I think the relationship may be beyond repair here. Don't know what happened and what built up but this used to be favorite pair to watch. Perhaps the pressure of success from other Japan pairs and their long time being partners are causing a fracture.
That looked like Hayakawa partnering Matsutomo. If she couldn't even win against a B-team with him behind her, that's not a good sign for her chances with Takahashi...
Took a while for Olympic channel to post it, but here it is the nail biter 2016 OG WD finals Japan vs Denmark! Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
Interesting. Do you know if there are more videos... other than the MS final, WS final, WD final, and overview videos? Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
I found that a lot of previously geo blocked videos are surfacing from official channels. Could it be due to the lack of actual tournaments that they decided to release good, past tournament matches?
Yeah I can already see Yuki Kaneko imitating some of Yuta's shots like the drops and cross smashes and Misaki being decisive at the net like how she was in her prime during WD. Training vigorously against Yuta and Arisa will help Misaki and Yuki improve. We'll be able to judge their improvements in coming tournaments.
Yeah she's not too shabby, doing cross block defense replies and guarding the net well. But a lot of times she pushes straight into the racket area of their opponent and as such causes the defense reply to go past her where Yuki isn't at, a few times he's at her 8 o clock where she thought he is at her 6, coupled with the fact he's left handed, not right handed like Ayaka, shows she doesn't quite have a clue where her partner is behind her just yet. Certain net shots should have been cross court instead of straight and of course it takes times to train up. XD is different from WD afterall. Quite literally a whole different ball game. Couple of issues is that Yuki Kaneko isn't as hard a hitter as Yugo Kobayashi and in Japan at least, their corporate affiliation somewhat comes into play... PJB can't just ask for someone to partner others not from their company from what I noticed. All 4 players at the AE final are from Unisys, and it seems like Misaki had slim pickings if at all. Kaneko has the variation, just needs more power. Flings like Takuro Hoki (Tonami) with Wakana Nagahara (Hokuto Bank) are more "for fun" and to better their own main discipline rather than a serious foray into XD. Which is somewhat a shame, could have had more "what if" partnerships but they can't train together and all.
I'm about to write this, thank you for pinpointing this out I feel she still carries many habits from WD to XD, and this won't be good for XD. At the net, what she did is almost soft blocks or cross net shots, not so much drive and push into the mid-court or rear-court. This is where the fierce battlefield of XD. As for service returns, not many pushes of drives, just soft blocks to force a lift from opponent. Her defence is still solid, but it's just a pure defence (high lift or cross-court high defence), not make much counter-attacking chance for her partner (eg drive defence). Many times her shots fell right to their opponent's racket and her game is quite predictable. I really hope she could adapt to the XD game and improve more. Ayaka retired but her husband continues playing, eagerly look forward to seeing this pair more
Now that we have some hype around Matsutomo/Kaneko XD I wonder if we need a new thread. I really hope we see more of them, it looks like they plan to stick around - that comeback against Chan/Goh was pure quality and determination. Both individually are solid doubles players, Misaki needs to get used to rotations in XD. Classic Japanese WDs has always been lifting smashes with occasional blocks to tire the opposing pair, giving nice shots and pressure on you to defend. For the rotations in the AE final against Watanabe/Higashino, Matsutomo was stuck in the back court too often. She can handle it but it won't win them points. Overall she is kind of predictable too which worked in WD but is a lot less effective for XD. Kaneko needs to work on taking initiative but you can tell he really trusts Matsutomo, both are smart and have nice defence. He does lack a bit of power (some smashes were quite strong so it could be that he isn't committing fully) and I think makes a few more errors under pressure. It's exciting to see how they grow against stronger XD opponents. Thanks esppy for the clear description of how Matsutomo needs to adapt to the left-right combo pairing.
Another thing I just remember, that Matsutomo is lack of variation in service, maybe due to her service stance. Short service is still so-so (regarding the height), but needs to vary more about angles. Her flick serve is very easy to attack, just like Nagahara. When looking at Huang Yaqiong (or Sapsiree), she possess a very dangerous fast drive flick serve and almost earn the point every time she uses it.
Hmm... this talk about Misaki not knowing where her partner is. They've been playing XD together for at least 2 years now? And yeah Hoki and Nagahara, not the best result in the AE this time.
They've been paired up starting from 2018, though in 2020 they didn't play any XD and Misaki was still putting more focus into the WD at the same time. Yuki and Misaki play well as doubles partners but to compete against the top ranked opponents they need to get better. If you have 30+ shots in a rally it only takes a few of those mistakes to lose the point.
Misaki and Yuki were paired together, just like how Hayakawa and Misaki did. In a nutshell they did it for shits and giggles. R2 on a normal day, QF at best for colder tournies (SG open, KR open, etc etc) Now with Ayaka retiring, Misaki made the public announcement that she will focus purely on XD with Yuki. It’s the level of commitment and focus that has escalated, not how long they have been started to be paired together. It’s one thing to enter yourself into one discipline on nominal points, it’s another to really do well and get into it and start the ball rolling. Plus, nobody will say no to more money and to make a real income of it, you kind of need QF and beyond to make any sense, since you’re paid at home so this is actual “profit” so to speak. A lot of her shots dont give the chance that using a standard return (straight defense, be it full lift or block, not those counterattack cross court twist shots), falls into Yuki’s area of coverage and he has to run or twist his body to get it. In XD the girl has to set it up for the dude, see how HYQ and Ma Jin does it, either way one or the other, effective or not, the aim or motive is that. And as mentioned, Hoki and Nagahara will never be a serious foray, because of employment (thus training ground and facilities) so all the time they can get is only at the National training grounds, not the company club’s. It may sharpen their senses at the net, and do better for their own WD and MD. At least that’s what it did for Misaki to win the Rio OG gold.
They're targeting Paris 2024. They would have to be top 8 if I'm not mistaken, no. 2 behind Yuta and Arisa to qualify this time. Mathematically possible with the tournaments left?
Still 3 more years to go, and I think they still have a chance to qualify, since XD is not a tough discipline like others. By this time, there will be many pairs retire (I believe), like 3 MAS pairs (ChanGoh, GohLai, TanLai), the Adcocks, etc. Pairs below Top25 should be no problem if they keep improving, their chance is quite realistic.