Pullela Gopichand: The match is like a thriller; the real movie is actually the preparation

Pullela Gopichand's biography, 'Shuttler's Flick: Making Every Match Count', was incidentally launched on his 48th birthday, on November 16, 2021. (Photos via Simon & Schuster India)

Pullela Gopichand is on the phone. It's 8.30am, and I can hear birds chirping over our call. He's in-between training sessions at his badminton academy in Hyderabad. We are talking about his biography, Shuttler's Flick: Making Every Match Count, co-written with Priya Kumar. I have a bunch of standard questions like why now and who for, and a bunch of non-standard ones. He takes them all with refreshing honesty and lightness. Edited excerpts:

Did you have a reader in mind while writing the book?

I'll be honest, I didn't really think so much about it. A friend...said people should hear about your story, and that's how it started.

I think parents, coaches, players definitely (are) people who would...learn from what I have gone through in my life.

More and more, I see... things being said (and written) about my victories, or my players' victories... But really, there's a lot of failure which is also there. And the lessons around failure are common in many walks of life. Our definition of success also needs to be redefined in some sense. So, for me...I think the book could be used for any of this.

You write in the book that some of the lessons you've learnt as an elite athlete can be applied to other career paths as well. Could you give one or two parallels, say, with the life of a startup founder?

As an athlete, you are exposed to tests or you're exposed to matches, which can lead to failure very, very often. Almost on a daily basis. Whether you win or lose, you have to pick up your lessons from there and try again. I'd like to be successful all the time. But the reality is, there's a lot more failure which happens. So, it's almost like going from failure to failure with enthusiasm (to eventually be successful). For a startup, also, it's something like that. In the sense that it's not necessary for you to be super successful at your first goal, but you have to keep on pushing and be prepared to risk everything.

The second thing is, you have to have a playful attitude about it. Because if you're playing a big match, and you have to hit the line, if you think too much about it, you will never be able to play the strokes, because there's too much weight on your head to make the right decision. I think there's a certain amount of gut feel, there's some amount of risk which you need to be okay to take. I think that's the same thing with startups - when you have an idea, you put in everything. And I think that's important.

Third thing, is the ability to take risks. When elite athletes play the big matches and the big points, they're actually going for the line, to hit it. And they trust themselves. They're not really thinking, 'what will happen if I fail?' If failure happens, you can figure it (the reason, and how to fix it) out later. But I think the ability to give it all you have and be able to take that risk is important. In a startup, to just go and put all you have in the idea is important.

One of the things you share in the book - and which would have resonance in areas other than sports - is how to make a comeback, and not let defeat be permanent. How do you help your players visualise this?

The sport has various segments; when you're young, it's about having good hand-eye coordination. Then your ability to score a point against the opponent's court. Then at later stage, it's about your strength and power -  endurance. And then it's about emotional quotient, your mental strength... Then at some point, others will realise (what) your strengths (are) and start playing to your weaknesses. And your strengths, which got you this far, will have become your weaknesses. You almost have to go back to your drawing board, work much deeper into your foundations...

For me, I think that ability to introspect, that ability to actually change the things which got you here... (but have now) the reason for your defeat... is very, very important. Say, you have an attacking game, and you've got to this level doing that. If you started to lose because people have read your attack, now you have to go back and strengthen your defence so much that your defence starts to become a little bit stronger. And then you can go back and attack a little later. That's how I put it.

Normally people don't like to lose in a match, but really how many of them are prepared to take the time to ensure that they don't lose this practice. Eventually, the match is like a small thriller of the real movie; the movie is actually the preparation, and you actually have to prepare well, and the result is (visible in) the match. And eventually all that the match is about is the preparation. And for people to be successful, it's super important to ensure that there is progression.

When Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles spoke up about the mental health of elite athletes, did that shake the system up a bit? Is the attention to mental health significantly better now than when you were playing?

Definitely. Not only (from the time) when I was playing, but even in my coaching career. Also, it's been vastly different because maybe opportunity was limited (then). Maybe your life depended on being successful 100% all the time. But yes, it's different from from when I was playing to now.

(Having said that) I think there's too much (emphasis) on winning, too many expectations, too much pressure. And things don't really add up. I think these (Osaka and Biles) are the big examples you've seen, but actually it affects a lot of people on the ground.

The book came out a few months after the Tokyo Olympics - was that part of the plan or did things just happen that way?

Possibly because of the pandemic things got a bit delayed. And also, I was a bit busy for the end part (of the Tokyo Olympics). So I said we'll do it when that's over and done with. I didn't want this (book launch) to be just before the Olympics (2021), or just after the Olympics. Although I wasn't directly involved with the players this time around. But still... I don't think the focus should have been on anything but the Olympics, even for me.

This interview was originally conducted on November 22, 2021.