Garret Tan’s ‘Lady Luck’ Takes Him Past Lakshya Sen, But Vitidsarn Ends His Fairytale Run At BWF Worlds

For 73 minutes, Garret Tan out-hit, out-thought and out-lasted a former World Championships medallist in front of a stadium willing him to lose. That alone would have made for a good story.

But it was not just the American's cross-court smashes that had people talking after he stunned India's 14th-seeded Lakshya Sen. It was who was sitting behind him.

Two women occupied the coaches' chairs for Tan's entire upset, an unusual sight in a sport where a male player with an all-female coaching team is rare. If the stereotypes were to be believed, the neon pink headband Tan wore through the match gave little away (apologies for gendering colours).

Behind him sat his childhood coach, Cao Hok Paula Lynn Obanana, and his teammate Lauren Lam, with his mother watching on from the stands. By the time the American had silenced a packed home crowd, that detail had become a story of its own, one his coach was happy to speak on.

Lady Luck

Asked directly whether it was not just Tan's badminton but a touch of "Lady Luck" that had carried him through, Paula Lynn did not hesitate.

"Yes," she said. "Every guy, I think, needs motherly coaching and a support, a big sister support. His mom was also there, so it was that. He's obviously tough as a player, as a boy or a man, but he needs those, the lady talk."

It was said lightly, but there was substance behind it. Paula Lynn has coached Tan since he was a child, and Lam, whom she calls his "big sister", has trained alongside him for years. Between them, they had spent the match feeding him tactical instructions and talking him down whenever the score tightened.

"It's really impressive that he can maintain that focus and handle that pressure," Lam said. "He's like my little brother, and that's why we were sitting behind him. I mean, it's the World Champs, it's the biggest tournament. So hopefully he can do bigger and better things, and I'm sure he can."

The Flight He Booked Too Early - Or Was It?

Weeks before he ever stepped onto the court against Sen, Tan had already made a quiet prediction about his own tournament.

Booking his flights to India, he picked a return date of Friday, the very day the quarterfinals are scheduled, a choice shaped as much by the cheapest fare as by expectation. That plan is now in doubt.

"I was supposed to leave on Friday, but I guess" Tan said, smiling, after the win.

He added that he still has to work out exactly when he is headed home, though for the first time, that decision is entirely in his hands.

Reading The Match

Paula Lynn felt the opening game could have gone either way. Tan led 16-14 and was level at 18-18 before Sen closed it out.

"It just came down to luck. He got unfortunate," she said.

"But I think what switched the momentum was the way he started in the second set. He was off to a pretty good start, so his confidence kept building up from there. There were a few moments where the scores got tight, but I'm really proud of him that he was able to keep his focus and composure. It led him to the win at the end."

Tan is tall and capable of considerable pace off his jump smash, but his coach was careful to note the win was not built on power alone.

"His specialty is he's a power-controlled and power player. If you can see, when he's tall, he can jump really high, very powerful," she said

She credited Sen with reading that threat well and countering with angles rather than matching him smash for smash. Tan's team had also worked out where Sen liked to dominate.

"We noticed Lakshya is very good at putting a lot of pressure on Garrett in front. That's why we wanted to keep him away from the front," Paula Lynn explained, adding that Tan slowed the pace through the middle of the match to deny Sen that opening.

There was a scare late in the decider, when Tan dove for a shot, struck his head and felt dizzy, an echo of a similar incident weeks earlier.

"I told him to just reset," Paula Lynn said.

"The points were getting tight, it was getting to crucial moments, and as an athlete, when you're going through that, you can only take in so much. So I told him to just keep his composure, keep focused, and just focus on the current point that's happening."

Tan himself explained the adjustment that ultimately sealed the match.

"In the third set I kept on hitting one side and he kept on preparing, and in the last couple of points I just changed direction and I guess it worked," he said.

Sen was not looking for excuses afterwards.

"He was just a better player for the most part. I would give a lot of credit to him. I had given everything I had but I spent most of the match playing catch up. He played a very solid game. I gave it my all, but it was just not enough to win this match," he admitted.

Vitidsarn Ends Tan’s Dream Run

Tan’s fairytale run at the BWF World Championships came to an end in the pre-quarterfinals against Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who beat the teenager 21-10, 21-10, but the American walked away from the defeat with more than just the experience of facing one of the world’s best.

After the match, Tan, who idolises the world No. 2, spent several minutes speaking with Vitidsarn, who offered him advice on his game and areas he could improve.

“I Idolise him, so I wanted to talk to him about my game. He was giving me a lot of advice on what I need to improve. He told me to work on my stamina and endurance,” Tan said.