JOIN USRecovering from an ankle injury, star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal said she will look to get fully fit during the three weeks break after the India Open next month.
"I am playing a match after three weeks, there was this ankle inflammation. In the morning when I was practicing there was some pain. Ankle injury is tough because the lunges depend on the ankles," Saina said.
"I will get more time, two-three weeks after India open. After the World Championship there was not enough time when I joined Gopi (Pullela Gopichand) sir, there were too many tournaments and after that I had this injury. It is still not upto the mark. There is a lot of speed still required, I need to be in best shape to play against the best," she told reporters after pulling off a comeback win over Michelle Li in the PBL Saturday night.
"I got injured September end or during the start of October. It is an overuse injury, I was close to qualifying for Dubai Supers Series.
"It was not that I couldn't play. But there comes a time when the muscle stops taking the load and it goes to the joint and I was feeling the pain. I felt a lot of pain in November end."
Saina felt the new BWF calendar will end the domination of one player and there will be more new champions in this crammed schedule.
"You will not have one player dominating in this new schedule. It will be like every tournament a new player will win. There won't be one champion like we saw in the past," Saina said.
While Saina and Carolina Marin have hit out at the 2018 BWF calendar, Sindhu chose not to dwell too much on the issue.
Speaking on the matter, Saina said: "Everyone has their opinion. I don't know how to pick and choose. There is no time to do that, you can't skip six-seven tournaments. You have to play 12, plus so many other events. There is not much time.
"I am thinking long term. I have nothing against BWF but to make it popular and better, it should be eight-nine tournaments with more money instead of 17-18 tournaments."
Asked about the new service rule, Saina said: "I don't know how much difference it will have on my game. I still need to see. For forehand serve it is fine, while backhand, I don't do much for that. But All England is not the right tournament to put it to test."
Reflecting on the PBL match against Michelle, Saina said: "She is a sharp player, all her shots were going to lines and it was difficult for me to take those lunges."