I saw Victors show at the end of the match with the racket and the crowd. I got repulsed for a second. :s
After watching a lot of old Momota matches to consolidate myself after todays massacre my conclusions are the following: Momota of before had better footwork, was faster, had better touch, better control, made less errors, his defence was way way better than what it is today. Also he actually had good power in his smashes, believe it or not. My opinion is that Momota has deteriorated more than Axelsen has improved.
In order for Momota to improve he first has to accept that VA has improved in attacking and defending. VA is not the type that doesn't do his "homework" and analyse thoroughly how to improve himself. That said I'll always support Momota as long as he is willing to continue fighting to better himself. I hope Momota can learn to love badminton the way he loved badminton before the accident. Difficult to continue the fight if his mind is divided. Also difficult to continue the fight if playing tournament is just a tedious work trying to please the fans. Once he makes up his mind that he was kind of born for badminton and he has a great talent in badminton, I'm very sure he will find courage and determination again. That's why I'm most interested to hear from his own words about what are his plans. It will be a great loss if he loses interest in badminton. His desire to win should not be because of pleasing the fans. His fear of losing must not be because of fear of being judged by fans. It must be because of his love to challenge himself in the game that he enjoy and loved. (Hmmm... For some people... winning good prize money and medals might help in motivation. But I believe love for the game is still the most important). Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
Part of me still want to understand what is going on with the coaching side. By now , the coaches should have lots and lots of videos on VA and LZJ. If they don't, they are not serious in their mission. But what I see is like doing the same thing again and again hoping for a different result. Surely they can see that the "in thing" now is how to execute very steep smashes from the back of the court. Surely they can see that to have a fighting chance, own attacking skills must also be worked on. Surely they can see that the "in thing" now is to intercept every slow returns. I fully believe that what they can do Momota can also easily do if he trains for it. And it is very possible Momota can do it even better. But if he don't train for it .. then ... Nothing happens. No reason why Momota cannot do what they can do. Sometimes, they learn from Momota (to play the net better, to defend better, to conserve stamina ...) and sometimes Momota can learn from them. Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk
I personally believe that MS had never been weaker than during the two years preceeding covid. Old top players were on the brink of retirement (LCW, LD, CL, SWO, TS, etc) and the new generation of players were barely emerging (LS, LZJ LKY, KV, etc who by the way need time to mature and "fill their shoes". Altough some already got impressive results for such a young age). We were left with Ginting, KS (going through a downfall crisis), JC, CTC, KM and VA in their prime. The latter being mostly injured or affected by his asthma/allergies during that time to the extent he missed some tournaments including the WC 2019. But anyway, this is subjective. Regarding the evolution of VA. What about this? Coming from a credible source who probably knows better than anyone else on here. KM post match interview (posted by @Baddyforall on the latest tournament's thread): "He was too good today. I tried to catch up little by little, but he was too strong. He has improved; his speed and quality of shots has gone up on every level. Coming into the final I wasn’t tense at all, so that was a big step forward, and something to take away.”
No MOMOTA , You were beyond pathetic. DON'T FORGET 10 OF THE FIRST ELEVEN POINTS YOU LOST IN THE FIRST SET WERE LIFTS THAT YOU SENT LONG, 5 OF THEM ON THE SIMPLE RETURN OF SERVE!
I have news - Axelsen dropped out from Malaysian Masters claiming to need time to rest and recover. The headband has drained him too much. Kento will play Watanabe in the first round.
Oh please. Momota has played against "today's Viktor" at the Denmark Open 2021, when all the commentators said prior to the game VA was "untouchable" and that Momota was lacking a lot of his former strength. I can remind you of what transpired there, but let us just say, it wasn't a 21-4, 21-7 kind of match. Maybe Axelsen has continued to improve himself since then. He must have found something in training that he hasn't had all those years before, then, because the improvement can't really be from competetive matches against quality opposition. There simply is no "quality opposition" left. VA is the only world class player today and he is overwhelming favourite to win every tournament. Not just because he's good, but because who else is there to beat him? Antonsen? LZJ? Ginting? Christie? All role models for inconsistency with the bad performances (for whatever reason) outweighing good ones.
Asthma? Really? I thought everyone know why this diagnosis appears in world class athlets anamnesis ))) As for KM I think he could just outgrow badminton. Frankly, this is just freaking shuttle flying everywhere around. What's a big deal for a big boy who sees his future without all this garbage? And yes, if you think its not garbage just reread this forum.
It is impressive how much Viktor has matured and grown in self confidence over the past 2 years, especially given his previously horrible head to head statistics against KM. Something like 12-2? Viktor of the past would basically self destruct when under the pressure of long rallies with KM. You could see his face getting red with anger at himself during the rallies and almost can imagine steam coming out of his ears. But no longer, perhaps being married and being a dad has mellowed him now, or perhaps his father in law trainer has done great things to strengthen his mental aspect. But you have to give Viktor credit. He is the unbeatable full package now. Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
Agree with Visor. We have to give full credit to VA for his improvement. We can't fault him for Momo's decline (hopefully its temporary) and the strength of MS field.
No disrespect to Momota but your words made me laugh. Lol Have you seen that he struggles during rallies which was his forte before. His skills are there but opponents are trying to move him around. Kanta is no way talented as him but he knows exactly what is needed to beat him. He did it clinically with ease.
This is momota v2. Call him motakta now. Not momota v1. Lol Just lacked stamina, speed, defence and power. Horrible. Hope he can recover. Am counting him out.
