It has been nearly five years since she was last seen on the HSBC BWF World Tour in a discipline that was her forte. Misaki Matsutomo, whose partnership with Ayaka Takahashi paved the way for Japan’s rise in women’s doubles, offered fans a glimpse once again of her prowess in women’s doubles in two events this year.

Having confined herself to mixed doubles – apart from a couple of team events – after the retirement of Takahashi in 2020, Matsutomo has been curiously absent in the discipline in which she helped break many barriers. In her two events this year, both in women’s doubles, she showed she’s far from done.

Partnering Chiharu Shida, Matsutomo made the quarterfinals of the PETRONAS Malaysia Open, and followed up with a second round at the YONEX-SUNRISE India Open. And while the results did offer promise, Matsutomo was reluctant to commit herself to women’s doubles for the season, opting for a flexible approach. Just as interestingly, she was in the coach’s chair for her club teammates, and had the satisfaction of shepherding fresh pair Arisa Igarashi/Ayako Sakuramoto to the India Open title.

Is she now graduating to a coach’s role?

“I’m more of a teammate, a senior rather than a coach as we are part of the same club team and we practice together,” said Matsutomo. “I’m not yet thinking of it as a long term option. I’ve had all kinds of experiences, and I’m always open to try new challenges.

“I will continue to play if I get a chance to. I’ll do everything that is required of me. I want to find out what’s fun and interesting about each and every aspect of what I’ll be doing. I don’t plan to play mixed doubles but I will if I have to.”

Following Takahashi’s retirement, Matsutomo never established her space in mixed. With Yuki Kaneko the results were always modest, particularly in the upper tier of the World Tour, and it was something of a comedown for a player who was top of the world in women’s doubles. Did she feel lonely when Takahashi retired?

“Well, that was a long time ago,” says Matsutomo, “but yes, I did feel lonely as we were together for such a long time, I felt it more than anyone else. There’s a lot that I couldn’t have experienced without her, so I have nothing but gratitude for her.”

The most groundbreaking feature of their partnership was their defiance of the hitherto indomitable Chinese – their Olympic gold, for instance, broke a sequence of five straight gold medals for China; at the All England, a seven-gold sequence; at the  Badminton Asia Championships, a 10-gold sequence. Their example was taken up by upcoming pairs, with their younger compatriots winning back to back World Championships titles in 2018 and 2019, both in all-Japanese finals.

“Even when I was with Ayaka, China was by far the strongest country in badminton. So we always tried to snatch the title away from China, and that’s what young shuttlers in our team are after these days,” Matsutomo recalls.

“Talking about China, they are pretty tight in their practice and discipline. Even if Japan did become strong, for me, China have always remained the strongest.”

Matsutomo says she’s undecided about her immediate future. But she still retains that bright giggly smile that was often seen in the tensest of matches.

“Despite all the pressure, and the pain, I try to believe that this (attitude) will only help me grow,” she says. “I try to use up all that pressure and harness it for my game.”