Some people will regard it as cheating because the serve was legitimate. It’s still consistent with what you wrote about wanting to win no matter how. He got caught fair and square.
I was never really a fan of AA, but after his injury I hoped for him, that he would be able to get some confidence in playing the japan open. But there are some naughty things which put me off. Not only the already known delaying tactics, but it started already with putting his nose not under the mask when entering/exiting the court on several occurences. This was not a 'oh... I forgot it' this was a statement of 'oh.. rules are not for me'. But the match vs Nishimoto was a display of trying to win a match by cheating, trying to bend the rules so much, ignoring any etiquette of sportsmanship. I hope that he get the punishment he deserved for this and which would hurt most, which would be reduced interested in sponsering him.
How I love it when people proclaiming that love and faith are the answer are slinging the meanest insults at others right in the next sentence. Oh, the irony.
I am one and he just defeated the number 1 seed at the US Open. And...there are even people who like guys like LD.
Welcome to badminton, the sport of gentlemen! When was the last time you saw a pro player admitting that he/she committed a fault such as: - touching the net with body/racket - hitting the shuttle after it touched the floor - hitting the shuttle twice - touching the shuttle with body/clothes - both players of a pair hitting the shuttle? Virtually all players would stay silent rather than admit any of the above if they can get away with it. Where is the sportsmanship in that? So if you are put off by Anders' "naughty tricks", I guess you should be put off by basically all players.
Be magnanimous, big-hearted, inclusive, non-discriminating, and look beyond the surface. Lin Dan has mellowed a lot, he's no longer the somewhat brash young man he once was; basically, he's one who wears his heart on his sleeve, a genuine person.
Only recreational players admit but not all. Maybe Pro players kept quite because they do not want to go against the umpire?
Nishimoto was also being naughty by serving so quickly without looking up. He got yellow card for it didn't he? For delaying the game by having to re serve again. In the final, even Chou was shaking his head a few times when Nishimoto served prematurely. But Chou, being more experienced in competitions than Antonsen, was smart to keep his hand up until he was truly ready. Antonsen should learn this as a valuable lesson. Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
For all things you have listed, there are umpires etc. at high level matches, so not the player decides what is right and wrong but the umpires. Yet I watch almost every international single match, women and men alike, and yes, there are all these lose shoe laces, getting some cold spray delaying tactics from men and women alike, but this 'I'm ready, I'm not ready, I'm ready... haha just, kidding , wasn't ready...ohhh, it went out, yes yes, I was ready' stuff AA pulled off was something not seen (often) in other matches. Either it was a clumpsy try to delay, or he wanted to influence his opponent or he wanted a service to his advantage. But eventually only a player who knows that he is not as good as his opponent tries to win with this cheeky moves.
Exactly my point. All the pro players play by the mantra: "It ain't cheating if the umpire allows it". The umpire allowed it the first time by letting the point be replayed.
I agree with you. The umpire made a very poor error of judgement in allowing the replay. With more money coming into the sport, umpires are going to have to show a higher and more rigorous standard of consistency on discipline.
Paid as well as accredited by BWF so that umpires and service judges become a profession held to a certain standard such that only those who are qualified are employed with stipulated duties, rights, obligations and responsibilities, including terms and conditions clearly stated in their contractual agreement, which also carries penalties for dereliction of duties, professional misconduct, and breach of contract. Of course, doing this entails costs, can't be helped, if professional badminton is to be a truly globalized, popular and highly respected sport, and attract more sponsorships. Perhaps, we can start with a small but sufficient number of professional badminton officials comprising umpires and service judges, excluding line judges as there is IRS to take care of it, good enough for the time being, and, for a start, have them deployed to the top tier tournaments, say, all Grade 1 top-notch events, namely, Olympics, World Championships, Thomas Cup, Uber Cup, and Sudirman Cup but excluding the World Senior (age-group) Championships (to save cost), and Grade 2 events from Level 1 to 3, namely, World Tour Finals, World Tour Super 1000, and World Tour Super 750 (include WTS 500, if costs permit). Just a suggestion, off the top of my head.
they are already 'accredited' by bwf. the problem is the current accreditation system is piss poor peer review system. it's mostly by quantity of time served rather than quality. they need, but do not have, a permanent full time panel assessing the umpires as they work their way up. the full-time umpire issue is an obvious money problem. no way bwf wants to pay full-time umpires to fly half way around the world business class every week on top of the umpires salary. they don't like paying for anything. tournament hosts aren't going to absorb that add'l cost either. hosts already have to pay for food & lodging for the entire umpire staff. keep in mind you need 4 umpires per court... 2 on court & 2 rotating next.
Disagree. Why should he need to look up? Maybe a lot of players do look up out of habit but that doesn’t mean he needs to look up. Again, because the receiver has set his receiving position, receiver is ready. An analogous situation would be underarm serving in tennis as a surprise. Most tennis players use overarm technique. There was a famous tennis example of Michael Chang versus Ivan Lendl in the final of the French open doing exactly that. Ivan Lendl was caught out by the quickly taken underarm serve. Naughty or tactical? Good tactics I say. It can be overused.
Let's quickly OT remember the infamous '99 French Open Final with Martina Hingis in utter desparation and with a match point against her doing the same against Steffi Graf. Legal going by the rules, but you need to live with the consequences like getting a lot of heat from the fans. Fun fact: Martina Hingis never won a major tournament ever again after that match. I honestly don't know what AA thought he was doing in those moments. It would have been so easy just to stand there with his hands up and kind of setting up a trap to see if Nishimoto falls into it. Instead he completely falls apart. Still the easily triggerable, uncontrolled hothead he has ever been. Still doesn't seem to have grown into a professional athelete you'd expect at an age of 25 years.
