Not sure if that was what TTY was thinking, but it IS rather sad that her failure to win the WC is made to be such a huge deal. For some people, it makes her previous accomplishments (the amazing winning streaks and superior head-to-head over most WS players, for example) look like nothing. As a fan I'm biased of course, but it doesn't seem a healthy thing to prioritize one event over all others, not to mention that the WC doesn't offer any compensation itself, just the title. Yes, I do hope that TTY can have a longer career based on her playing style. Her deception can tire out her opponents, and her backhand can save her from taking more steps. Yamaguchi is my favorite player after TTY, but I'm concerned that her short stature along with her running-and-retrieving style, will make it harder to stay on top form, even though she has super stamina. Hope that she can develop more weapons; it's always fun to watch TTY vs. Yamaguchi.
I come from a tennis background and have only recently started following badminton, although I have followed it closely over the past two years. I like many things about badminton more than tennis: the underhand serve, the bigger emphasis on touch, the ability of completely normal-sized people to compete against bigger, stronger athletes, etc. But the one thing I strongly prefer about tennis is the fact that there are 4 big tournaments a year and not one. However, I don't see any solution to this problem. Those four tennis tournaments have the prestige they do because they all date back over 100 years. The idea of winning a Grand Slam (all four of them) was a big deal back in 1938 when Don Budge did it. I don't think you can create prestige from scratch, even by throwing a ton of money at some tournament. Of course, badminton has the All England Open and I've heard that used to be the de facto World Championships. But I don't hear anyone saying TTY has two major titles because she's won that tournament twice.
that final tournament is just like a playground for those players, to enjoy the game with sort of equal opponent while gaining lots of income
World tour finals are similar in tennis too. There isn't that much buzz when people win the finals in tennis either.
The only tournament i feel that is on par with World Championships is All England. It has history/prestige on its side already. BWF should push these 2 tournaments to be slam-equivalent - with bigger draw (maybe 128 over 2 weeks?) and bigger prize money. The date is fine as now, 1 in first half of the year and the other in the 2nd half of the year.
I would love the idea of 128 player draw for AE and WC, and play it over two weeks with a rest day at the end of the first week.
Never really thought about this, but the more I do, the more I like the idea too. To keep focus over two weeks (with rest days of course) would add another interesting aspect and made those tournamets stand out of the others even more. Then add another 2 tournaments in badminton powerhouse countries (China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea...) and you would have the badminton Grand Slam.
That's too much time spent on those tournaments for the bwf higher ups, who want players to play 20 a year if at all possible. More 'representation'. Also with weird new scoring systems, so the 10 TV viewers in Europe can be spammed with ads better. Gotta add a rule change here and there to keep up the illusion that rules are enforced, too, no matter how much players ignore existing rules by disrespecting umpires or serving blatantly high. Going for attractive formats and ensuring that players can perform well by adding rest days is just lame.
When the WC was run once every 3 years or once every 2 years, AE was a big deal because without the WC, AE was the most prestigious annual tournament and measured who the best player was in the world. Now that WC is run every year, and when it's not run the OG will take it's place, AE is no longer as prestigious as it once was. AE is the most prestigious SS, but WC and OG have taken the place of AE now.
OG and WC were always more prestigious compared to AE. Actually not many people remember this but there used to be a Badminton World Cup which ran annually.
That sounds exhausting BWF will definitely need to cut down the number of tournaments required if they decide to use this. Btw, I wonder if it helps to have a bigger disparity in the points awarded? Like, the difference between the winner(13000) and runner-up(11000) in the WC is 2000 points, and for a Super 500 event, it's only 1400. Nozomi Okuhara was pretty much absent since she won the WC last year, except for winning the Thailand Open, and she was still seeded 8th in the WC this year. Maybe if there's a much larger margin in the points, players will be more motivated to work harder throughout the year, so they can be seeded when the big tournaments arrive. Just a thought.
On a lighter note, here's a recent interview with TTY. Some interesting things mentioned: --she always brings a small pillow with her when she travels (still a kid at heart ) --apart from badminton, she has dabbled in tennis and boxing. When she boxes, she likes the sound of punching, it relieves stress. --she enjoys playing in Taiwan most because she hates air travel --she's especially impressed by fans who give her hand made gifts, because she doesn't have an artistic bone in her body, lol.
Indeed. This is a huge match for two players who both have the mentality of champions but have to prove they can win the big one. Let's hope TTY can unleash her full offensive arsenal, and let the chips fall where they may.
Tai Tzu Ying delivered. Congratulations to TTY for capturing her first major title, the Asian Games WS gold.
Was there ever any doubt against PVS? I think it's something like 7 wins in a row against her now? But still, it's good to see that TTY has cut down on her unforced errors such that she's not losing against herself as much. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
It was the expected result in the final after a flawless tournament. She definitely delievered what was expected from her withouth any big insecurities. But I have to say that the whole AG were not able to spread that feeling to be a true major tournament. The media coverage in this part of the planet was in fact non-existent - there haven't been even any highlight clips, not speaking of any decent livestream.
Yes, so happy that TTY won gold! To be honest I wasn't expecting much because she wasn't in good form during the team event. Not surprised about her loss to Ratchanok, but in the first game she met a player from Nepal, who's ranked 324, and the scoreline was 21-14, 21-17. That's an even better result than Okukara So kudos to TTY for having learned and adapted when it came to the individual event Really pleased for her after the heartbreaking loss in WC. Well, after her loss to He Bingjiao in the WC, you can never be too certain. Still, I wonder if something was off with Sindhu, she seemed to be in low spirits and just didn't attack much. It was a tougher match against Saina in the semis. I can't believe they didn't have hawkeye for a major event!!! Even PBL had hawkeye in each city the league was held.
