True the drop shot was very effective but do you feel he has such a deep stance because he feels Ko will lift short? I would suggest it is. Im not getting ay Ko i think with the right mentality he could be amazing.
Why does everyone keep blaming Ko? Even when LYD clearly makes mistakes people are saying it's because he changed something to adjust to Ko... Sorry but I really didn't see LYD being much better than KSH in the last few tournaments
He's had a very deep defensive stance for ages. Basically since the first game I've seen of him (which is from 2008). It's definitely not because of Ko. Gillian Clark commented on it a plethora of times - in his partnership with JJS. Also, he failed to return smashes, and not only ones that Ko lifted short or something. It might surprise you, but LYD can make errors as well. Seriously, in the last two matches they lost, there was little difference between the two. Ko definitely seemed more nervous, but Lee was definitely not on a different level and made quite a few uncharacteristic errors... Once again, what's with the negativity.....they're the most successful pair since the start of their partnership, yet everyone keeps yelling about Ko's (perceived) weaknesses and how he drags LYD down. Yet they leave the other Olympic semi-finalists in their dust...
^ Don't even mention Olympic semi finalists. That was almost 1 yr ago and a lot has changed since then. Everyone has gone downhill, except for Ahsan/Setiawan and Qiu/Liu.
Im not blaming Ko! LYD has gone downhill since his split with JJS and I think hes adjusting badly to playing with another partner. I really like Ko and watched him since his mixed final at the all england a few years ago. I know Gill Clark (who is amazing by the way) has said may times about LYD deep stance but she also says he has one of the best defenses around. Ko just needs to get his confidence sorted so he can push on.
It's a vicious cycle he's in. His confidence is down because he makes unforced errors, and the more errors, the worse his confidence.
Thanks for clearing that up - it really sounded like another 'LYD makes errors because his partner sucks and puts him under pressure' kinda post Anyhow, on his day, LYD's defense is monstrous (not only because it's hard to get through, but because he moves the shuttle around until he gets an opportunity to counter and get to the net, which he uses so well). Usually, he can afford his deep stance because he's so fast and flexible that he can dig out most disguised drop shots, and his reading of the opponent is pretty great as well. I'm not quite sure, but maybe he can't read Ahsan attack so well yet because he hasn't played him that often (Ahsan rarely getting to the last 2 stages of tournaments). Against Fu and Cai, who had -without doubt- a much more dangerous attacking game than Ahsan/Setiawan, he defended brilliantly, but of course he played them very often over the years so maybe his anticipation was just better against them. I also think Ko has a pretty solid and sometimes amazing defense. He has a harder time defending his body than Jung did, but sometimes he just pulls shots out of nowhere, whipping a shuttle high at crosscourt without any backswing....he's just not the brick wall LYD can be (yet?) and looks much less graceful. When they get their first victory over LQL/QZH and MA/HS, Ko should be much more confident against those pairs. I think he's only nervous when a) he hasn't beaten a combination before or b) it's a really big occasion. Until 2016, he has much time to grow, and I think he and Lee have a really good shot at the WC title this year. Unless there's some kind of injury or big surprise in the early stages, I'm rather certain they'll get a medal. Very interesting for me is which pair will be seeded where, as we have 5 or 6 pairs vying for the first 4 seeding positions (LYD/KSH, LQL/QZH, MA/HS, MB/CM, KH/HE, and KKJ/KSR). Personally I hope that both LQL/QZH and MS/HS get a seeding amongst the top 4 as that would prevent them and KSH/LYD from meeting before the Semis, and judging by their performance over the last year, all three pairs deserve a medal imop (with KSH/LYD and QZH/LQL playing the Final, ideally).
If you see how hard KKJ and KSR lose to their Korean teammates, it's difficult to see how they could vie for a top 4 world ranking.
I'm trying to say that their level seems to be quite a lot lower than their teammates'. Considering this gap, it's hard to imagine that they could live up to WR4 expectations. Don't get me wrong; I'm a huge fan of them both, and I hope they grow to be the world's top. But I don't think they're up to scratch yet.
Wow... Ko/Kim took down Zhang/Zhao in XD straight games at SG Open... this should bolster his confidence a bit.
That ... I wanna see on video But remember the Scot/Brit duo taking the world #1 duo down a few times in the first round? Perhaps they get started slowly...
Or I suppose Zhang/Zhao, even though they won, also had a tough final against Fischer/Pedersen at INA Open a few days ago.
Wasn't that only once? Anyhow, Zhang/Zhao seem to focus on certain tournaments and not give it their all in others (if consciously or subconsciously). I remember Zhang playing at the German Open, certainly looked a bit lethargic.
I watched that match. I felt that Zhang/Zhao were making far too many mistakes than usual. Seems like she's focusing on WD this tourny. All her WD matches so far have been really hard fought. Back on topic I'm anticipating at least a good final match for Lee/Ko tomorrow!
We'll find out if they've developed any answers to their in-form opponents. I'm not holding my breath though; 1 week probably isn't enough to overcome the big gap shown last week.
Blockbuster time today!! Hopefully they can beat the abosultly inform Indonesians. Wouldn´t be nice to be down 0-3 in three SS(P) finals. If Ahsan/Setiawan win again, then big respect. Even they are peaking atm and winning on homesoil being pushed by the fans, if they win outside as well, they could be the pair to look out for in the WC. There are some discussions about Chinese players losing. Surely there have been match fixes and so on, but I would be shocked if they lose on purpose. They are just not unbeatable (except maybe WS and WD where they have almost 4 "no.1" players/pairs), the field is widely open. For me an true excuse for some suprising loses of CHN stars is that most of them already won what you can win in badminton. Therefore in smaller tournaments they can´t always push themselves (mentally) as hard as for the big things (OG, WC, SC...). And ofc there are many other factors to be considered (day form, training condition, health, hall, etc...)
