Joshna Chinappa savours title after gruelling comeback

The Japan Open title was a boost for the 39-year-old after the knee surgery she underwent after her bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games

Mumbai: It had been a decade since Joshna Chinappa last won a tour title. But when that wait ended, on Monday at the $15,000 Challenger event in Yokohama, Japan, the 39-year-old took some time to remember a long-forgotten feeling.

Indian squash player Joshna Chinappa won her first tour title in over a decade at the Japan Open this week. (HT PHOTO)

“It took me a few seconds to realise that I’m done with this tournament,” Chinappa said to HT. “There’s no more getting ready for play the next day, no need to think about what you’re eating for dinner, warming up… You’re so focused that the minute the match is over, you’re thinking about the next one. I’m just so relieved that I was done with it. I was out of the zone and didn’t need to be there for some time.”

For the most part of the Japan Open, she was making all the right moves.

“Everything just fell into place for me,” she said. “You’ll get one or two really good opportunities in a year where things flow, you play well, you feel calm, you are relaxed. This was one of those tournaments.”

It was a required boost, especially after the knee surgery she underwent shortly after winning bronze in the team event at the delayed Asian Games in 2023.

“I had no cartilage left in the knee,” explained the 19-time national singles champion. “(The surgery) came at a time when I felt I still had a couple of good years left, but it took me back by at least a year. The surgery was more for a better quality of life, because I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t walk, or drive.

“But the surgeon said I would be able to play again. And I thought, why not push it and see where it goes.”

The priority, she asserted, was always to keep her health first — “Squash was really a second or third afterthought.”

She had to learn how to walk once again, but it didn’t take her long to find her rhythm on the court. She continued to train at the Indian Squash Academy, which is maintained by the national federation, in Chennai. And just five months after the surgery, she won the mixed doubles national title with Abhay Singh in May 2024.

“That’s when I was like, ‘okay, I can still do this for at least a couple of years.’”

From being ranked beyond the top 400, Chinappa has now gone up to No.87 in the world.

The journey back has not been easy though. Chinappa, a player known for her high levels of fitness in a sport that is getting increasingly physical, had to make adjustments to her pre and post-match routines. The mentality on court too had changed.

“I was always intense with my warm up and cool downs. But now when I go on to play, it takes a lot out of me,” Chinappa said. “I have to start warming up at least an hour before the match. And I have to be focused from the first point. I don’t have the luxury of taking a little time to get into the game. And then the recovery after matches matters even more now.”

What Chinappa can control though is her schedule. She is taking longer breaks between tournaments, allowing her body time to recover without putting it through too much stress.

The schedule goes week by week for her, but she does have one particular target set: the Asian Games next year.