Kawakami's of small stature and relies on punchy shots and nimble footwork. She relies very heavily on flat attacking lobs to disarray the opponent out of position and finishes with a kill. She did cause problems to many players when she hit the scene a year ago but has somewhat sizzled.
The complete mental collapses by both Kawakami and Mizui were staggering to watch. Mizui lost 14 straight points after she missed that sitter in the second game when ASY was already on the floor. Can't say that I'm surprised by it anymore, this seems like a common feature in Japanese badminton, especially in the women's game. With the rare exception of Okuhara, everyone from Saya Sato, Kawakami, Matsuyama, AY, AO, TanaYone, MM, Yuki Fukushima to Nagamatsu seems always capable of losing confidence completely in matches, with corresponding results. @kurako do you by any chance know if there's a sports psychologist with the team, or any other form of mentality training going on? Because it certainly doesn't look like it is.
I just thought it's Fukushima, for a while and of course it's not. ^-^ (the third picture on your post)
The accompanying support staff/coaches vary from tournament to tournament, but overall I would say that the answer is "no". As far as the Canada Open is concerned, I scanned the participants' list and found a trainer, whose name was unfamiliar. However, a quick search on the Internet indicated that she specialises in "sports massage". The same goes for the upcoming Indonesia Open. Attention is paid to physical, rather than psychological care. But then again, psychological training is more of a Western concept; the idea hasn't really caught on that much in Japan. I suppose the presumption is, that if you are physically on top of your game, then you won't have to worry about your mentality.
Hmm, I don't know if psychological training will work in Japan. Can't exactly say that mentality is not any players' issue regardless of the physicality of every players. Mental breakdown isn't only come down from oneself, but also from the opponents, especially if the opponents actively seek out to wear down the player's mental strength.
@kurako This one I agree with you, no need to worry about mentality if we can outperform our opponent @Cunning Linguist Lately Okuhara also has mental problem, when she lost in the Australis Open Final, clearly she lose her confidence completely on the final game. That worries me
I also watched the game between Mizui and ASY. She was doing very well in the first game and at the start of the second game. Suddenly, after making 1 or 2 mistakes that was clearly unforced (ASY did not cause her to make the mistakes at all), she became very angry, frustrated with herself. And after that, I don't even understand what happened? Instead of thinking how I will hit better with quality if I get the chance to hit same shot again, she was like as if she no longer wants to play. Complete mental collapse? Quite a strange phenomena to watch. Luckily, I didn't see this with Oie and Watanabe. They fight all the way. In that way, even if they loose, they will gain something from the game. As for Mizui, I guess, only she herself or her coaches can figure out what is going on. Maybe some injury, ... maybe, too high expectations for herself , .... fear or loss of confidence ....... who knows ... why almost 180 degrees change.
Absolutely. The Korean pair looked a little sluggish today. Matsui/Takeuchi are constantly overlooked as candidates for the national team (the B team), probably because they fail to perform well at domestic tournaments.
maybe Matsuyama need find an answer about her error? the korean pair got poin without did their attack. today's game i didn't see any fighting spirit from them both
Sounding like a broken record (probably even said that before ), but at this point you have to feel sorry for Shida. I think she played well in the first, did the majority of the work, had good defense and created a lot of points and opportunities. With a partner at her level, she could easily be a top 10 player. With Matsuyama, that is impossible. I only re-watched the first game because I couldn't endure more of this, but: Matsuyama made 10, count them, 10 unforced errors. As doubles player. In a single game. It would be a lot for a singles player, but for a doubles players (who is also hitting significantly less shots than her partner) it is just staggering. With Shida's 4 unforced errors you have 14 of 21 points that were directly gifted to the opponents. Add 6 forced errors combined (4 from NM, 2 from CS) and you realize the Koreans had to score just a single winner to bag the first game. Despite their top tier level offense (I think Nagamatsu and Chen/Jia are the only other pairs capable of scoring that many winners), they will never achieve anything of not playing like this.
i think it's too difficult to find another partner for Shida And I love MatsuShida play style, they can make many incredible shots. Just hope their coach can fix Matsuyama's problem soon...
I thought Kim Hye Min was very tired. All kinds of ways to slow down the match. Is it just my feeling, Korean players always like that? Baek Ha Na did that too
Just finished watching Ayumi Mine match. Ayumi Mine is Ok. Even though she lost but I didn't notice "meltdown." The experience will help her improve. Now I will try to find a replay of Oie match to watch even though she didn't win. I don't think I will see "meltdown." Oie is good and I enjoy watching her fight. She always put a little extra speed into the shuttle whenever she can. Hope she will go far.
Just finished watching Oie match. As expected, she was great. The match could have gone her way. With more experience, she will do really well. Her Chinese opponent, Wang Zhi Yi has good back hand. Oie also has good enough backhand but if she can improve more, she will become a powerful player. She attacks well. Like all attackers, she will make some mistakes now and then but with experience, she will make less and less mistakes. As long as she is willing to fight, I hope Japan will give her the chance and help her grow in her potentials.
