I've been watching a few of Taufik's and Sigit's videos and am still at awe at the amount of talent these two players have. I was told that Taufik was discovered when he was playing on a street (wonder who did?), but not sure about Sigit's path to fame (anybody who does please share it here). But then again I found both to be a little bit arrogant on court, and I really hate that because it always happens to the ones who have most talent. And to make matter worse, they ended up losing because of that. They are a crowd pleaser though, with their between-legs or back-forehand shots, but at the end of the day, winning is the one that counts, right? Take for example TC2002 MS Finals between Taufik and Lee. Apart from that stupid umpire, Taufik just seemed over-confident in the second game. Sigh...if only this world's perfect...
interesting you mentioned arrogance. been watching the video of the SwissOpen MD final. was quite impressed by the youngsters Luluk/Alven. the Swiss Open was probably the best showing they have at that time and they played their heart out. was courteous on court, never relaxed, seems to be enjoying their game and showed great fighting spirit despite losing in the end. basically, they played like true sportsmen. quite impressed. also noticed their slightly superior basic doubles techniques than the Chinese. i think these pair will go far like the current batch of Indonesian badminton players. oh, i disgressed, back to arrogance. other than the SwissOpen, i was also watching some old videos of players, i find Zhao Jinhua and Li Lingwei also showed slight signs of arrogance, but with their complete superiority over their opponents, it is hard to challenge their arrogance. the case of Sigit and Taufik isn't as strong.
Do you think arrogance is OK as long as one can deliver? I was thinking along the same line as you were, and if the indonesians were able to win despite the attitude I would probably put them up there with the legends such as ZJH.
a LITTE arrogance and cockiness are a good thing to have...AS LONG as you back that up with good badminton....being too wrapped up in yourself will not get you any points... I find Kim Dong Moon arrogant on court, but, he DOES back it up with supurb badminton. If someone sees you are confident with what you are doing, you win the battle of psychology
totaly agree and as Kid Rock say's "It aint cocky ************ if you back it up" You need that little bit of self belief, it's what carries you through when the chips are down and you are in the finals of the gents doubles in the All England. (notice I'm not saying who, though. In that game it worked both ways)
These players play better when they do those kind of shots, is a thrill to them. They are crowd pleasers and what better to make them more motivated to win than hear the crowd cheering for them. Although when they miss those shots, it makes them look stupid. I find Sigit to be playing his best when he is able to complete these trick shots, he seemed to be pump and move to another level.
