Nimrod Mon Brokman doesn’t consider in simple. The Israeli sports activities psychologist, who works with athletes at his Behavioral Foresight facility, has been accompanying Lakshya Sen on the All England — and his strategies are something however typical. The newest: biking at a coronary heart fee of 160-170 below hypoxic situations, the place arterial oxygen saturation drops beneath 90 %.
“I take advantage of totally different, unconventional applied sciences and strategies. This was about cognitive overload — forcing him to cope with two challenges without delay,” says the Bangalore-based Mon. “Most athletes gained’t prefer it. Lakshya says, ‘Convey it on.’ Even on match-days.”
That angle, Mon says, is uncommon. Working with Sen since mid-2025, he sees within the Indian shuttler a top quality he has in any other case encountered solely in elite navy models. “I see little or no concern in him relating to exhausting stuff. He laughs within the face of those challenges — that type of temperament, I’ve seen it solely in Particular Forces or 9 Para.” It’s why, Mon believes, Sen is within the All England semifinals.
The work between them started not with drills or methods, however with dismantling a narrative. Mon felt Sen had absorbed a harmful false impression: that his fourth-place end on the Paris Olympics was a failure.
“It was truly a rare end result. He certified with simply two tournaments left, whereas managing damage, and nonetheless had a superb run on the highest degree of competitors — one thing India ought to have extremely appreciated,” Mon says. “Our early work was about clearing his thoughts of that incorrect notion, and reminding him of how good he actually was.”
India’s Lakshya Sen celebrates after profitable the lads’s singles semifinal match towards Canada’s Victor Lai on the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photograph/Kin Cheung)
Sen, by Mon’s account, wasn’t drowning in self-criticism — however the noise round him was. “His strategy is to look ahead and never be caught previously. Our technique was to cope with nothing from the Olympics, as a result of there was nothing to cope with.”
Returning to Paris for the 2025 World Championships introduced its personal issues.
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Mon travelled alongside. Sen drew Shi Yuqi within the first spherical — the identical opponent he would later face on the All England — and misplaced. However Mon noticed one thing else within the defeat. “You may not see it on the scoreboard, however that match was a turning level. It informed me he had put every little thing behind him.”
Accidents are a recurring subplot in Sen’s profession. His again has a wretched historical past, and his retrieving fashion of play — grinding, relentless, constructed for lengthy rallies — means he strains it extra typically than most. Mon is measured about this. “All athletes get injured. After the primary few instances, the mature ones settle into it — they perceive loading and de-loading, the significance of restoration. Lakshya is sensible at that. Inspiring, even.”
What Mon appears to prize most in Sen, although, is the absence of noise. “He doesn’t evaluate himself with others. He is aware of what to put aside and clear his path.”
The attitude-goal Mon and his group are sharpening in Sen is, he says, a mix of Muhammad Ali and Rafael Nadal — bravado fused with endurance. “With Lakshya’s game-style, you should be prepared to get hit, to lose factors, to have stretches the place nothing is working, and nonetheless belief your recreation utterly. In opposition to Li Shifeng, he took blows — however he stayed affected person and located his manner.”
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The flip Sen has made this week is in how he handles momentum. An outdated behavior — constructing a chunky lead, unravelling it, then getting misplaced within the wreckage of the way it occurred — has been quietly changed by one thing steadier. “We’re engaged on minimising the impact of misplaced leads as an alternative of reacting in panic mode,” Mon explains. On the All England, it has proven.
Mon will admit, with some amusement, that the training has gone each methods.
The primary time he travelled with Sen, he arrived at his room primed for an intense session — solely to seek out the TV on, an American slapstick comedian taking part in within the background. “I wasn’t so certain about it,” Mon laughs. “However we went by that session with jokes and laughter, and I realised: it’s important to enable the mind to be open, even in heavy classes. In the identical dialog, we’d focus on the significance of a transfer in his recreation and one thing utterly trivial.”
Sen, it seems, taught the thoughts coach one thing concerning the thoughts. Find out how to change off. Find out how to come again lighter. That, as a lot as hypoxia drills and cognitive overload, is likely to be the true secret.