I doubt that ZSW would dominate Mens Doubles. I admit he has improved in all departments over the years and even his shaky defence has gotten better. But you must never forget that he has the ultmate cheatcode by his side. Huang allows him to pretty much always play attack, because she closes the net. What happens when the net is taken away from Huang, we could all see in the latest matches against Wei/Jiang. And there are few really good smashers in Mixed Doubles. Praveen troubled him a lot, when they played. In Doubles he would face two possibly good smashers instead of just one. So I beleive he has turned into an incredible mixed doubles players, but would not do as good as Watanabe did.
What do you want to say by this? Endo was surely a fantastic defender. Of couse the male is doing more in Mixed Doubles. I believe it is even coaches advice that Arisa leaves many shots for Yuta. But there are matches where Higashino is more involved and that often means trouble.
I mean...same thing could be said about zhang nan back then. I always felt like ZYL was the superior player between the 2 and they were dominant mostly because of how relentless ZYL was at the frontcourt. it's why this partner could work so well despite zhang nan lack of threat at the backcourt. sure ZSW has his weakness but I still think he'll do just well in MD, probably not dominant, but he can surely win some majors like zhang nan back then. I also need to remind people that ZSW was just as good when he was playing with CQC as a 19/20 YO back then, he played his first world championship final when he was only 20
That's fair, I'd say at his highs he's better than other doubles players - but not consistently so. Lack of power wasn't a hindrance to his style - defence, speed, technique and ability to read the game all incredible. His physical abilities have definitely taken a hit due to injury and I agree with ZSW being a beast, most athletic XD player for sure.
