After Lin Dan's WC'13 triumph, his 5th world title, what's next for him? What are his plans,if any, for the future in terms of badminton? What new challenges might he have to face going forward? If I may take the liberty of some speculative thoughts on Lin Dan: 1) Henceforth will his motivation starts to wane and he gradually loses interest even in playing and beating Lee CW, his old foe and archrival? Maybe, more likely not. Is it familiarity breeds contempt or you keep me going? Perhaps Lin Dan really needs new incentives; 2) The moment Xie Xingfang is pregnant and after she's given birth, will he become even more family-first and family-oriented at the expense of his badminton? Quite certain of this; 3) the age-old question, will he really carry on till Rio'16 Olympics? I suspect not as I feel Chen Long wants it more;perhaps Lee CW's decision may influence his; 4) for sure he'll continue to be selective in the tournaments he play, maybe even fewer than before, so can his ranking get back into top 3 in time for the next Olympic cycle? A ranking that's not even in the top 10 would pose tricky problems justifying his selection for the next Olympics, esp when I expect the quota by then may be only two per nation (please avoid casting the usual,stale anti-CHN slur of ranking manipulation); 5) Will Chen Long overtake Lee CW to be his number one threat and rival soon? I believe so. Though I've no doubt Lin Dan can maintain his new rallying style of play for quite a while, it won't be long before his rivals start figuring him out to a certain extent. Let's see how Lin Dan can continue to fine-tune and tweak his game as only he could. I for one will rule out an impending retirement for him now that he's just won his 5th world title, at least not for the next 1 - 2 years. So for the time being I won't talk about his retirement plans except to mention that Li Yongbo has expressed his desire to get Lin Dan interested in coaching to which Lin Dan has resisted at this stage. Feel free to add your own thoughts or respond to mine or both.
the first thing that came to my mind after reading your title is : baby. as for how that'd affect his game, it doesn't seem to be affecting LCW that much after Kingston came out. perhaps his priority has changed, but LCW still in excellent form. maybe LD can do the same.
He will play the odd tournament. He will play exhibition matchs to earn more - who can blame him. People will pay him to turn up to dinner with them. He will definitely be in the squad for the Thomas Cup - who else better to play a crucial 3rd singles against Indonesia...?
You can't be more right, wanting to have a baby is his and XXF's top priority now. But as far as badminton is concerned, Lin Dan,unlike Lee CW , has won it all. So I feel their motivation levels and priorities may be considerably different vis-a-vis their babies, with Lin Dan preferring to spend more time with his family at the expense of badminton. And unless XXF and baby can be with him during competition, Lin Dan would be somewhat reluctant to travel, esp overseas, without them.
Yup, imagine Lin Dan playing 3rd Men's Singles in the Thomas Cup, a frightening prospect for the foreign players.
good point about motivation. China has a truck load of World Champions, they produce a few every year. another one isn't that big of a deal anymore. whereas LCW is still chasing that elusive first World Champion for his country. it will be much much bigger of a deal in Malaysia for that one single WC than LD's five.
It was earlier reported that this WC may be Lin Dan's last whatever the outcome. Do you guys thinks this is going to be the case? Will Lin Dan compete next year at Copenhagen? Lee CW definitely will as he has just openly stated so I think it's not too early for Lin Dan to express his intention but no word from him yet.
i'd take that with a grain of salt. both LCW and LD said they'd retire after London Olympics. and that never happened. LD is still battling LCW and LCW said he will come back next year.
What prompted me to open this thread is the thought that Lin Dan is nearing the end of his career and recently there have been rumours of his retirement and LYB openly saying he's planning for Lin Dan's coaching career when retirement comes, and Lin Dan himself having said he only plans six-month ahead each time unlike before. For Lee CW, I take him at his word when he said he's going to aim for Rio'16, not so for Lin Dan for obvious reasons. Even Chen Long just the other day has spoken that Rio'16 will be the pinnacle of his performance, bold words.
To be honest I would prefer him to retire now, rather than have his career possibly peter out unspectacularly
Just when some of us thought,myself included, that, before this WC triumph, it might be time for Lin Dan to start winding down towards retirement, he yet again astonished us by opening another amazing chapter in his illustrious career. To me, this is actually the 3rd time he astonished me, each time more overwhelming than the last. First was his all-conquering, winning ways up to Beijing'08 with his crowning glory of Olympic gold in a display of awesome badminton the likes of which I'd never seen. Then when I thought there's nothing more for him to prove before London'12 OG, he did it again wearing his second Olympic gold medal for MS badminton, an unprecedented feat. Finally this time when the odds seemed stacked against him, he defied and electrified my imagination to win his record 5th World Championship,in the process overcoming two of the most formidable adversaries, the last in dramatic fashion. Lin Dan proves to be one who is capable of creating history and rewriting it himself. In future, we should see him expanding on his autobiography as there would be too much of significance crying to be included, this WC historic feat being one of them already.
Retire now? What might trigger it, for Lin Dan and for Lee CW as well, as their fates seem intertwined? Each other as the cause of it,perhaps? I should say it might be Chen Long that finally induces or forces both or either of them to hang up their racquets for good.
An interview Lin Dan gave after the WC'13 that's highly relevant here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Uaq6fGqIjE Many thanks to BCer liemsweeking for bringing our attention to it and,especially, BCer thekong for his kind and able translation which I take the liberty of linking below http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/131000-The-Talking-Point-Air-Conditioning!/page30
LD will need to find again another motivation for winning another WC. This year's WC could be a special for him and therefore his motivation : the 1st wild card player with lowest ranking winning a WC. Next year's WC? Maybe it's time to let his "good" friend LCW to win once.
baby makes father works harder... in lindan & datuklee case... their livelihood is badminton, so they should be making more $$$ for more $$$... some might think they already have more than enough $$$ but how much is enough? enough for you might not be enough for them, now that they have expensive taste like ferrari... further more, if they retire... what would they do? just sit around the house? why not enjoy the "work" & earn some extra $$$... further more... badminton started good money only recently! few years back... hard to imagine badminton players can earn this muchi
The above interview, it shows how mature,intelligent, gracious and sensible Lin Dan has become. That's also why he could transform his game to make a successful comeback and prolong his career; instead of trying to compete with his main rivals,esp LCW and Chen Long, and the younger competitors in athleticism, mostly speed and power, he uses his wits to maximize his accumulated experience, his knack of reading his opponents' games to anticipate many of their shots, his already superb defensive capabilities and added to it a higher degree of deception - all so aptly described by RedShuttle http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...00-The-Talking-Point-Air-Conditioning!/page29 From the interview, it heartens me to say there's now a higher possibility of Lin Dan staying on until Rio'16 OG backed up by his newly developed, complete,all-round playing style to sustain him all the way past his 30 years of age. As it is, this final lap of his playing career is off to a rousing start with a history-making feat of many firsts. The moniker Super Dan was given by the legendary Peter Gade, but he himself prefers to be simply called Lin Dan. I should think he won't object if we call him Master Dan or Dan Shifu (Shifu in Mandarin means Teacher or Master).
And if you believe what Lin Dan said in the interview,including previous others, making more money and increasing his commercial value isn't his main motivation for coming back to compete. I believe money is still important to him but not that important as he's already made quite a lot. From the way he talked, not just what he said, I am comfortable accepting him at face value based on my own understanding and judgement of his autobiography, his career history, his relationship with his family and loved ones and with his friends and colleagues, and the way he dealt with the ups and downs of his life. Furthermore,whether money is the chief motivation for anyone, you can't go very far and long without the passion for the sport and the support of your loyal fans to whom you owe it to pay them back in the form of playing for their sake. Happy to say, the last two driving force are in abundance and count for very much to Lin Dan. What's more,he has expressly stated on several occasions his sincere,earnest desire to promote badminton worldwide and values a lot his legacy for future generations, to be remembered more for his badminton and not just the titles and gold medals won.
