A BTS (behind the scenes) reel will not show the physio’s inflatable bed procured from Finland for Rs 2 lacs, the progressive increase in squat strength, the vendors sourced at every venue for ice to fill the baths and the network of physios who show up at any port of call, if Lakshya Sen’s regular one can’t land a visa. What the world sees is clips of his eye-popping defense leading to titles.The joke amongst Sen’s team on down-days when results didn’t tally with the training effort he was putting in, had been about how the Indian could pull off “an Alcaraz” at will. The reference was to tennis phenom Carlos Alcaraz whose mind-bending reflex retrieves, creative counterpunching and intuitive read on tennis, made for great viewing – win or lose. This last week at Sydney’s Australian Open, Sen – who hasn’t had a dizzy rise akin to the Spaniard, but can dazzle on a different court with his defense – finally delivered a title.“Blocked the noise around, heard my inner voice,” he said thanking his team.The Super 500 is a low-key result at the fag end of the season, and Sen’s 21-15, 21-11 finals victory over Japanese Yushi Tanaka was rather anti-climatic as he sauntered to the podium in 38 minutes playing safe, composed, no-frills badminton, a day after a 85-minute thriller against Chou Tien Chen. But given Sen’s misses and mistakes and downturns since finishing 4th at Paris Olympics, even recording a par-performance, caps off a year when OGQ chief Viren Rasquinha says, “Lakshya took charge of his own career. He asked for what he needed.” Lakshya Sen celebrates winning the Sathio Australian Open 2025 (Badminton photo)Tanaka was error-prone and didn’t need an almighty effort to stub out. “It was important to keep the pressure on him after a good start. I’m happy I could be really calm in closing stages of the first game,” he told Olympic channel later, while also speaking of not allowing the lead to “get inside his head and let me relax.” That’s Sen-speak for taking foot off the pedal and blanking out, that he’s notorious for.One of the things Sen had asked for was a change in psychologist, and he connected with the professional his brother Chirag had been working with.Every downer of 2025 Sen faced has a silver lining attached to it. He lost in Round 1 to Shi Yuqi, but the psychologist who travelled to Paris to merely observe how he reacts to situations, began work immediately, to draw up mind-protocols.Story continues below this adAt the French Open earlier, he had gone down wretchedly to Nhat Nguyen, an Irish shuttler, with an embarrassing scoreline of 21-7. His team recounts how he wasn’t unduly concerned though social media was raining down cusses on him. Reason? His VO2 Max, squat strength and sleep quality parameters had come out satisfactory. The back which was cooked earlier in May at Singapore was not acting up, and they noticed a maturity in how he approached nutrition and recovery. “Self realisation about responsibility was coming about, even if results were not showing,” Rasquinha says.Also Read | Lakshya Sen wins Australian Open Super 500, first title of 2025Sen has a bad back. So bad that celebrated Heath Matthews had warned him years ago that high intensity in impact training will cost him badly and cause injuries. Forever dreading overtraining, Sen carefully goes bonkers in speed, agility customised training, while being on the edge perennially for strength upgrades. “He’s a marketable star with sponsor commitments and athletes have a short career window. But our fight is always to get him rest,” Rasquinha says. The friendly tiffs – Are Sunday shoots equal to rest days? Lakshya Sen in action during the Sathio Australian Open 2025 final. (Badminton Photo)At tournaments, recovery sessions are an event. Non-negotiable and elaborate.Sen travels with ‘Game-Ready’, a portable contraption plugged into electric sockets, with a dozen attachments to help in post-game recovery of hips, legs and shoulder. Father DK Sen lands at every tournament venue and sets off in search of ice vendors for ice baths.Story continues below this adOGQ recently procured a physio’s bed, an inflatable light weight soft table for around Rs 1.8 lacs, available only in Finland, for recovery. Earlier the team lugged 18-20 kg physio beds around the world. Miniscule reduction in excess baggage costs and an Australian Open title, are the happy results.Wearable tech data is Sen’s pastime now, and he ensured his S&C coach travelled to Red Bull athlete assessment facility so he could put suggestions to use on return. Sen’s social media has the ‘Lava’ challenge video where splotches of heat-maps laid out on court, taught him calibrated, imbalanced footwork. At a promotional shoot at a Dharavi-Sion H Block badminton court, Sen strapped on resistance bands and trying sending the shuttle through circular targets for precision.But the reset had come after a long lull. “Right after Paris, he stayed quiet, was very low and was reluctant to request us for anything. Even basic requirements,” a member if his team recalls. An old S&C trainer who had beennreassigned to wrestlers, returned to Sen’s team, and the mental trainer came on board five months back.Also Read | Why expectations from Lakshya Sen’s bold game style must be kept conservative, going aheadOne devil remained – social media. “Post. But don’t read or respond or debate,” was the advice doled out. Father DK Sen however did the upbeat Dad-thing to flip the whole narrative after Paris. “He told Lakshya that the medal might’ve slipped away, but all of India’s attention was on him. He said nobody was criticising him, they are all fervently egging him on to win, that people mean positive things. The sense of responsibility, owning his career kicked in soon after,” he says. He demanded quality sparring, an accompanying S&C. He began enjoying popularity on social media.Story continues below this adAt Australia, he celebrated all the noise he had successfully kept away. India was relieved to land a Super 500 title in a fallow year.