“Chirag Shetty is like Rafael Nadal, Virat Kohli or Sourav Ganguly”- Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on his ‘fire & ice’ relationship with his doubles partner
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy has stated that his calm personality matches well with Chirag Shetty's fiery nature.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag have had a very productive 2023 campaign so far, barring the recent hiccups at the World Championships and the China Open. Their title-winning performances at the Swiss Open, Asian Championships, Indonesia Open, and Korea Open saw them attain a career-high ranking of World No. 2.
While the pair have built a good understanding of each other's game, they have polar opposite personalities. Satwiksairaj rarely looks flustered on the court, something he said he has picked up from his mentor Pullela Gopichand and also by watching sporting legends like Roger Federer and MS Dhoni.
“My cool nature comes from my mentor, who is Gopi sir. He is always cool. I look up to Roger Federer, he is cool all the time. I look up to Dhoni, he is cool always. Whatever legends I see, they are very cool on the field. So I always stay cool on the court,” he explained in a press interaction on the sidelines of an event.
The 23-year-old is happy to let Chirag be the aggressive half of their partnership, as he believes their contrasting natures work in their favor.
“Chirag is like Rafael Nadal, he is my opposite. He is always fiery. He is like Virat Kohli or Sourav Ganguly. He is quite the opposite, fire and ice. It gels us together very well. I always love to be on the calm side, which makes much more sense for me,” he said.
Satwiksairaj further said that he could never emulate Chirag's combative nature even if he wanted to.
“I always want to try that fiery side but it never comes out, it won’t come generally either. I want to shout, I want to show I am very scary but it won’t come naturally. For me, I am automatically a calm and cool person,” he said.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy: “Initially it was very difficult for me to talk to Chirag Shetty or tell him anything”
While Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty might look like two peas in a pod now, they were not always in tune with each other. Satwiksairaj recalled his struggles to communicate with Chirag in the initial days of their partnership owing to a language barrier.
“Initially it was very difficult for me to talk to him or tell him anything regarding the game. My ex-partner was a Telugu guy so it was much easier for me to tell him what I was doing on the court in a split second. To tell Chirag, I used to think for like three seconds. What do I tell him in Hindi? Am I using the right words? I used to think for a few seconds before telling him anything,” he said.
“Then slowly my communication became much much better. We got very comfortable. Now in a split second, I will say, ‘Shetty bhai do this, Shetty bhai I am doing this’. Whatever is there, we speak to each other, we don’t speak behind the other person. Whatever the problem is, we sit with our coach and clear it off,” he added.
The 23-year-old emphasized that having a clear line of communication is one of the big reasons for their success over the years.
“If we are having a bad day or not playing well, we figure it out and I think that [communication] is the main role for us to where we are today,” he said.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy was speaking at an event where the trophy for the PNB-Metlife Junior Badminton Championship was unveiled.