Yesterday was the birthday of my only favorite Japan player, Akane Yamaguchi. Already 22 years old, hopefully she can play more confidently on the court. The most memorable moment : - At the French Open, she won when everyone thought TTY was too tough to beat. - At BAC this year, when she looked a little troubled in the early rounds (always playing until deciding game), and she made one stadium silent, when she won this tournament. She can always surprise us with her game. Many people blame her for Japan's defeat at the Sudirman Cup this time. But I believe she can keep those people silent again. Happy Birthday to Her. Ganbatte !!
Incredible Indonesia Open for Yamaguchi, beating convincingly no less than TTY and PV Sindhu. In the final, it was like watching Sonic playing badminton: quick and explosive, with a very sharp netplay, so many shuttles brazing the net.
Big Congratulations to Akane Yamaguchi! Sindhu, with her new coach was looking fierce this time and after seeing what she did with Okuhara and Chen Yu Fei, I thought only TTY or CM can handle her. But Akane Yamaguchi did it.
Interesting words from Yamaguchi after her second Japan Open trophy: “I wish I could’ve played this well in the Sudirman Cup final. The loss in the final made me learn and helped me improve.” That's the mark of a true champion, learning from failures. Her game has been really impressive the past two weeks: it's amazing how she can be so aggressive with her height. Maybe PJB should freeze her until Tokyo 2020
Congratulations to Akane's resounding victories in back-to-back tournaments, clinching the Super 1000 INA Open and the Super 750 Japan Open in 2019. I believed, based on current form, Akane and Tai TY are the top two contenders for the Basel WC. I think Marin is likely to skip the world champs as she's hinted and even if she decides to play, she probably won't be in top form just coming back from injury layoff. That's not to say Marin at her best is better than TTY and AY in major events, I should consider the three of them the top contenders unless Chen Yufei too can rise to the occasion to be in the running. And I hasten add, Akane now plays an all-rounded game, not that defensive as before nor mainly just a superb retriever to frustrate and annoy her opponents. Her attacking ability from the backline in spite of her short stature impresses me as much as her phenomenal running ability to throw everything back at her opponents.
On second thought, I felt I must add Nozomi Okuhara's name in the mix for world championship contention. She is also an all-rounder now and capable of raising her game as she did at the Glasgow WC'17 for the crown.
Well, you know this is not the first time I commended Akane but, obviously, you are blind to it for personal reasons. And, again,this time it gets under your skin ? What's your beef, Mr Cunning Linguist ? If this isn't trolling, what is ?
I wouldn't be surprised if Akane Yamaguchi can win Olympic gold even though she lost a lot of games lately. It is a matter of watching what she can do when she is on form and when she really wants it.
Is it just me or has Akane slimmed down a bit? Wonder how well she can do, any medal would be amazing but against Kirsty Gilmour there were a decent amount of errors. Can't say anything about the WS Olympics yet, it's really competitive between a handful of players.
Her face does look a little slimmer, but maybe it's b/c her hair is a bit longer, causing the illusion? Other top WS players have been making a lot of mistakes too, like Ratchanok, Tai, and Okuhara. THer face doesn't show it, but that horrendous missed net kill at the beginning of the first game against Kirsty said a lot. Yamaguchi has always been pretty weak under pressure, imo, so I hope she can just not think too much about what's at stake and just play her own game. It's going to come down to who can hold their nerves the best.
This lady just won my heart, take a bow, hats off!! Hope she wins it all, WC, OC, AG, cause she is very much capable.
After a very tight win over ever so average HBJ, this is an awesome win against a much better opponent.
That’s my wish too. I just want to see her laugh like she really enjoys the victory (I know she must enjoys playing and winning every match, but still)
I am very happy for Akane Yamaguchi. With all the shiny skills and power smashes , People sometimes forget that that there is also an important aspect in the Badminton sport and it is called - hard work. Assuming that my skills are not bad the opponent skills are almost equal or maybe slightly better, then let's fight it out by a matter of who is more willing to put in the hard work for every point. If you are willing to work harder than me than you deserve to win. Akane didn't forget this and was willing to out work her opponent. Momota was like this before the accident. But after the accident , i guess sometimes a champion is allowed to be lazy a bit while rebuilding himself. Next time a player face Akane, they will already have the fear in their mind about having to work very hard in spite of having good skills. But of course, if they are willing to put in the work, and able to win, then they deserve to win. In Momota's case the opponent has to work hard for accuracy when smashing to the line. If they can do that for every smash then they deserve to win and i don't think Momota will complain. If i am right, there will come a time when almost every serious player will have good skills, good power and good footwork. Training technology has improved, ability to gather good technical datas of opponent has improved, rackets has improved, trainning equipments has improved, Dietary management has improved.,... so there will come a time when it is a battle of hard work, patience , discipline, courage and quick thinking. Players will be winning each other by narrow margins - sometimes by just by 1 or 2 extra points. Everyone will be LD or LCW in one way or another. Badminton will be exciting like a 100 or 200 meter race and who will persevere and get across the line by a few cm faster than the opponent wins the race. Those who have good skills but lazy to put in the hard work, prefers to win fast will not cut it. WS category is already moving in this direction. More and more it is difficult to predict whether Okuhara, Marin, Sindhu, Tai Tsu Ying, Chen Yu Fei, Akane, Inathon will win on that particular day. But if Akane is consistent and willing to work as hard as she did , then even if she loose some games, my bet will be on Akane.
I can't see a top 1 future of any of these two players. CM will have a hard time after injuring both of her knees, and TTY might retire sooner or later, but much earlier than her body would allow her to continue. CYF and ASY are most likely top tier players and a more experienced and less injured ASY will be able to take the crown eventually. As much as I love to see Akane play, her game is all about being able to retrieve every single shot, but this running and getting under the shuttle will not age very well.
Your " ever s oaverage HBJ' lost by the narrowest of margins, 21-23 and 20-22; in fact, in G1, she was 21-20 up and in G2 20-19 up, before losing both deuces. In that case, how about rattling off the top of your head 10 or 20 names of players who aren't " ever so average" that can take on Akane, the super retriever?
