And if it wasn't for Son Wan Ho, Chen Long probably could have straight gamed the 2014 WC and the 2016 olympics also
I have to admit that I was very sceptical when he announced his relocation to Dubai. Time showed that I couldn't have been more wrong. It's unbelievable how much he has been able to achieve and maintain his absolute best shape, both physically and mentally in this new surrounding. He appears to be in a perfect place, grounded with his family close by and best possible practise infrastructure. It's debateable if the overall level in MS have gone down since Covid, but eitherway he is playing the best badminton of his life for the past 1,5 years imo. He's faster, hits harder and more precise than all his main competitors and he doesn't show the slightest obvious weakness. Must be a nightmare for an opponent's coach to figure out any kind gameplan against him. On the other hand it's his former team mates like Anders Antonsen who have shown significant decline in performance since they are no longer having Viktor under their noses as a benchmark and are no longer able to spar with him on a regular basis. Will be interesting to see if they will find a new way back to their previous performance level. Very interesting dynamics.
This requires a stamina/fitness level that's at least on par or even above Viktor's which is... a challenge... and then add extraordinary shot precision and consistency to really move him out to the lines. So basically you need a player at a similar performance level than him (say peak-level Kento Momota). As soon as one of those components is lacking, he will bite your head off. Which brings us back to the root problem.
1 more gold at the Olympics & 3 more golds at the WC and he has a case to be the GOAT we should remember that Viktor has already beat LD twice in Major Event (2016 Olympics & 2017 WC final)
I dont think thats the benchmark anymore. If he can win another gold in OG, he ll be GOAT. He will have won a lot , a lot of titles by then. and for the young gen, people will only remember Axelsen. Good for the sports of Badminton as well.
Is WC still relevant? I have been reading posts by LD's fans that he is Goat because he has won 2 Olympic gold medals. Axelsen, where is your 2nd Olympic gold medal?
Of course we have to consider the WC golds. In another WC thread last month, forummers were saying that Hendra Setiawan will be GOAT for MD if he can get another gold this year. Why the double standard for MS? By age 28, LD already has 1OG gold, 4 WC gold and 4 AE titles. So Viktor still has a lot to catch up. Another interesting statistics, at age 28 after WC2011, LD win loss is 460 -60 while Viktor's has 434-139 currently. LD has 44 career titles after WC 2011 while Viktor has 30 career titles now. Let's see if Viktor is able to catch up and challenge LD. It will be hard as Viktor will be 29 in a few months time. Time is certainly not on his side.
The problem among players is the lack of strategy to beat him at present. He is simply unbeatable. The height really plays a role coupled with his powerful smashes which is almost not possible to counter. But some extra ordinary defence efforts might do the work. Who has the defence in the current crop of MS?
On the brighter side, it seems like Viktor might be able to have more longevity in his career than LD at the rate he is going at.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but I think Viktor has been in his prime since he won the WC back in 2017. It’s just that Viktor plays more consistently at a higher level now. However, Viktor has his weaknesses. Prime Momota from 2018 to 2019, would pick on Viktor’s weaknesses. And you can see when LKY is on his game, he picks on Viktor’s weaknesses too, like today when LKY beat Viktor handily in 2 sets at the Denmark Open. I don’t know why so many people in Badminton Central believe that Viktor is playing at a level that is so far above the rest of the players, and believe that peak Viktor in 2021/2022 is better than peak Viktor in 2017. IMO, peak Viktor in 2021/2022, is probably about the same as peak Viktor in 2017, who was probably the same as peak Viktor in 2018/2019. The difference is, peak Viktor in 2018/2019 was c*ck blocked by prime 2018/2019 Momota. And since 2018/2019, no other players have really raised their level of game to match Viktor, aside from LZJ at AE and LKY at the WC. I honestly don’t think Viktor has improved that much since he won the WC in 2017, it’s just that he plays more consistent at a higher level, but his peak performance is about the same as his run in the 2017 WC. Luckily for Viktor at the last WC, LKY’s form was inconsistent, and LKY was also in the other half of the bracket and LKY never met Viktor in the WC. But if LKY is on his A game on a specific day, watch out, he is capable of picking Viktor apart. Now let’s see if LKY can keep his form for the rest of the tournament - if it’s like LKY over the last 10 months, he is kind of inconsistent and he may easily revert to his inconsistent form again.
Saw this in the LKY thread: "Prior to Friday’s match, Axelsen had lost just once in 43 matches in 2022, when he was defeated by India’s Lakshya Sen in their German Open semi-final in March. Since then, the 28-year-old Dane had been in near-invincible form, as he surpassed Chinese legend Lin Dan’s run of 31 consecutive wins en route to six titles, including his second World Championships and All England Open crowns. Axelsen was so dominant, he lost just seven games in his record run." He lost just 7 games in his 39 win streak, that's incredible! Really tough draw for him in the French open. Denmark open winner SYQ in second round then a likely rematch against LKY in quarters. Going to be really interesting!