to learn from my experiences. I think that will help me to be released from the pressure that I am under,” he says. “I want to try to participate more because more matches means I’ll get more experience. Every single match will help me learn about how I can manage my thoughts and style of play. I need this experience to get over the mental issues that I have and specifically the pressure (I’m dealing with),” he says.

Having enjoyed a burst of fame in Thailand, Vitidsarn says he needs to get back to being a regular player if he’s to find the form that saw him enter the history books in the first place. “After the world title. I was very famous for a time in Thailand because I was the first Thai men’s singles player to win the world title. But now I’m getting back to being just a badminton player. I’m just a normal guy. I have to try and come back to that. I have to come back to my performance,” he says.