I watched last year Canadian open and my impression is that Canadian players did improve. They play better and provide better competition. Ardy Wiranata must be doing a good job. Some kids (during the 90's) who had opportunities training with Chinese provincial team mentioned the training sessions started at 7 - 11am and then 2-5pm daily, 6 days/week. Off-court training was usually done during morning. It's true Canadian players have to do a lot to catch up other countries. Competition level is not as high here, so trying to catch up when a player has already matured is not easy.
Well, players from Quebec don't practice with Andy Wiranata. They are practiced by Jean-Paul Girard in Montreal. That would be awesome to train with the Chinese. So well feeded!
Big Mac Attack John McEnroe says he can beat both the Williams sisters, either individually or at the same time. I think he's right. Here's the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5261668/ I doubt the Williams sisters would be foolish enough to take him up on it.
I would agree too. It's like saying morten frost can beat any of the current top WS. However, taking 2 williams at the same time? I think John is exggerating a bit here.
It would be tougher for him to beat them both at once, I assume they would be playing what we used to call "Canadian doubles" when I was a teenager - the side with two people has to shoot for the singles court and the side with one person gets to shoot for the doubles court. IMHO it depends on what kind of shape McEnroe is in. He was never known for his training regimen when he was on top and it probably shortened his career. However, if he has changed his mind about overall fitness then I think he would stand a good chance of taking a "Canadian doubles" match from the Williams sisters. It would be great to see but I doubt it will happen.
Its interesting that at Wimbledon tennis last week Navratoliva (age 47) came out of retirement and played in the main draw , she didn't just win her first round match she only dropped a couple of games I think. This says a lot about the competitiveness (or lack of) lower down the womens tennis rankings. I think its very similar in badminton. You just see far fewer women with the raw athletic ability, motivation, commitment and attitude. Still sidetracking on tennis I think the Williams sisters serve faster than a lot of the men were in the early eighties. Morton Frost beating the top women? Well if you take british female player around the top ten like Hallam, Morgan I certainly know that a 40 + retired top player who has kept playing would beat them. Again there can be a big difference between the womens no.1 and no.10 so it is hard to quantify.
When we get over 40, I think health is the big component of your game. If your body, especially the joints do not complain, well the retired player could very well win over top British ladies players. Side tracking a bit, I think Helen Troke was the best ladies singles player from UK up to now - or the ones I've watched. Saw her play before and like her attitude on court - never give up. I even think she could have been a top player if she improved on her technique.
I think Troke got a world bronze at the start of her career, she was certainly top ten in the eighties. She made a part comeback on the domestic scene several years after retirement and was still close to the English top player. England had a few world class players back then but unfortunately we didn't keep pace with the new generations of players and people like Hall, Troke were at the top still ten years or so later. As a coach you see so few women with good physical abitlity ,I'm not talking just badminton skills here, just ability to run, throw, be explosive etc. For every ten boys with good physical skills and fitness level theres maybe 1 girl.
Well, there is gotta be some guy in the Top100MS having a bad day Man, I just can't imagine if the guy gave a full fore hand smash to the lady's side. It's just too hard for a girl to receive a heavy & speedy smash! (plus other drives)
Are you referring to the IBF MS top 100 players? If positive I can guarantee you that there are players that won't make the Chinese ladies team.
Well, I think only speed won't be enough. In one mixed double game I watch, Olsen has little difficulty receiving Kim Dongmoon's smashes. And if you ever watched Gu Jun, I think sometimes she looks like a female Sigit, very fast in response and can return smashes very intelligently.
That's mixed double game, the strategy and movements are all different. Because you have two people know, the girl has more time to prepare the receiving than in singles.
I saw Ye Zhaoying completely distroy chinese provincial players in practice matchs in China before it's not even funny. Felt sorry for some of them.
there are many provinces in china, and there are many provincil players of various level within each province. My guess is most provincial players ranks b+ to A-, of course a pro can eat them like light snacks.
playing against ladies Reminds me of a funny experience. I played against a national champion once 15 years back in KL. I was an intermediate then. I lead the points when it reaches 10, then have to take a short time out for some oxygen. After that she took all the points. With the exception of power, their mental, placing and fitness is pretty good. rgds
I hope this is explicit enough *poke* *poke viver* *poke taneepak* too http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=21026
Based on my experiences with Canadian women players, there is big gap in power between the men's a women's game. IF ( NOTE BIG "IF") that translates to the world stage, then yes, I don't think the top 5 women could beat at top 100 MS. I played Jody Patrick in singles years back. I lost 15-9, 15-11. Keep in mind - I had played her boyfriend at the time for an hour prior and wasn't in the greatest shape coming off knee surgery. She was ranked top five in Canada at the time. I might have been ranked top 200 in canada if I was lucky. Simply put, my power gave me an advantage. She couldn't deal with my smash and I kept her pinned to back of the court. I also forced her to her backhand as much as possible because I knew it was going to be a drop. Fitness and finess, I think the top WS and MS probably stack up pretty evenly. Power wise I just don't see it.
no it is not. i cannot tell from the article what you are trying to imply. please state your point exactly.
