Once again, the tight schedule is hindering the full potential of some tournaments. Why would a super 750 tournament be held less than 48 hours after the finals of an event such as the WC? Does the BWF expect players who went throughout the whole WC tournament to play one of the match of their career on sunday, rest monday, and play again on tuesday? Not fair for the spectators who booked their tickets ahead, not helping to keep the momentum going for some players, discredit the level of the tournament (a lot of WC finalists won't be playing for the super 750 this week), and an added risk of injuries for the ones not able/allowed to withdraw.
Besides axelson and aaron/soh, everyone else is still playing. The rest of the withdrawals skipped the world champ too. Only reason aaron/soh withdrew is cos they won and wanna celebrate in the parade.
Most of the players from WC have far beyond 48 hours rest. If Bwf easily accepts the finalists from WC to withdraw is fair
On the other hand, aren’t the players free to pick and choose the tournaments? BWF puts the tournaments together to allow players two or three weeks with tournaments, get over jetlag and possibly reduce costs of travel. what if the world championships were separated from Japan Open for one week? Associations have to pay for greater food and accommodation costs, work out training facilities, be away from home for an extra week. Would it be possible to fly from Denmark to Japan, fly back to Denmark and then fly to Japan again within that one weeks break? just taking these two tournaments together, the players have already had a one months preparation (except for those playing in commonwealth games. Not all players reached the finals - others got knocked out earlier. Players can also get injured during normal training sessions.
All good points, especially for lower level. However, and in my opinion, we are talking about the top level players here and food and accomodation for an extra week is really a hole in the budget for federations/associations? We are talking about professional players and a WC and super 750. I understand with smaller super 100 and under 500 tournaments as it can help lower ranked players, but here? I'm not sure how it helps raise the badminton level during the Japan open this week. If we want players to perform at their very best on each and every tournament, I strongly believe 48hours (for the 2 finalists) and 72 hours (for the 4 semi finalists) rest for the best players of each category (supposedly as they reach the semi/finals of the WC) is not enough. Risk of injuries with back to back tourneys is not comparable with training injuries. When back to training, players do recovery sessions and slowly get back to more intense sessions. When a finalist or semi finalist of the WC play 2 or 3 days later a profesionnal match, the intensity of play is not the same as a recovery session. May be back to back tournaments are a good idea for smaller tournaments but if the BWF want to make badminton more profesionnal, may be they should consider making sure top players don't skip higher level tournaments because they are risking injuries.
but if you look at schedule next year, it starts with 4 S500+ tournaments in a row and definitely have to fly around as well.
There can be 4 tournaments back to back. I think they can make it such that the more prestige tournaments are first followed by the less prestigious tournaments Then if you happen to reach the finals, maybe you should be able to get a first round bye in the next. I know it's more complicated. As you need to rearrange the playing field at the last minute. But it would definitely address your issue I think 3 days rest should be sufficient.
If the players want to perform the best, they are free to pick and choose the tournaments that they target. The calendar is there for all players. If a player pulls out of one tournament, then it’s a chance for another to perform well and move up the rankings. I don’t see any distinction between players lower down the rankings to the top 30. Players have to manage themselves to the best advantage as do professionals in other sports. if BWF want to make badminton more professional …. IMO, more tournaments with better sponsorship is the answer. I know HK Open tried to get 750 status but BWF kept it at 500. If the money is there, why not upgrade? The only good reason I would accept is if country wants 750 or above status, it should also support a certain number of international junior and IC/100 tournaments in the same country for development of upcoming players or lower level players. For example England has the All England at 1000 level. Does the association organise other more minor international tournaments in England?
Funny how you mention that. Added in the calendar next year is the AE Junior Championships later in the year. Also, like Cheung has mentioned above, players can pick and choose. This year is even more special because the pandemic was still a big question mark at the end of 2021. In a way, it still is in some countries. These players needed a special visa to enter Japan. And as Novak Djokovic in Australia shows, sports is not bigger than government rules.
but I (as spectators) dont like the IndonesiaOpen schedule.. it was 500 500 750 1000, hard to skip it like that. There is high chance top players might get injured before the tournament and end up withdrawing, you arent gonna let slip the 2 500 events. The Olympic qualification also starts in EarlyMay, if I am an athlete i will just go for all the tournaments. 9000 points & 11000 points isnt much difference for me to skip S500 events. Except if i am Axelsen who can always take a rest after each tournament he wins. As an athlete, its all about the money. I would say most (90-95%) of the players are in agreement of more tournaments and maybe this is the best BWF can arrange it. Maybe instead of 4-4 they can do 3-3-3.
Players will have to be tactical about which tournaments they enter. For us spectators, that’s going to create more discussion about who needs what tournaments. It’s also going to increase the number of players who have the potential to get Olympic qualifying points. Increasing the number of players with a chance of getting in the Olympics is good, right?
Its good if it can have diverse range of players and nationalities.. but i can imagine 10 WD from Indonesia to the main round or XD for example in IndonesiaOpen. Or if not, they just give a walkover which doesnt look good on the draws. Have seen it like this before.
It can happen in abnormal circumstances named COVID-19 era, World Championships 2023 will be back on "normal" schedule.
Top players who have qualify for the WC, will likely play in Aussie Open given it is grade 500. They can skip NZ Open given its lower grade, right? So in between they have minimum 2 weeks of break.
Again, all solid points for upcoming players or sport development for younger/lower ranked players. My point, and I'll keep it shorter this time: can we say that the Japan open super 750 tournament will showcase the best badminton the world has to offer to the spectators? Knowing 2 WC are not there, and all players (okay except may be the first round exits) will still accumulate a certain level of fatigue and there is now way they can display their A-game or not without higher injury risks. Again I'm thinking super 750 here, if it were a super 300 or 500 I would not even raise the question, as those events are also meant for younger/lowest ranked players to shine. But the way i see it, a super 750 or 1000 should show the world the very best that badminton has to offer. Those are the events with the highest media coverage. But I'll rest my case, as I agree it is also an opportunity for lower ranked players to perform at a super 750 tournament and anyway, it seems it is exceptional this year following the WC.
@LenaicM Have you seen the start of next years calendar? BWF have to balance priorities between show casing the best and development of the game. Obviously Covid messed things up these last two years. Having more unpredictability across different players is no bad thing. Singapore got a world champion. Even Malaysia got a world champion now. The game needs to generate more interest across different countries. It’s easier for individual players to adjust to a tournament timetable than a timetable to match the players (within reasonable limits). https://cms.bwfbadminton.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2023-2024-BWF-Tournament-Calendar.pdf
Maybe, all S500 above tours will be important next year as Paris 2024 qualification period will commence on 1st May 2023 until 28 April 2024.
Here’s another possibility. Play Australia and New Zealand as your main target to pick up qualifying the points and not worry about doing well in the world championships.
