There is no doubt LXR can beat CM, but losing two big matches in a row to two different players is worrisome.
It's not that she played a terrible game against CM. Maybe she's not as physically fit as she should or can be but CM did play a very good game. CM was hitting deep, her shots were fast and she used the court well. In the end LXR succumbed to one too many unforced errors.
Caroline's attack clears were also extremely accurate. Those plus the never say die mental focus of CM put more psychological lpressure on LXR. It's a common thing across all players at any level of the game. If you have to play 5-10 great shots (or more) most of the time in order to get a point, that puts a lot of pressure on one's own self. Then the errors start to increase. (It is a tactic that Morten Frost used to great effect accounting for Morten's domination in 1983 to early 85).
LXR is the best in the world, but like LCW, she too was too worried of losing the WC final and ended up loosing - on the other hand CL and CM kept it real and accepted that theres 50/50 chance of loosing, relax, played their best and win. Pressure and expectation as the worlds no.1 is a real thing and it has to be experienced to understand.....both CL and CM are tall with brilliant footwork, fantastic defence and excellent temperament, we are lucky to have them and to enjoy their game for the present and future.
the advantages of being an underdog is overwhelming, especially if there are not much different in skills level
“It is disappointing to lose to a foreign player for two straight years. My opponent was very powerful today. I became tense towards the end. I should have persisted but I failed,” said Xuerui, who was also slightly troubled by an ankle pain. “This (the defeat) will not dampen my spirits. I will continue to do what I do best and come back a much stronger player.” Source:http://www.thestar.com.my/Sport/Badm...orld-champion/ So, LXR said the above. Sounds like bravado to me, hollow, empty talk. I'd rather she saved those words for next year's WC or,better still, let her racquet do the talking. In fact, her fiasco at Copenhagen wasn't the 2nd time she went into brain fade. The first occasion I remember clearly was her inexplicable collapse in her match with Saina at the INA Open 2012 before the London Olympics which ended her impressive winning streak. At the LOG'12 she was lucky to be the underdog as her seniors WYH and WX were expected to deliver the goods, hence LXR could play more freely and rose to the occasion. In hindsight, in view of LXR's weakness, which has now become the demon in her, it's not a good thing for her to taste Olympic glory at her first attempt so early on in her young career. It has done her more harm than good if she is to attain greatness. For as long as she fails to tame or evict the demon in her, it will remain a stumbling block in her WC and Olympic quests in future. Hopefully, she can outgrow this crippling problem of hers with maturity of age and, more importantly, cumulative experience as age alone does not equal maturity. Of late I've noticed a change coming over her in the way she conducted herself at interviews and the things she said to the press. For example, after her recent Uber Cup triumph, she was asked by a reporter to assess her performance and she replied, 'Beautiful, awesome.' On another occasion, she said she was prepared for battle and was aware of her opponents possibly playing above themselves due to no burden of expectations but she's confident of overcoming them.On yet another occasion she asserted that once she steps onto the court she just wants to beat the person opposite her. Then came those strongly worded statements against Saina the other day. Not that there is anything wrong with what she said, not at all, but I somehow felt it is uncharacteristic of her. It is as if she is consciously trying to project a commanding air, look imperious on court and create a tough image of herself. IMO, I'd prefer her to be true to herself and exude quiet supreme confidence , a sense of humility in greatness, a calm, cool, composed exterior reflecting proper pride and inner belief. After all, it's ultimately her prowess that actually wins her one tournament victory after another, not a contrived demeanour or intentionally crafted image that is not truly her. In trying to be what she is not, she'd only end up putting more stress on herself and that'd be counterproductive. For this WC, I thought it'd be once bitten,twice shy for LXR after the WC'13 debacle. Instead, it's twice bitten for her, how debilitating. A year is a long wait in badminton terms, too many things can happen that's beyond anybody's control. You know, in some CHN badminton circles and sports media there is even talk about LXR as the female version of Lin Dan but after her second setback at the WC, not a few are jokingly calling her the female LCW except that she doesn't have a Lin Dan to stop her but herself. LXR would do well to learn from her idol Lin Dan who she wishes to emulate and from her mentor Zhang Ning who LYB praised as one who could perform under pressure, and I'd add from Gao Ling who in a recent TV interview said she actually enjoyed playing in pressure-cooker must-win situations as it brought out the fighter in her. I suggest she approaches Lin Dan who might be willing to share his knowledge and wisdom with her the way he did with Wang Xin before. In terms of skills, I daresay LXR is qualified to be a female Lin Dan but not in mental strength, unfortunately. A word of advice and guidance from a legendary master is worth its weight in gold.
Well it took a bit of time for Lin Dan to be as impervious as he is now. Gao Ling is an excellent role model to follow - so cool under pressure. A very rare quality. Zhang Ning's early career was dogged by inconsistency and even disappeared from the international scene for a while. But truly, for singles, the one to go to must be Sun Jun. How to play badminton and be difficult to beat in almost every single match. Wear the opponent down physically and mentally. Be prepared to grind out the wins even if you in yourself are not in good condition that day. For a person to beat Sun Jun, the opponent must have been playing exceptionally well or Sun Jun to have some small injury.
What would you have liked her to say? I thought it sounded honest. She admitted to becoming nervous and that is something that not all athletes like to admit. Also, she did reach the final. That is not a fiasco. A 1st round loss is a fiasco. Some thoughts about her weird loss to Saina Nehwal at 2012 Indonesian open....This is just a theory of mine, but I think that loss was good for her to have before the Olympics. The longer a winning-streak gets, the more aware you become that it soon has got to come to an end. So I think having that one loss before the Olympics helped her take some pressure off.
Totally agreed. If LXR won against Saina in Indonesia 2012, LXR would become the undisputed bogey for the rest of the world. That would be unnecessary pressure on her part. Losing against Saina in a tournament which didn't count took the pressure off a bit.
It's not as if LXR played shockingly bad at the WC final. CM was better on the day. Not every player has the same physical and mental endurance. Some of these things take time to develop and some players never get them to any high level.
Congratulations to Li XR! With Denmark open title, now Li XR is the ONLY ONE in the world won all SSP titles!
I was too grief-stricken to cry, until now I haven't forgiven her. Unlike LCW who despite playing near or at his best and still lost to Lin Dan to give us epic battles of the highest order time after time, Li Xuerui simply crumbled to play her worst badminton of the year to hand the trophy twice in a row to players she'd normally have beaten even if she had been at 90% without dropping a set, I kid not. In other words, she wasn't so much as defeated by her opponents as defeated herself. Just compare her final match with the prior rounds where she literally overpowered her adversaries one after another in summary fashion - in both the finals she suddenly became a totally different player , altogether unrecognisable, committing full of uncharacteristic amateurish errors, the kind that only a nervous wreck could have made for a top-notch player. It proved that mentally she is unsteady, not strong, anxious, impatient, overeager, unthinking, wrought by self-created tension when it comes to the crunch in crucial matches on the big occasions. I'm afraid there is nobody or nothing who can help her except for her to grow up in maturity,continue to learn from life experiences and draw the right lessons from failures - only then can she overcome herself, grow from strength to strength and have success breeds further success. After paying the price,however heavy, she should ultimately reap her just rewards, all in good time.
Apart from what her words plainly mean, it can also be interpreted as she want to win the French crown by way of celebration.
that's a world record too. No one else could, not Lin Dan, not Lee CW, not Chen Long, not Fu Haifeng, not Cai Yun, not Yu Yang, not Wang Xiao Li, not Zhang Nan, not Zhao Yunlei, not Wang Yihan, not Wang Shixian, ..., not anyone else.
Hey why doesn't someone edit the page of Li Xuerui? Her wiki page is embarrassingly small. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Xuerui
Please add tidbits about her life, possibly sourced from Chinese media. Rather her page on chinese wiki is much larger, but someone needs to translate it! http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/李雪芮 you can also source information from Baidu. Please guys, I can't read mandarin or else I would have done. http://baike.baidu.com/view/3522103.htm
