Walton-on-Thames shuttler Toby Penty is glad to be enjoying badminton again after a second-round victory at the Scottish Open Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old explained that he now feels more at ease on court and it certainly showed as he came back from a game down to beat Dinuka Karunaratna.
Penty, who is seeded 13th, now advances to the last 16 after the 19-21 21-9 21-17 win and admits it was a tough mental battle.
“It was tense, I probably could have won the first,” he said. “I just had a real blip in the middle of the first set and by the time I got back into it I made a key mistake at the end.
“I was really happy because I’ve mentally crumbled against him in the past and although there were some rocky parts I steadied the ship when I needed to.
“I’ve been working on the mental aspect of the game a lot. It’s these matches where I have previous with the opponents and I’ve had tight matches in the past that I should have won.
“A year ago I wouldn’t have won that match, so just to get through it is a big plus even if I don’t think I played perfectly.”
Penty had enjoyed much success in recent months, winning the Kharkiv International before reaching the final of the Hungarian International.
And he admits his new-found love of the game is helping him to achieve new heights on court.
“I don’t feel as much pressure as I used to, now I’m playing a lot freer at times and I feel that’s showing in my results,” he added.
“So I don’t have too many expectations, I’ll just keep trying to play at a high level.
“I’ve said to a few people in the last six months that I’ve got that extra bit of hunger going to tournaments.
“It’s not that I took it for granted in the past, but I now have that extra one percent of motivation.
“One percent at this level of sport can mean quite a lot, I feel like I’ve grown up a lot over the last year so it’s full steam ahead.”
The Scottish Open Grand Prix is being hosted at the Emirates Arena by BADMINTONscotland with support from Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate. Tickets are on sale at www.badmintonscotland.org.uk or at the Emirates Arena box office.
