I think pressure / nerves and errors were the defining points of the first game. Both players tend to play in streaks, they win several points but then go off the boil. Gade particularly tries to dictate but sometimes loses quickly when his A plan doesn't work. In the third end after the two long rallies Gade did not try to stop Dan winning, instead he continued to try to win the points himself, despite suffering physically. Of course this is why Gade is such a popular player, but perhaps also why he hasn't won even more. As lin Dan got closer to winning he again came under pressure and Gade was able to score again, but having let him get so far ahead quickly the match was lost. The reasons for Lin Dan being negative in the first end? Possibly nerves led him to be defensive and lift more, unconfident of playing Peter att he net. Possibly his game plan was to take the edge off Gade by ensuring he made Gade smash a lot early. Perhaps Lin Dan himself was aware of his poor tactics/nerves at the start and his coach merely had to say "you know you need to relax, attack, stick to the plan". I don't think anyone sets out to give a game away but they may set out to run their opponent and if that necessitates there opponent initially outscoring them so be it. Often in the past even when Gade has lost I felt he somewhat beat himself, I didn't get that feeling on Sunday, I thought Lin Dan played very well and has an exceptional game.
i don't believe lin dan gave the first set away..... but rather it was his eroors... but it's clear that his strategy is to make GADE tire out faster... and lin dan forced gade to take over head shots... .. if lin dan was playing his normal game... GADE will have little chance of overhead shots as lin dan would smash and keep the shuyttle low most of the time..... lin dan's attack styles involves lots of jumping...... and if gade has no chance to attack while lin dan's attacking.. whose using up more energy?
- I think all of you guys give good analyses, the only thing I disagree with is that players do not give away the first set. It is a a strategy as old as the hills, when you play an aging player to pull him to 3 sets. I think people always use this against eg. Xia Xuan Ze. The most classic I can think of is 1984 AE where Frost adopted this Against Liem Swie King,
Giving people the first game so you extend them to three........I don't get it! If you win the first game you can either win in two or go to three ends, and if you favour your chances of winning in three thats ok. By winning the first game you are guaranteed to not lose in two, which is in theory the only way you can lose against one of these "older" players. If however you face an explosive opponent (Gade, LSK) their standard may be higher than yours over the first end but by the end of the second they are unable to maintain their tempo , they have effectively gambled on winning in two. That is what we see in the Frost match. He certainly didn't give the game away, but he did play an even stadard for three ends. Susi Susanti was another example, she would mostly win in two, she always put a lot of effort into the first end. However when she did lose the first end invariably she would comeback to win in three.
- Perhaps its merely a choice of words ie "giving".Nowadays English used outside UK may not be what it used to be. Probably what is meant is that when one plays an opponent not so fit, one could afford to let go of first if the opponent has a very extended lead and hope to come back in next 2. Really saving the best for last. But throwing away the first set without inflicting damage on opponent may have an altogether different meaning. Again Frost comes to mind in 1982 and 1983 playing Luan Jin. He knew Luan Jin couldnt last 3 in 1982 and prevailed by a comfortable margin in 3rd. Tried again in 1983 but Luan Jin proved to have improved in stamina and plan backfired. Now I'm no coach but this is what i learnt form the commentary given by Derek Talbot. sorry to have to use such antique examples but I cant think of other egs as one has to go back that far to find players suspect in their fitness.
- rumble in the jungle Now I suddenly thought of a graet eg. but unfortunately have to go back further in time to sth said by Eddy Choong (same guy you saw in mixed awards). Say you are running in the 400 metres against and opponent whom you know can sprint very fast over 1st mstres but tails off at last 200. Assume that in 400metres it is not possible to run at the same fast pace over 400 metres. You are off the blocks, you ropponent runs like the wind in 1st 100 metres and you know he cant last the pace forever, would you try and meet him head to head and beat him in 1st 200 as you know it is futile as you are not so fast in 1st but better in last ?or would you try to keep close to him and only overtake in last 200. Can you say by not running your fastest that you are "giving" the race away? Again go back to 1974 rumble in the jungle, Ali knew he couldn't match George blow for blow, did he try to outpunch George? Or did he wait for George to punch himself out b4 delivering the knock-out at closing stages when George at latter rounds? I dont think I am capable of making precise statemments as English is not my first language,maybe most of you can read between the lines? i
Yes we agree then Bbn that a player may lose the game because they play at a lower pace than their opponent, or their opponent plays at his maximum pace from the start.
- Looks that way DLP, we''ll never know could be Pacing, an error or pure luck. Anyway I attach a very dated article on Li Mao. Of course what he did doesn't apply today where players are all dangerous, and his tactic was only used in test matches. I saw him try his strategy against Liem Swie King and Li was squashed like a bug. I think people like Sun Jun is also guilty of this eg. 1999 Sudirman against Ahn and 2000 Olympics against Hendrawan, playing the wrong game. I am not saying this is the case in recent AE. If it was the case lin must be really foolish or arrogant,in li Mao's case his tentativity ensured he never made it big,
Re: - The following is partial translation of Lin Dan from an article (sports weekly) from the following link in Chinese: www.bbesports.com/news/0403/19f.htm Lin Dan was asked about where his confidentce come from, he said "confidence comes from self-analysis." Before each match, Lin Dan will have very thorough analysis and comparison between his opponent and himself. He said "For example, Peter Gade, I played against him for 4 times. Since Peter is one of China's main opponents, I studied many of Peter's game tapes. I knows Peter's tendencies pretty well, even Peter's little movement at court, I knows what he's thinking. Before the All England final, I continued to analyze between Peter and myself even when I was eating, taking shower, going to bathroom and when I was sleeping. I didn't stop analyzing until before the match" Lin Dan didn't do that well at the beginning of the match, he said "I gave myself pressure and told myslef I had to win, so I was a little tight in the beginning. I don't think I gave myself too much pressure, I just fell since I'm at the final, I got to win at the end. Especially, each victory gives me more confidence."
I think whaen I said "gave" the game, I was a little misunderdstood. What I meatn was that he may not have been trying as hard to win the game, but merely, to extend it, and if in doing so, he lost, then that shoiuld not be too bad. In any case, lin dans strategy worked, he won. The first set was also close, with many long points. If you win the first, but lose the second, I think you are at disadvatage, as the other player has momentum, and psychological advantage, as he may think you are tired, and can win the third game easier.
The same can be said about losing the first game. This could make your opponent's confidence soar and could make things very difficult for yourself. In elite level where everybody's skill is close, often the mental attitude of the moment makes the difference. Remember the last Olympics men's singles final between Ji and Hendrawan? Having watched that match I would say Hendrawan is the better player but Ji won the gold medal... I believe Lin Dan planned to win the match in 2 games but to extend the first game as much as possible. With Gade's fine run you never know what would happened if you give him the first game. Gade had beaten other top players in 3 games. But anyways what really happened only Lin Dan can tell.
i think lin dan tried to win him in the first game... but... just too many mistakes..... then in the second game, with the same strategy... he made less mistake.. and won
- This post gives me the opportunity to retell an old tale told by my late father which happened in 50s or 60s. Seems at that time Thailand had a very famous player called WAttanasin who could play very fast and bang down everything in sight. In one major tournament he met Erland Kops who was then a great retriever. Wattanasin smashed everything in sight, Kops just returned everything. After 1, 2 setd Wattanasin got sick and had to retire. Of course Kops developed his game more to incorporate attack in later life, but the match I think served as inspiration for retrievers like Foo Kok Keong, Ong Ewe Hock,Yong Hock Kin etc. Maybe one day when you meet Kops in his restaurant he could tell you the actual story. But here I am glad to be able to put it on record.
Match Statistics Just watched full HK version : Set 1- 30 m set 2-19 m Set3 -17 m Gade of 1998/99 would have done much better.
Maybe Lin also did not want the net play to dominate. Maybe Lin thinks Gade has the better netplay. I haven't seen many of Gade's games, so is his netplay considered to be good? I have seen some of Gade's games against Hendrawan, and Hendrawan killed him at the net. Lin Dan played at the net more in the 2nd and 3rd sets, possibly because Gade was moving slower and not getting to the net early enough. So I would say it was a strategy to run Gade around to slow him down.
yea.. i totally agree wif u man.lin dan had to play three sets to beat gade..who is obviously isn't 100% fit....lin dan had to fight 4 every point...it will be a different story when gade is in 100% form...by the...lin dan would be nothing..
LOL, I hardly think Lin Dan "would be nothing" by then. Considering how the man has already won 6 Grand Prix golds and 2 Grand prix silvers by age 20, I think he is only going to get back with age (just like wine). Everybody has mentioned how his mental strength is number 1 on CHN squad at such a young age and that physically, he can outplay and outlast all his opponents. Give him 2 or 3 more years and at the pace he's progressing, he'll be even greater than the likes of Yang Yang and Zhao Jian Hua were, back in their peak days...
or he´ll be injured. Who knows maybe he will get injuries like Xia and Sun Jun who also entered world stage at early age. And we haven't seen a 100% wong or Gade fighting Lin Dan yet. Or what about Chen Hong, his overseen by a lot of you, but still he won 3 major tournaments last year. Look out for him and a Gade who just has begun training twice a day now and will gain a lot of physical strengh from that. Of course Lin Dan is strong right now but its not the Olympics yet and you saw what happened to the big favourite Chen Hong in WC 03 and what happened to Gade en WC 99 and 01 and the olympics in sydney.
after watching the Gade/LinD match. i have to agree that Lin was purposedly prolonging the first and 2nd game to wear out Gade. first set, Lin was serving an unusal proportion of high, just baiting Gade to smash them all down and expend his energy, most of the return are fast clears to Gade that is hard to reach, and then Lin has this amazing ability to read shot so he grabs Gade drops early and defended well. he just grill on like this in the first game. Lin did make quite a few unforced errors but much of it i think is due to the drift in the stadium. he cleared quite a few shots long to the baseline in the first and the first 1/2 of the 3rd game, 2nd game he didn't have as many long lifts. that's the reason why i attributed that to his inability to adapt to the drift on one end of the court. 2nd set, Lin speeded up the game a little bit, now he started to mix in more net jumps instead of lifts, more smashes instead of drops. but with it, he increased the pace even more. he was watching Gade's reaction and Gade tried to keep up but he wasn't able to keep up after the exhausting first game. the increase in pace in the 2nd game further dig into Gade's energy store and by the 3rd game, Gade was already spent. it was obvious that Gade was exhausted. not having watched the match, i was wondering what Lin would do now now that it was obvious Gade cannot keep up? will he smash his way into victory or will he continue the same strategy that worked so well? so i think he did add in more smashes but overall, he didn't change his strategy too much. at 14-4, i think Gade did pick up trying to see if he gets second win. he did managed to gain a few points but it was to no avail, the energy just isn't there and he just cannot keep up at that point. the title then was for Lin to grasp. so what's there to bring home? i think Lin won strategically. by attacking power, i think Lin and Gade aren't too dissimilar. if they have a smashing fest, the match may go either way. it maybe 50/50, or 45/55 chances. however, he recognized that Gade is quite a few years senior of him and just came back from injury, he knows that if he plays an endurance game, try to drain him out of energy, he will a much higher chance, when playing against someone tired and exhausted, the are just so much more choice and the odds will be higher, maybe 75/25. so he did all the shots that allows him to wear Gade out and succeeded. so did it matter if he loses the first set? maybe, maybe not. i doubt he will deleberately lose it, but i think the outcome wouldn't matter. as long as he doesn't lose 1st and 2nd game, he will have a high winning chance. was it a gamble? sure, it was. but it was a fairly high chance gamble, Lin is only 20yrs old and very fit, by the end of the 3rd set, he looked like he could go on for a couple of sets. fitness is an asset he has over his opponent, it was a wise choice to make use of it.
You guys are right; LIN Dan did tired Peter GADE out as a strategy. The first set was the longest of the three, if I'm not mistaken. Second, you can see that GADE showed signs of fatigue by his movements, body gestures, and shots. GADE did many drops as well as many re-drops, way more than there should have been. And if you watch closely, they are not as tight as the ones he did in the first set. Either that or they don't go over at all. He should have lifted a lot of them to the back to try to move LIN around. Sadly, he did not have the energy to lift the shuttle to the back. Poor GADE he was played like a fool.
