I'm going to take a chance and predict that the best mens singles player (wins more major tournaments, number one seed most often when competing) in 2002 will be Xia Xuanze. Xia's court coverage is outstanding, so his defense is good. He has power from the back line, quick coverage at the net, and is very fast and tricky in the mid court. What does everyone else think? Just another one of my wild opinions, marshall
RE: Xia Xuanze If one scrutinised his match against Taufik in the Malaysian Open finals ,he appeared not to be as fast and spontaneous enough, thus enabling Taufik to control him .Against Hendrawan in the Thomas Cup the same thing happened (though not so apparent) & his accuracy in shuttle placement wasn't as good.Reason could be psychological or his stamina suspect on that occasion. He lost again to Hendrawan in the Olympics (but i didn't have the opportunity to watch this match & so do not know the reason/s).Granted ,Hendrawan would have slowed markedly by 2002 he still has Taufik to contend with.Apparently Ji has something in his arsenal to counter Taufik(as in the Olympics).But then that match was not telecast so one doesn't know how Ji won or how Taufik lost.So i would venture to say that these four viz Taufik ,Xuanze, Xinpeng & Peter Gade are in a state of flux right now till 2002.So either one of these would probably be in pole position in 2002. The above is just my few cents.
Though i agree with you marshall about Xia Xuanze's quick movement and accurate skills around the court, i don't think that he will be the player of the '02 as i feel he simply isn't fit enough. Did you see the Olympic 2000 match between Xia and Hendrawan of Indonesia? Hendrawan is a master of deception as he made Xia run all around the court. As unfortunatly as it is, as long as Hendrawan is around, i feel that Xia will not be the best player of 2002. However he may just get enough points to overtake Ji Xinpeng.
I wuld say that it would either be Hidayat or Christensen as these 2 have been on the Grand Prix circuit for a longer time and have more experience.
I think the point has been missed. Hendrawen's wins over Xia (Thomas cup/Olympics) showed how the Xia's speed and attack can be negated by some clever play. My guess is that Xia is simply not the sort of player who can rally for the length of time as Hendrawen can. His strength is in attack. By just playing rallies, Xia more often would play looser shots. Nice to speculate on the topp Men's singles players of 2002 but there's so much variation in the players who come and go. Who can tell?
i think xia can beat hendrawen if he reduce his unforced errors and use some long rallies between attacks to fool hendrawen.
eh, wow, 2002 huh? thats like,,a long time ago, so hendrawan has retired, pg is world no.2, th no.6, xia xuanze wants to coach, but anyway, who was it who tops the ranking at 2002?