For nearly two seasons, Treesa Jolly & Gayatri Gopichand have carried the weight of being India’s most promising women’s doubles pair, and 2025 has encapsulated the full spectrum of what that responsibility looks like.
The year began with promise, rose to a career peak, abruptly collapsed under physical strain, and now arrives at a pivotal chapter in Sydney, where the pair attempt a careful but significant return at the Australian Open Super 500. What happens this week may well determine the trajectory of their 2026 season and perhaps their long-term standing in world badminton.
The first quarter of 2025 was the strongest phase of their partnership to date. With deep runs at major tournaments, including the All England Open and the Swiss Open, Treesa and Gayatri found themselves stepping firmly into the global elite. Their quarterfinal appearance at the All England demonstrated maturity against top-tier opposition, especially in their marathon victory in the Round of 16 against Korea’s Kim Hye Jeong and Kong Hee Yong. That win 1 hour and 27 minutes of sustained tactical discipline showed the Indian pair’s ability to scrap, adapt, and control a match at the highest levels of the sport.
Their semi-final at the Swiss Open reaffirmed that they were not merely rising but arriving. In fact, their ranking peak of World No. 9 on January 14 felt like the natural outcome of months of consistent improvement. Yet, there was an unavoidable asterisk to these top-tier results: all their meaningful campaigns met the same roadblock.
The Chinese pair of Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning World No. 1 and Olympic silver medallists exposed a gap that the Indians have not yet been able to bridge. Six losses in six meetings, including a three-game battle in Basel followed by a straight-game defeat in Birmingham, revealed a structural problem: Treesa and Gayatri can compete, but they cannot sustain the explosive, high-intensity rhythm demanded at the absolute peak of women’s doubles.
That inability to sustain intensity, as the year unfolded, was revealed to be rooted in a deeper physical issue. The heavy tournament load during the first quarter of the season began to take a toll. Both players entered 2025 already carrying the workload of 22 tournaments in 2024, and the repeated 60–90 minute matches at Super 500 and Super 1000 events pushed their bodies past the breaking point.
Treesa’s shoulder and Gayatri’s back eventually forced them into a mid-season layoff, the kind that elite players try desperately to avoid. But this was not a momentary setback; it was a forced halt caused not by an accidental injury but by systemic overload.
By May, when they attempted a premature comeback at the Thailand Open, the signs were clear. They moved slower, reacted slower, and lacked the aggressive court coverage that is foundational to their game. Their straight-game loss in Bangkok to Hirokami and Hobara was more revealing than the result itself: they were present, but their bodies were not ready. A few weeks later, their Round of 16 exit at the Indonesia Open showed flashes of resilience, but not enough to mask the deeper issue of fading match stamina.
Read Articles Without Ads On Your IndiaSportsHub App. Download Now And Stay Updated
The final signal came at the Macau Open, where they lost in the opening round despite taking the first game comfortably. Their energy simply could not sustain the demands of three-game pressure.
After that R32 loss in July, their partnership disappeared from women’s doubles for four months.
Treesa, to her credit, found a way to remain active through mixed doubles, winning the Türkiye International Challenge in dominant fashion. But the women’s doubles revival depended not on her alone. Gayatri’s back recovery required a measured, slow rehabilitation process, and only now at the Australian Open S500 has the pair finally reunited.
Their return in Sydney is not just another tournament. It is a fitness test, a rhythm test, a psychological test, and an opportunity to re-establish their identity as a pairing. The long break means their synergy will be under scrutiny in every rally. Rotations, mid-court interceptions, defensive transitions these are the first things to erode after months away from match play. The draw at the Australian Open offers a balanced stage: strong enough to test their resilience, but not as punishing as a Super 750 or 1000 event.
For Treesa and Gayatri, this week is about proving that their bodies can hold up, that the partnership still has its instinctive harmony, and that the upward climb that took them to World No. 9 earlier this year was not a temporary spark but the foundation for sustained excellence. A deep run would confirm that the rehabilitation was successful and that they can chase high-ranking points again in 2026. An early exit would signal that the rebuilding process remains unfinished.
Either way, the Australian Open marks the true beginning of their next chapter a chapter defined not by the setbacks of 2025, but by how they respond to them.
