Momota's game is like that. The opponents will make loads of mistakes because of the quality of the shots he create.
You may be right. But to my eye it seemed like Momota was very tired and holding head down after many of the points. Survival mode.
Even at his best it was hard for him to win two tournaments in two weeks. So we should not expect now.
Quite unusual.. I wonder what LS told KM right after the match. It was on TV, but could not be heard.
The schedule is so cruel in cluster tournament system, there's no exceptional for winner & beaten finalist of just concluded tour who usually will play on Wednesday instead of Tuesday... Another first round exit for Lee ZJ who displayed dip of form lately, don't know whether his lower back injury hasn't fully recovered yet or mentally fatigue, quite unexpected losing to Gemke. The exhausted Kento Momota edges out Lakshya Sen with coming from behind pattern in two games plot. Overall, it's much better performance by the Indian young star than last week meeting to balance his opponent quality & patient rallies, the world #1 excellent net play is back to fine form that really effective to score points in late surge of second game. Just unfavorable draw for Sen to meet one of title contenders prematurely here, his HSBC Road To Bali Ranking stops at 32,860. Two XD seeded combinations Gicquel/Delrue and Ellis/Smith unable to clear first round hurdle, going down to Asian opponents, the former said they can't handle slow hall condition where their attacking shots become futile and found frustration at the end. Looking at MD draw, 7 home pairs gathering at lower-half draw even four of them are grouped in same quarter, an intriguing encounter will confront Hoki/Kobayashi against reigning World Champions tomorrow.
This was a good loss for LS. He doesn’t have to peak this year. He can hold his own. Will be a force to reckon next year.
I just saw Momota's match with Lakshya Sen and he looks tired. I'm glad that the players who went to the DIM final did well today, but it's weird that they didn't get the Wednesday slot because 'the venue is the same, doesn't require traveling' as the reason of that decision (Mr. Rudy Roedyanto asked a referee). All the athletes are already exhausted because of the grueling schedules. Cut them some slack.
I don't get why they are so tired after tournaments. Playing a tournament requires only playing one game per day. Their training must be several times harder than that. I also don't get who thought it was a good idea for Momota to start bulking up. If you are #1 in the world and an absolute beast that no one can beat, why start changing things so radically? I think bulking may be one reason why he is so much slower and more tired than previously. My favorite version of Momota is 2018 when he would just rally around and pick up everything until opponent is too tired to continue or makes a mistake.
I agree on the first part. I don't get why they are tired after 1 tournament but not compared to training. Rather compared to previous years where they could do several tournaments before the accumulated fatigue would come in. Maybe it is just the effect of the lack of match fitness because of the pandemic. Second - except he is not the absolute beast he was previously at the moment. And bulking is important as maybe he is finally doing the physical training he was supposed to go through and become like 2019.
This is not how this sport works. He was well studied since than and this is not that efficient anymore.
Well...could you elaborate a bit then if you know how it works? I think it's a safe fact to say that their normal training is a lot tougher than 1 match.
For one, you need to factor in mental fatigue. It is far more stressful playing tournament matches day-in and day-out, than it is to train. Momota, in particular, has commented that he really enjoys training, but becomes incredibly nervous before matches. One can safely assume that this type of mental pressure converts to physical weariness.
If we get different finalists and winners, that’s already a good sign. It motivates the lower ranked players to do well and know they have a chance. Wider distribution of titles can help the global game and keep things interesting as well as rivalries.
I agree with terrynguyen121988’s comparison with exam. We study for so long but the exam is a different challenge. I can only observe as a layman, but from what I’ve seen: Training hard could be a routine and needed to hone skills, build their form and endurance. But the actual tournament is different in pressure, intensity, focus, mentality, opponent (most of the time), situation (hall, shuttle, drift), etc. And athletes are also still training, doing physical exercises, go to gym, practice on different halls during the tournament. Different playing conditions require different approach, adaptation and adjustment, which is usually different with their training situation. Players who are used to fast halls might find slower hall challenging and vice versa. And slower halls consume more energy. Plus traveling to multiple countries, different climate and weather, multiple hotels, packing/moving in-out/transportations, dealing with jetlag, food, injuries, being fed up, disappointment and many other challenges. All of those put a lot of strain on bodies and minds. And these past few months, after +1 year of no international tournament, suddenly the schedules are packed. Major tournaments mixed with regular tour with little gap. The greater the result (SF and higher) means more match and less resting time. Training hard is important but so is recovery time. Multiple players already admitted about them being tired, on top of my head: Ginting, Momota, Yuta-Arisa, Minions, Antonsen, Sapsiree. It’s not a coincidence that top athletes that already train really hard are still troubled with difficulties. For example, multiple Top MS (e.g. Jojo, Ginting, Momota, LZJ) are now dealing with injuries, fatigue and pain on their body parts.
Yes you definitely cannot compare training with competition. That's two different beasts. One of the main difference is the mental aspect. The part I agree with @tuomastoppila is why they are getting tired earlier than usual this year? But maybe Momota isn't that tired.
No day one youtube stream then a court one stream on day two, what is this random programming from BWF?
