To be frank,it's getting harder for Lin Dan to win any majors or the titles that matter to him as time goes by. Not only must he work hard at physical training as he himself admitted, I believe he also need some other favourable factors or circumstances what we call luck in general, such as luck of the draw, lucky net cords, his archrivals and most difficult opponents knocked out before meeting him, and no surprises from those players whom he is expected to beat, eg, Huang Yuxiang who played unusually well at the AE and pushed Lin Dan hard to three-setters by coming back strongly in G2 to force the decider and sapped a considerable amount of his energy so much so that the accumulated fatigue actually took a toll on him in the final with Shi Yuqi. Otherwise, I have justifiable reasons to doubt Lin Dan can cross the final hurdle or even clear the penultimate round. This AE'18 final with Shi Yuqi reminds me of what Lin Dan said about his loss to Viktor Axelsen at the Glasgow WC'17 which he thought he had his chances if only he managed to convert the 1st game when 20-19 up instead of losing the deuces. Mind you, the WC is also a six-round event, not the typical five-round as in the AE among others.
I beg to differ and seriously doubt it. Rudy won his so-called 8th AE title in 1976 at the age of 27, born 18th Aug 1949, and retired in 1981 (?) without winning another one. More telling is he won some of his AE titles when Tang Xianhu and Hou Jiachang were both kept out of IBF tournaments, which included the AE, for political reasons unfortunately, not the players' fault. And I 'm not talking about the level of competition and the number of top-notch contestants then and now. That's partly why I qualified my statement by saying there's no meaningful comparison as these two eras are too far apart.
5 WC and 2 OG for Rudi ? absolutely no, if he has to play against Tang Xianhu and Hou Jiachang. even Asian Games is too difficult for Rudi, that's why when 32 y.o. Hou wins Asian Games Gold Team and Individual, I don't know where Rudi is ? even 8 AE titles is impossible for Rudi if Tangand Hou are allowed to participate he was absent (again) in 1978 Asian Games Bangkok and also 1980 badminton friendly in Singapore (it's near from Indonesia to Thailand and Singapore)
1980 World Championships in Jkt, he still play and win (already 31 y.o.) but never ask about 1974 Asian Games (he was only 25 at that time) and several meets after that.
Safe to say Lin Dan is back at his normal level after the horrendous showing in China, Hong Kong Open and the recent Indonesia and Malaysia Masters.
Yeah my point is RH would have 7/8WC and 4OG at that time , and LinDan would have still been GOAT lol.
Different circumstances mate. Lin Dan had to tank his final against Chen Jin in the year which we all know was his peak. Just to make sure Chen Jin qualified for Beijing Olympics. Again, Lin Dan didn't play two years of All England when he was in his prime, 2013-14. Feel free to disagree with me but the Champions of both the years were not so spectacular and Lin Dan would have definitely conquered one of the editions there. Even the worst version of Lin Dan, in 2015, made it to the semi final of All England. Just shows how strong he has been in this tournament. If you ask me, Lin Dan's All England record is as impressive as Rudy's when you compare the opportunities they had to win the title. Even in terms of peak play, I doubt anyone could stop 2009 AE Lin Dan. But, as I said, disagree with me unless you are doubly sure you agree with me.
But I think even making it to the final at this stage of his career only improves his records and further highlights his prowress. Remember, we both felt that it was incredible how Lee Chong Wei was making it to WC finals in 2015, Rio Olympics Final at the age of 33 and 34 respectively.
LD is very strong at the net, he should have played more netshots in the finals against SYQ instead of making predictable lifts. Sometimes, SYQ is already moving back before LD plays the lift because it is too predictable. LD's game is currently too easy to read. SYQ has a strong attack, but its strength largely comes from anticipating the lift and moving backwards early to play a good shot.
During the Lin Dan - Shi Yuqi match in G1, Morten Frost praised that Lin Dan's lifts have precision and good length. But I'd like to add that MF forgot to mention when Lin Dan is slow or, worse still, fatigued, he's often forced to lift predictably and that's when his opponents would anticipate it and quickly get behind the shuttle to thunder down the smash which, more often than not, would leave Lin Dan either scrambling in vain to retrieve it or simply stranded. Similarly, in the Lin Dan - LCW QF clash, Morten Frost praised Lin Dan's net play sky high, the best in the world, but, again allow to add, if Lin Dan is sluggish or late to the net due, mostly, to fatigue, and attempt to play the net shot predictably, the opponents are likely to read it and pounce on it. In other words, whether Lin Dan lifts or plays nets well or chooses to play clears or net shots more, timing is of the essence which is also imperative when executing any attacking or defensive shots. But in order to be able to do that, you got to have the requisite fitness or stamina and, of course, it helps a lot if you also possess the ability to read the opponent's game and hence better anticipation except that the latter alone is not enough if you lack the physical ability to do it. You just have to compare the Lin Dan - LCW QF match with the Lin Dan - Shi Yuqi Final match, particularly in G3, at the AE'18 to discern the difference where, clearly, in the former encounter Lin Dan still had the necessary fitness and speed for his quality shot-making right from the get-go to the very end but apparently less so in the latter where in the decider, esp,we could see he was running on empty. That's my observation. My 2 cents.
I feel LD was quite upbeat and more than ready to give his best in the third game. After all, he is used to play three games with most players these days. Unfortunately, SYQ took initial few points and took a very early lead, coupled by few unforced errors by Lin Dan. And the lead was way touch to catch up for LD. Also, that injury break gave a bit of breather for the breathless SYQ. Overall, LD did great. Wouldn't mind seeing him play for at least two years. Now his unpredictability is making his matches even more interesting
World Championships inaugural edition is 1977 and Rudy nailed WC crown in 1980. It's really hard to make comparison between Rudy Hartono and Lin Dan since generation gap of both players and badminton competition wasn't so fierce at 1970's when Rudy Hartono dominated world badminton scene. Indonesia is the king of badminton before China joined IBF (now BWF) in 1981.
HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAH Is that how you celebrate after beating Lee Chong Wei and creating a never-seen-before record at All England ?
I felt like LD wasn't tired and SYQ would run out of steam any moment in that match. I think if it kept on going, LD would outlast SYQ just because SYQ has to work much harder. The lack of netshots from LD caused him to lose, we only saw 2 or 3 netshot exchanges that consisted of consecutive netshots from both players. The rest of the time, LD lifted for SYQ to play the smash winner...almost like a practice drill.
Haha, i know the reason for defeat. LD simply underestimated Shi's good form or perhaps was told to underestimate Shi's form. The shots were not good enough tactically against Shi and LD's defense wasn't in mood to cover for '100% will be a winner' strokes like he was in mood of doing so against LCW. But I can assure you, LD can get better at reading Shi's game which won't bode very well for Shi Yuqi. Also, Shi Yuqi was getting breathless in the 2nd game but God was so kind to him with that blood injury(wtf ) and gave him a good 5 minute breather. In the third game, such a fluke net cord at 5-1 which made LD look up to the heavens and say to almighty : " So you have decided to be so heartless to me today '' ......if that was 5-2....i can assure you that third game would be as closer as the first game but LUCK was on Shi Yuqi's side as well apart from all the Good/Great things he did in the final.
