Whether it’s an exaggerated sense of modesty, or just his way of deflecting the pressure, Kunlavut Vitidsarn casts himself in the role of a learner than an achiever. Arriving at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2023 as the reigning world champion, Vitidsarn refuses to consider himself one of the favourites for the season finale.

“This year my performance hasn’t been uniformly good. Sometimes it’s really good and sometimes it’s really low. I need to see how to control my performance in every tournament. I need to work harder than before,” said Vitidsarn, who qualified to the season finale on his status as world champion.

At his one previous appearance at the World Tour Finals in 2021, he was runner-up to Viktor Axelsen.

“I’m still young and I need to learn from the top players who can control their performance in every tournament. I’m not yet a top player. I need to find out how to play well in every tournament,” said the Thai.

To some extent, the world No.6 was being unduly harsh on himself, for after his history-making feat in Copenhagen – he became the first men’s singles world champion from Thailand – he suffered a back injury and then had a prolonged bout of fever, which affected his European season. His post-World Championships lack of form means that, despite being world champion, Vitidsarn has cast himself away from the spotlight in Hangzhou.

Vitidsarn was reluctant to say if he was physically close to his best.

“My condition is better than before. I’m not yet 100 per cent. I had two-three weeks of practice before I came here. I need to learn because I haven’t played well in a long time; this tournament is very big and everyone wants to win here. If I don’t play well I just have to go back and train more.”

Having achieved a lot in quick time – for he’s still only 22 – what aspects did he seek to work on?

“Mentally I need to improve, because sometimes it’s not good. And now, we’re close to the Olympic Games, so I need to try everything because everyone wants to win the Olympics. There is so much pressure at the Olympics. If you keep performing well, you can play the way you want.”