Allow me to repost my comments on Chen long from the AE tournament thread here: Actually despite Chen Long's 'unpopularity' in China for having lost three team majors - the two Thomas Cup and one Asian Games for which he receives a lot of brickbats and been called names, eg 'team insect,individual dragon' - he still has a significant following in China and in other parts of the world but nowhere near Lin Dan's, of course. After Chen long's rousing success at Rio'16, Li Yongbo disclosed he deal with CL different from the way he handles Lin Dan whom he sometimes scolds, quarrels and even threatens if he is dissatisfied with his performance. For CL, he would not talk to him immediately after his flops but leave him be for a while and then talk to him nicely, encourage and even commiserate with him, nothing harsh. Generally, it may be true Chen Long is not the kind of sporting heroes that have a wide appeal unlike his famous compatriot Lin Dan whom is regarded as all-conquering, all-winning, imperious on court, the 'I came. I saw. I conquered.' type, most fearsome, intimidating and dominant as in his heyday. But Chen Long's appeal is of a different kind. His is a public persona that is very likable, agreeable, a softer image, endearing, adorable in a kind of way, sort of childlike innocent look. If I may illustrate, as when 1) he was faulted for serving above the waist and how did he reacted in protest? He tucked in his shirt in a gesture to the service judge to see clearly where his waist is while smiling wryly all the time, or 2) he was outfoxed at the net by his opponent, then affected an innocent, helpless look before giving his opponent the thumbs up, or just look at how he usually celebrates his victory upon winning the final point (I won't attempt to describe it in detail, go check it out yourself) , nothing in-your-face or outlandish but overly emotional he was as when he fell to his knees, went limp and crying like a child but shedding tears of joy while his coaches try to 'console' him and couldn't help grinning as they helped him up at the same time (recall Rio'16 final, WC'15, WC'14). To me, that look of seeming disbelief on his face when he just won the big match scoring the final point is priceless. No matter what, one thing is for sure, which coach would not gladly have Chen Long ? Imagine if Chen Long could offer his services to any other MAs, I can safely and confidently say, all the Head Coaches would be falling over each other to get him. Bet my last dollar on it.
That's also why I like CL more than LD as a person. LD is absolutely an alpha animal while CL is the humble and rather shy guy which respresents characteristics many people also call their own. Also his behaviour against LCW is very humble. Applauding the opponents shots or just sayin' "I didn't expect to win over LCW, since I rather thought it will be another lesson" (An AE final, but I don't remember which one.) I can't understand why he isn't more famous. He should be it. He won Olympic Gold. He's hard working. No. 1 for a long time. Maybe it's the attitude from chinese not being able to forgive things CL failed at? It's not a statement, a question, since I don't know the chinese folk that much... Next to LCW for whom I'd wish the next World Championships Gold, it is CL.
Nothing, because he likes him a lot. And Lin Dan is declining and on the way out. Who else besides Chen Long in MS can LYB depend on at the moment ?
Why do you think Wang Shixian fell for him ? For me, I can appreciate and admire both types. Lin Dan is not only an Alpha male, he is a genuine and strong character, true to himself, one who wears his heart on his sleeve in his younger days but has become more staid, restrained and gentlemanly as he matures esp after LOG'12, all the same sincere. Outwardly, particularly on court, he appears imperious reflecting his supreme self-confidence, inner belief and tremendous willpower which , in my opinion, is often mistaken for arrogance or swagger. Notice he never screams, shouts or glares at his opponent, nothing in your face, except that his victory celebrations upon winning a big match tended to be somewhat excessive, perhaps extravagant at times but not outrageous. I add, in my opinion, he has true humility born of greatness in spite of his immense accomplishments bar none; many lesser stars are inclined to behave like big shots or divas, not Lin Dan who towers above them all. Actually, Lin Dan has his soft side as evidenced in his personal life, his close and reverential relationship esp with his mother and grandmother as well as with his teacher cum mentor Tang Xianhu. Anyway, most of what I'm saying I've said before of Lin Dan's personality and character, why I have such a high opinion of him despite his youthful impetuosity which he has since outgrown. So I shan't bore you with it.
I like CL a lot for same reasons that Justin L had pointed out in an earlier post. I wouldn't say I'm a fan as such, but I feel he certainly has the right attitude and character that is great for the sport. Watching his match against Tanongsak at AE17 was quite interesting. You would think that for someone like him (Mr. Consistent) to lose in the second round of AE must be down to him having a bad day or that he was facing someone like LCW. But neither was true. He was actually on form, playing as well as he usually does. He was simply out-played. Admittedly TS probably played his best I've seen him play that day, but it was clear he had done his homework on CL as all his shots were preventing CL from capitalising in the first game. CL has always been a slow starter and generally takes it easy in the first game, but when he eventually turned on "beast mode" in the second game he was still unable to get the upper hand on TS. It was just too little too late. If only TS was more consistent, he would be up there with the very best imo.
No, that match with Tanongsak is not a good indication of Chen Long's game. You just have to watch how he played at Rio'16 which to me is his defining tournament, his pinnacle performance, second only to Lin Dan's Beijing'08. Clearly, after a four months hiatus post-Rio'16, Chen Long is far from his best. At the German Open and All England, he was back to rallying a bit too much, more of a controlled game with lots of placement shots to move the opponents around, not sharp and forceful enough in his attacks and counterattacks, didn't seize the initiative much, generally not as fast and proactive in both offense and defense as he was at Rio'16. That's my humble observation. Chen Long,The Dragon, will be back !
Haha... yes I'm sure he will be back! I agree that in the first game he was probably rallying a little too much, but that is how he usually plays in the first game. Even against LCW, he would start slowly and pick up speed in the second game. LD does the same too. So he probably let the score slip a bit too far there. However in G2 he clearly turned it up a notch or two, but TS was still devastatingly fast and played the right shots whilst executing them extremely well. It was obvious that CL was trying hard to keep up but in the end just wasn't quite able to. To beat CL in two straight games is not something to be taken lightly though and we mustn't discredit TS for achieving this. I don't disagree that CL was at his best at Rio, but we can all think of a time when a player played better. What is interesting, looking at the stats, it was not the first time they had close games, although CL has won all of them until now. So imho it wasn't quite a fluke, TS has probably worked out a game plan against CL. You're probably right though, CL will likely resume his usual dominance but it is still good to see even the very best, in their prime, being kept honest.
Let me add, Chen Long at Rio'16 wasn't boring at all, I mean his game - he played a power game, his speed of movement allowing him to take the shots early most of the time, releasing a high percentage of thunderbolt smashes, retrieving ability superb, and a relatively low rate of unforced errors; overall, a very physical game capitalizing on his height and reach, athleticism, agility with maximum efficiency and effectiveness but , as usual, with little creativity and deceptiveness which aren't his forte. Compared with Rio'16, his performance at the German Open and the All England was clearly a class below in all aspects regardless he won or lost. At the latter two tournaments,he was (temporarily) back to his old, boring game, so to speak.
Don't be mistaken, I've always regarded Tanongsak as a dangerous opponent who on his day can give nearly all the top 10 players a run for their money. Similarly for Chou Tien Chen, Viktor Axelsen, Son Wan Ho, and perhaps one or two others (J O Jorgensen, Ng Kah Long, you might have your picks). If Kento Momota were around, I'd definitely include him too. Noticed at Rio'16, Chen Long wasn't a slow starter but ready to fly at the get-go, winning all his G1 in every match played, only dropping one set to Son Wan Ho in G2; even LCW fell to Chen Long in two straight sets by an identical score of 21-18. My greatest hope is for Chen Long to get back to that topmost level he displayed at Rio'16 soon and stay there as long as possible till Tokyo 2020 at least. Not at all easy to maintain at the peak level consistently but, hopefully, at most interspersed with the rare minor slip at unimportant events - if he can do that, it should be more than fine.
He would have lost? When has Momota ever scored more than 12 points against Long ? Isn't Chen L his least favourite opponent?
Kento Momota has never beaten Chen Long, Lin Dan and Lee CW. Period. And in the pinnacle form Chen Long was at Rio'16, nobody can touch him, just like Lin Dan at Beijing'08, unconquerable.
Well, to be fair to Momota...he has only played Lin Dan and Chong Wei once and put up a commendable display.... It is Chen Long who he doesn't like to play with/ He will probably beat Lin Dan nowadays but is banned from touching racket.
Chen Long has dropped out of qualification for the 2017 world championships right? Will BWF feel compelled to give a wild card to the Olympic Champion. I just looked back at the results since the Olympics. Seriously very few tournaments. There is something going on behind the scenes?
At least LD announced he was on a break in 2012/13 before the WC. No one seems to know anything about Chen Long
Chen Long is the holder of 2 WC and 1 OG the past three consecutive years, the reigning World and Olympic Champion, a phenomenal feat in the era of Lin Dan and LCW . So why not ? He absolutely deserves the wild card entry to Glasgow World Championships. If not him, nobody does.
What's that supposed to mean ? Not liking his game is one thing, giving the player his due is another. We have to know how hard it is for anyone to win two WC and one Olympic gold when both Lin Dan and LCW are around.
I don't think so. I don't like haphazard wild card entries. Everything should be according to rule books. I support having a rule that allows reigning world champion an automatic entry. But that isn't on rule book today.