You have enough mental , physical, technical skills THEN you win gold, its not the other way around! Titles are here to confirm what you got within or just show how weak your opponents were the day they showed up in court. For Lin Dan more than LCW it was a very tasty opportunity to stay focused and give it all, Malaysia Open was a missing trophy in his list after all. For a moment I though He purposely avoided that tournament focusing more on the others and preparing for the Olympics, if LCW would have beat him in a Malaysia Open BEFORE the Olympics the mental barrier LD have over him would have seriously been breached for the awaited competition. Now Let's see if LCW can amaze us by beating LD in the World Champs overcoming the weaknesses he's facing against him.
lcw has beaten ld 11 times before, so it's not like he can't ever win. the ?'n is why can't lcw beat ld in a final with the most prestigious titles on the line? you know, the ones they call wc & og. there's no telling who would've won if ld had played in the malaysia open all those previous years... or if it would've made any difference in the history of their og/wc match ups. theories are fun for fans to posit in hindsight, but based on their history, one can only wonder what's going on in lcw's head.
I believe the difference between those two are fake moves (or hidden moves), anticipation and tactic. Hidden moves are technical, but other two are between the ears.
Actually LCW also changed his style to a great degree, around 2009. He went from a purely defensive style (up to 2008) to a very agressive one.
That's true. I remember reading somewhere that Sun Jun and Dong Jiong also changed their playing styles mid-way in their careers. To be honest, I've huge respect for LCW continuing to play fast and aggressive at his current age,even against the young and physically strong; only Lin Dan and, to a certain extent, Chen Long, are able to slow him down as they both are familiar with and better able to read and anticipate his game coupled with superb defense such that for LCW to attack prematurely against these two is counterproductive, sometimes suicidal.
I think that is only true to an extent, and more so in their direct matchups than vs other players. Against others, LCW has looked levels of magnitude better than LD for the last 3 5 years, but the game changes when they meet each other. It becomes much more about the mind game and mental fortitude than physical capabilities. Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk
LCW screwed up big time in first set. He was leading 19-16 and, complete self destruction and error machine. Finally lost 19-21 and it went downhill after that, no self belief and confident.
So much for wanting to win 12th MAS Open title but World Championship is still his target. Next year is still open.
LCW is playing aggressively in the beginning but quickly succumb to his own style of wanting to play long rallies. Hendrawan should have told him to stay away from rallies after the failure that is Rio.
He can continue to make money by appearances and sponsorships. Those are worth more when he is playing than not playing. Taufik kept playing but not winning. So did Peter Gade.
Yeah, sure. But unless he's been lying to his fans he would rather win the WC in Glasgow than getting more money. If he will play the slow game again at the WC I will quit watching the match...
Not that LCW really want to play the 'slow game' against the likes of Lin Dan and Chen Long, he simply can't play fast and aggressive against either of them all the time or most of the time, only some of the time as their defenses are so good due to their familiarity with each other's game that he's forced to bide his time, construct the rallies a bit more and not attack prematurely but only at the right time. The same goes for Lin Dan and Chen Long when playing LCW, with very few exceptions. Frankly, almost nobody expected LCW to be toppled, dethroned at the MAS Open. Still, nothing matters to LCW more than breaking the 'jinx' of not winning at least one WC, and as time is running out, the upcoming Glasgow WC has to be his top priority now, and what would he not give for it. At the same time, I have to agree with Cheung that a player's sponsorship and market value is worth much more when he is an active, regular player than retired despite not being in his winning ways.
To me it seems as if he is afraid that his usual winners are coming back so he almost completely stops attacking. He always starts out positive and as soon as there are little obstacles he gives up, attacking that is. But only against those two; must be psychological. Just have a look at matches (non majors, admittedly) in which LCW plays aggressive all the way. For example his match against Chen Long in last years Malaysia Open. Or his victory against CL at the 2012 Olympics. While I can't recall any match where he dominated Lin Dan by all out attacking play I can remember Viktor Axelsen and Jan O Jorgensen winning like that at the Denmark Open and WC in Indonesia, respectively. It's one of the ways to beat LD and CL, but you gotta have a winning smash, good net play and excellent stamina.
Also there's one thing I find strange: You always bring up LXR's psychological weakness when she fails to deliver at the majors, but are not able to see or admit that the same applies to LCW. Why do you think that he won so many SS and SSP events but hasn't won a major? The opponents are the same and sometimes the draw is even easier at the majors. Just because the opponents don't want to win the SS(P)s as much as the majors and are much better at these events? Surely not.
Mate, Relax. Lin Dan was motivated to win Malaysia Open. Perhaps Lee Chong Wei is still injured, still struggling with knee. I am sure he has no more mental block against Lin Dan after he beat him in Rio Olympics nail-biter SF.