Soon after Viktor Axelsen sparred with Ayush Shetty in Dubai last year, he sent a note to the 19-year-old’s coach Vimal Kumar. “He texted saying, ‘Ayush is very similar to me’ and that he has a really good hit,” Vimal recalls. It was the 6 feet 4 inches looming frame on the court that Axelsen saw a mirror image of from across the net. Work in progress, but looming large as a threat to many players in coming years.
On Friday in Orleans, another Dane Rasmus Gemke, no less pugnacious – age 28 and rank 31 – felt the sting of the downward hits and the surprise of some busy net play. Ayush, ranked No 48 beat Gemke 21-16, 21-23, 21-17 to make the Orleans Masters Super 300 semifinals at Palais des Sports. Ayush had wasted two match points in the second set, but Vimal said he was impressed with the youngster’s temperament and showing spunk even while visibly tiring in the third.
“He should’ve won in 2. But he recovered well to score a big win – beating Gemke who is a very sticky player in Europe is good. This establishes him as the name to look out for. With his height advantage, he will be a very big threat to all players. Top 30 by year-end, and he should be in big Super Series soon,” Vimal noted.
Gemke is a former World No 10, not prone to ceding easy points. But Ayush has been on a roll. He started in the French ancient city with an eye-popping win over former World champion Loh Kean Yew. But it was in beating the upcoming Hong Kong China shuttler, Jason Gunawan, that Ayush acquired a spring in his step.
The tall Mangalorean is a former World Junior bronze medallist but has watched his batchmates Alex Lanier and Alwi Farhan strike big on the seniors circuit. Gunawan was a bit of a banana peel for him – losing to him repeatedly, including at the German Open. Ayush, with a bit of temper, had called the coach and said he would return home after the loss and not hang around for the Swiss Open in a fortnight. Vimal Kumar had cajoled him into not frittering away weeks of training for a whimmy fit, ordering him to get at least 10 matches across 3 tournaments in Europe. Beating Gunawan in Orleans finally, fired him up to go deeper.
Vimal recalls Axelsen losing the German Open final to Arvind Bhat in 2014 – and the struggling lanky, slumped figure picking himself up. He would narrate this to Ayush egging him to fight it out.
A large part of the Axelsen growth curve was his adding strength to the tall frame. “With that height advantage, Ayush needs core strength. He had dangling feet when tiring. But the sharp downward smash needs strength,” the coach adds.
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As such, Ayush kept catching Gemke on his shaky forehand defense, with a straight smash that whipped through pretty slow conditions. It’s the big man’s net game though that’s the surprise package, though the stock big smash will fetch most points. His net game was honed at Bangalore’s I Sports Academy by the canny coach Krishna Kumar, before he moved to Prakash Padukone academy. “A lot of credit to them because the net is strong,” Vimal says.
His proclivity to rush the net needs reining in a tad, because Gemke figured out the predictability of that attacking line – tapping it away. But Ayush has a very neat net tumble, and with the same action, has been flicking it back, where the Dane properly struggled. “He needs more variations at the net because playing straight, forehand down the net is his go-to. Ideally if he ups his pace, he needn’t run to the net always,” Vimal says. Ideally hitting to the back on good length is prescribed, but Ayush’s net rushes need some unlearning, so opponents don’t anticipate.
Against Gunawan he had played it tactically, and held strong from mid-court against Gemke. Also his smash is a no-nuance hard hit. “He has a good half smash and can clip it half the times like Viktor does. If he can mix deception with hard smashes, he’ll get better,” the coach added. One such clip went into the net in the decider, and Ayush reverted to what worked – bang it into the floor. His defense owing to his height is tricky – the flat, parallel, pushes and exchanges into his body, can be a struggle. But his reach largely is an asset in defense, just like Axelsen who has an economy of movement while covering the court.
Next week, while Lakshya Sen battles at All England, Ayush and Kiran George will train in Paris with French players. Vimal believes in opening up the game to potential rivals in the future. “Till 22-23 you can’t be scared of being dissected,” he says. “You train with all available, learn from Axelsen.” He also indulges the anger-streak. “You can’t police players’ feelings. I’m OK he gets angry sometimes. It’s good for his game. We’ve hung a boxing bag in Bangalore for him to go punch if he feels like letting off steam. But if you get to play in Europe, try playing as many matches as possible,” he says. Ayush plays World No 14 Lin Chun Yi in the semis on Saturday.