Velavan attributes success to hard work on his physical and mental fitness

Staying nerveless in crunch moments has enabled Velavan Senthilkumar, right, to register come-from-behind victories.
| Photo Credit: R. Ragu

Velavan Senthilkumar (25) has been having his best year as a full-time professional squash player.

Velavan, who completed his graduation from Columbia University last year and began this year outside the top 200 in the PSA World rankings, is now ranked 66, courtesy of four PSA titles.

One striking aspect of his game this year is that he’s been nerveless in crunch moments and that’s enabled him to register come-from-behind victories.

“I would say I worked really hard on my physical and mental fitness. I’m better at it now, compared to before, and I’m able to keep pushing through for a longer period of time,” said Velavan on Tuesday.

Asked if he could say anything specific he did as regards mental fitness, Velavan revealed: “I think, a lot of meditation; just, like, different techniques of meditation.

“It was like an everyday thing — in the morning and the evening. Probably, like, 10 to 15 minutes. A bit of visualisation as well. I kind of visualise myself on the court and how I play. It’s just some visualisation techniques.

Asked if he envisages how he would take on a particular opponent on matchdays, he said: “Obviously. Like, how I would see myself playing the match. Like, I would see myself playing the match from inside the court, and from outside the court from the spectators’ point of view.”

Velavan graduated in Psychology. Asked if that helps in any way, he said: “I would just say that it was easier for me to understand more about how my mind was in certain situations. I just felt like I could know. I was aware of it easier than usual. If I didn’t do psychology, I might have taken more time to be aware of it.”

On handling nervy crunch situations, Velavan remarked: “I would say that’s something I’ve been working on — to be more present, and just focus on every single point rather than the outcome. I think that’s kind of helped me to play each and every point the same way irrespective of what the score is.”