Does anyone think Chen Hong has the potential to be a champion? He seems to have flaws, lanky and stumbles for low steep shots and slow to seize obvious opportunities eg when playing Lee H I.No wonder his enemies call him Zombie. Strong points though, able to vary game like Sun Jun, unlike his other compatriots,adding more and more strokes , can change his pace as and when required and most of all difficult to beat once he has played the same opponent before. Is he going to be another Xiong Guo Bao, unable to twin big ones?
Unable to watch him live here in Singapore, as I followed my parents back to Malaysia due to some urgent matters. Anyway, watch his match on Msian TV and he really varied his game well in his match against Taufik. Excellent shots, rallies, jabs, etc. I pick the match as the match of AC. But I think he need to build up his consistency. He has the tendency of playing very, very well in one match and perform badly next (just like in Birmingham and Japan).
IMO he is difficult to assess as of now.. YES,he could be a major champ. one day,provided he tightens his game ( unforced errors one too many), improves on his net play, retrieving of steep shots , accuracy in hard side-line smashes & fluidity of play. Generally his smashes are not hard enough, thus posing no problem for his opponents but destabilising himself instead. He appears to have good stamina & recovers quickly like e.g. he beat Ewe Hock & Taufik in 3 long games on successive days & yet on the next day,in less than 24 hrs, able to beat Hyun Il in straight sets. NO, if he remains status quo, as he is fairly often dictated by his opponent. I suppose all his games are taped so that he & his coach can work on them so that the next time he plays the same opponent he is better able to get the better of him. He has already played all the current top players such as Roslin, Gade, Taufik,Hyun Il, Gopichand, Boonsak etc, so his chances in the WC should be at least the quarters if not the semis or the finals or even the WChamp. Too optimistic ?????????
