Kidambi Srikanth is eager to put his injury woes behind as he seeks to regain his touch that made him the world number one shuttler last year.
In the past 11 BWF tours that Srikanth has participated in since the beginning of the year, the Hyderabadi has made the final just once -- at the Indian Open in March -- where he eventually went down to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. He had made it to the quarterfinals on five occasions, crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals three times, including the World Championships, and twice he couldn't get beyond the Round of 32.
"My form is something that's there in my mind," said Srikanth. "But it isn't the only thing I am looking at. It is about improving. Even if I win a tournament, I come back and train to improve. I always try and learn from the events."
Last year, Srikanth had hurt his knee at the Sudirman Cup, following which his performance took a severe beating. "That is when it started. So since then, I had... it's on and off. I also got a little scared whether I can push myself or not. It might take some time, but I am not really worried about the rankings and stuff. If I am able to play at my best for three-four months, I will be back in the top-eight for sure," he explained.
Srikanth's first priority is to sort out his injury. "Unfortunately, I have not been able to train at that highest level. The first priority is now to recover fully from the injury. It's a process. I have to be really patient. I have gone through many injuries and I am still having one. It's like this for every athlete and we need to learn to be patient and sort things out and come back stronger," the 26-year-old said.
Becoming world No 1 is a huge honour for any sportsperson and Srikanth is no different, but more than anything, he wants to be consistent. "Definitely it is not just about the World No.1 tag. It is about doing well consistently. I think I did decently in 2017 and that is why I got to the top in 2018. That was a special moment. It is not easy. In general, every athlete dreams about being No.1. It was a dream come true," he said.