I guess that ratchanok coming out at her age and defeating chinese players was certainly a shock for china. especially worrying must be her style of play because she plays a more modern and "masculine" badminton with jump smashes that have not been really used in the womens game before. Do you think that china will now try to produce ratchanok clones (i.e. jump smashing women that can rush the net very well) or will they try to improve on the "chinese style of play" (whatever that is but certainly different from ratchanok).
There are many ways of interpreting a match, RI didn't defeat LXR. It was more of LXR losing it. RI has more weapons in her arsenal than most woman single players but is doesn't mean she is better. I like her style but I like LXR even more. At this stage, I don't see RI beating LXR in any majors except a few smaller ones. Of course LYB is watching but RI is not LCW.
I'm not saying she is already better than LXR. I also believe that LXR is currently still a better more mature player. what would worry me more is the upside that ratchanok has. she has a ton of weapons and a really "modern" game. if she matures she can be even harder to beat. I have no doubt that LXR can beat her currently, but is there enough room for improvement in the classic chinese game to beat her in 2-3 years (if she stays healthy and motivated which we never know of course)? or do the chinese players ultimately have to copy her game (or at least build a similar game) to keep up with her (and also other young thai player, that other young player seems to have a relatively similar game)?
I think the variety and unpredictability of RI are both her greatest strength and greatest weakness atm. She's a free spirit on court and that can lead to a lot of unforced errors. When she's having a good day, she's damn near unstoppable. Problem is, her bad days and good days are worlds apart. It'll be interesting to see how she develops over the next couple of years (or even the next decade, since she's only 18).
RI is a very promising young player, and obviously has her ways to go, however I do believe she will defeat some of the Chinese players when she's in her prime. But that's only if the Chinese don't prepare for it. Like you said, her style of play is different, and they probably didn't train against that until recently. I guess we'll have to see from here..
Chaina camp has a good player and good coach to manage RI so they don't worry about RI. At last match BTW WYH and RI ,WYH and chainese coach show that they can cotrol RI. I know that everytime but I hope RI can achieve her goal .
From watching the DO SF between WYH and RI, WYH was too powerful to push RI all over the court, and WYH's tight net shots also caused trouble to RI. The score was close but we can feel that WYH was in control most of the time. It was in the final that SJH who could match WYH's power and gave WYH more trouble. At this point, I think the Chinese coaches should worry more on SJH in this point.
chinese ws against WR top 8 ROW [TABLE="width: 500"] [TR] [TD]WR in () [/TD] [TD]RI(2) [/TD] [TD]JS(3) [/TD] [TD]SN(4) [/TD] [TD]SJH(6) [/TD] [TD]TTY(8) [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]WYH(5) [/TD] [TD]7-0 [/TD] [TD]8-2 [/TD] [TD]6-1 [/TD] [TD]8-1 [/TD] [TD]2-1 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]LXR(1) [/TD] [TD]4-2 [/TD] [TD]6-1 [/TD] [TD]5-2 [/TD] [TD]3-0 [/TD] [TD]4-0 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]WSX(7) [/TD] [TD]4-1 [/TD] [TD]5-3 [/TD] [TD]2-4 [/TD] [TD]3-3 [/TD] [TD]3-0 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]WX(178) [/TD] [TD]2-0 [/TD] [TD]3-1 [/TD] [TD]4-3 [/TD] [TD]3-4 [/TD] [TD]1-2 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]HL(25) [/TD] [TD]2-0 [/TD] [TD]0-1 [/TD] [TD]1-2 [/TD] [TD]2-2 [/TD] [TD]1-3 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Total [/TD] [TD]19-3 [/TD] [TD]22-8 [/TD] [TD]18-12 [/TD] [TD]19-10 [/TD] [TD]11-6 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]winning % [/TD] [TD]86.36/13.64 [/TD] [TD]73.33/26.67 [/TD] [TD]60/40 [/TD] [TD]65.52/34.48 [/TD] [TD]64.71/35.29 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]rank in % [/TD] [TD]5 [/TD] [TD]4 [/TD] [TD]1 [/TD] [TD]3 [/TD] [TD]2 [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] RI still need to improve her performance against chinese ws.
Yip Pui Yin has been jump smashing for many years already. I think RI was lucky to win the world championship because Sindhu who beat WSX and WYH helped clear the road to the final for RI. And LXI choked in the 3rd game in the final. I'm a big fan of RI. I'm wishing her to win every time I watch her play. But honestly, she is not at WYH and LXI's level yet. I believe she can do that but at least 2 or 3 more years.
the h2h in favor of the chinese girls but don't forget the RI is just 18 years old. she is the current world champion and I'm quite sure that will worry the chinese although that can turn around next year. I watched the match against yihan and it seemed like yihan would win mostly because of her superior physicality and strength. if RI improves in that regard it will be even harder to beat her.
Between now untill shes 21, as she reach full growth developement, she will win some and lose some games to any of the worlds top six players suah as LXR, WYH, WSX, WX, SN, HL etc. But once she reaches 21 and remain healthy and focus, she will be unbeatable and will reign for a long time.
That's not exactly fair to say since RI is plenty younger than the rest of these women. As she's ages into her prime, these players are slowly aging out.
well the chinese will probably bring out plenty of new girls as they always do. the question is whether they will continue to play like the current chinese or adapt their style to RI.
If RI do become the greatest WS player of her generation - then I suppose China and the rest of the world will adapt to copy or counter her game - but like LD, RI I think is a truly gifted player and her opponent may adapt or copy but like LD, being gifted and brilliant, she will overcome all.
Don't get too over excited, just look at what too high of expectation the Indian fans bestowed onto SN. I am not convinced until the stats tell me otherwise, there are simply too many prodigies never live up to their potential. There are so many threads in this Forum named The Next King, Rising Star, The next No 1 etc, how many of those predictions actually materialized. Let father time speak.
I agree. While I have high hopes for RI, I also have hopes for Axelson (MS). They both are called 'prodigies' yet have no consistent records to show for it.
I agree that some young players are overhyped too early. however RI is not some junior player who had a first success with the big girls but the reigning world champion and world number 2. well axelson is a talent but you cannot really compare his results with RI who already is a top player while axelson never even made the top20 (despite being nearly 2 years older). of course the mens game is tougher than the womens game but still they are at very different stages of their careers.
