Fatigue definitely doesn't excuse his behaviour. Although I may be a hypocrite in singles and give up due to 'exhaustion', I (Among many others) would never let my partner down, whether it be mixed or doubles. If your partner is giving it their all, you better do the same.
How hard do they make the players train at the NBC, because they might have worked Nathan too hard in the run-up to the tournament. I remember in a recent tournament at Wimbledon the european junior champion Rajiv Ouseph had to pull out as he fainted earlier in the week because the England coaches worked him so hard. Also a lot of players at the NBC are coming out injured after training there so I wonder if they work the players too hard there and Nathan was fatigued as a result of this.
I do wonder about nathan's fitness compared with other players on the circuit. There is only him that has this obvious laid back style altho he uses his height and reach to great effect and can dig up the shuttle when he needs to. but when he was on super stars he really struggled.. i know this isn't quite the same, and it could have just been that he wasn't bothered.. but he came last in the cycling uphill.. i thought badminton players in general had decent stamina and good lowerbody strength? i don't think he won any events at all. i mean don't get me wrong - he's the greatest thing that's happened to english badminton since simon archer, and i'd imagine he'll be going for a while yet. but i do think he needs to work on his fitness. his racquet skills and general gameplay and strategy are world class, even his mental games with the opponent are pretty gd - i mean - if ur losing to somebody who doesn't appear to be trying how mindbending can that be. i mean - i know when i play against people that don't look like they can be arsed it can be pretty infectious. Coops
i'm not sure how hard the training is but it doesn't really matter how hard it is. as long as a player doesn't get put straight into the way to hard training for them, the hardness should be built up of a period of time
As others have said Gao/Zhang won last week, and gao played WD too. Also it was the swiss open-not exactly a major tournament, and if this is the excuse, they why were they peaking for the swiss open with the AE so close? Finally I think I have made it clear they are not my beloved pair. I support the badminton not the players.
I like people to win who deserve it. Actully I think the players who won AE this year did deserve it. Lin Dan played some tough players throughout the tournament, DEN MD pair played consistent badminmton against young fresh and taleted opponents, Gao/Huang didn't struggle against any of their pairs except Zhag/Yang, XXF is clearly better than any other WS, and Gao/Zhang came through a very strong looking ENG pair playing well. I am not taking much away from ENG, they played the best I have seen and for most of the game (timewise) they were very focussed.
it is a hard lesson must be learnt by the ENG pair. They would have won it if they have stay the course onto their decider. When gao ling put her foot down, u better come stomping as well or she'll eat u whole. Let me point out a key ingredient of china comeback not recognized by the ENG team. While battling hard to come back, when china felt they have the chance of a come back, u should look at gao ling face, it went from very expressive mood shown in previous 2.5 games to a completely emotionless poker face, ie she's putting her foot down. Nathan return serve hit the net, gail return serve hit the net. Gao is a coffin nailer. Same thing happened in 2005 sudirman cup. Gao nailed the INA in the longest rally that i have ever witnessed, breaking the indo's spirit. Gao's poker face made the indo guy serve into the net. And lastly, gao finish the INA pair with a stake into indo's hearts from unleashing her perfect flick serve. Gao Ling the giggling undertaker in disguise er
She/They are champions through and through. No higher praise can be given of them/her. the titles speak for themselves. In WD maybe there isn't the competition, but they didn't beat KDM/RKM in two Major championship finals for nothing.(OG 2000 at young age, and WC2001)
They should have won. No excuse for them after having 5 match points. Fatigue and tiredness don't matter at that point. It is all mental game at such high level.
yes they should have won but credit to the chinese for defending so well and turning it around. nathan and gail will bounce back.
I started a conversation about this on another forum and it seems to have gone in a similar way to this. I am very critical of his performance and said so but I dont like the way people are picking on the man instead of his performance on that day which is a very different thing. I mentioned the idea of BE sending another partner as a kick up the arse to him to make him realise that he needs to constantly perform instead of being the closest thing we have to a badminton media darling in this country and being untouchable. A brief conversation with someone who knows all the players games well enough brought up two things. 1) Robert Blair would be an equal (if not better) partner for GE and 2) No one really gives him a kick up the arse to make him train fitness off court as opposed to a bit of mixed routines since giving up mens doubles. This is not my opinion but the opinion of someone who knows the players better than any of us. I would suggest people lay off the character assault, that's not what a forum is about.
it was not just the 3rd if you taped it rewatch from the last few points of the 2 game, he stopped smashing everything from then and thats when the game changed for them. up until then, from the back most of what he did was smash it. he seemed like he was done for like he hit a wall. like they said b4 the macth he hurt his ankle b4 and has not been doing alot of training so his fitness was short of what it should be. yes his attitude did seem to go down hill, but this might just be a outward view and not be a true view of how the player is feeling. from this point on he only seemed to smash if he really had to and start playing alot more at the front, i dont know why when they had the break b4 the last game they should of thought of changing around position as you could tell he was done 4. he might have done better just being at the front then at least might have been more of a fight.
yup i agree, like if the both of you were tired, exhausted, etc. then yes you could say WE, but if only one player was tired, exhausted, etc. and the other one was playing great and awesome then it should have been I. i mean if i was nathan i would probably accept and tell everybody that i made the most errors and that im tired and exhausted. 'cuz i know im the reason why we lost. anyway IF i was nathan, but im not
i was refering to the 3rd set. i totally agree with what you said "You win as a pair you lose as a pair". if my partner was the reason for our lost, ill accept it b'cuz we are partners but if im the reason for our loss then i accept it and acknowledge it. anyway, maybe its how nathan is with gail, i mean its all good between them, and its ok with gail if nathan used the word WE, maybe i was just upset in his performance in the AE. i was just releasing my anger and making fun at his statement. "The England pair had beaten their Chinese rivals on all three occasions since the Olympics but Robertson summed it up when he said: "We threw it away. When you have five match points you ought to win. We didn't play to the level of the last two days." it should be: "The England pair had beaten their Chinese rivals on all three occasions since the Olympics but Robertson summed it up when he said: "I threw it away. When you have five match points you ought to win. I didn't play to the level of the last two days." im ok now
i think the statement should have been: "The England pair had beaten their Chinese rivals on all three occasions since the Olympics but Robertson summed it up when he said: "we threw it away. When you have five match points you ought to win. but i threw it away in the 3rd game due to physical exhaustion. I didn't play to the level of the last two days."
I just saw this game and I do not feel Nathan should be reprimanded for his performance. It's clear he had no energy. He was tired and did the best that could given the circumstances. Have you ever played when you are running on empty? If so, you would play just like Nathan did or worse or even stop because you can't go on. Your facial expressions and gestures would reflect that as well. So, I do not think Nathan just gave up. I feel he was exhausted and that's all he could muster up. That's what I saw.
