In the Japan Open 2004, Lin Dan lost to Bao Chun Lai, and Bao lost to Ronald Susilo in the finals. I guess it all depends on form on that crucial day doesn't it?????
lindan is a very strong player both physically and technically. to beat him one would have to know his weakness (his china teammates) or produce something special (taufik). taufik seems to be the only non-chinese player who can produce this special thing to defeat lindan. no disrespect to other players here. in fact taufik could well beat him but fail to win the tournament, knowing his inconsistency.
- interesting comparing Taufik and Lin Dan. Seems to me both are now quite the same, experienced, smart, deceptive, tactically good , knowing how to adjust pace,good defence, sharp etc, but I think at the moment Taufik must be losing in stamina,maybe it'll get better, but so will Lin Dan. Gade beat Taufik in 2 quick sets, but unable to sustain same pace against Lin Dan in AE, maybe it was because of fitness levels.
the main reason why I started this thread was to find out people`s views on the chances of a major rivalry at the top of the men`s game as I believe this would be good for the popularity of the game in general.In my view the game of tennis benefitted enormously from similar rivalries such as borg v mcenroe (europe v america , ice v fire , baseliner v serve/volley) sampras v agassi (introvert v extrovert server v returner) and the forthcoming federer v roddick (skill v power) the point being that fans very much look forward to these clashes and much interest is generated. the consensus of this forum appears in general to favour a lin dan v gade or lin dan v taufik rivalry -I just hope that the Olympic final is a fantastic battle which will capture the imagination of sports fans in general thanks to tv exposure of the Olympics. Just my humble opinion.
I think EE Hyun Il is good against any offensive players.. such as Lin Dan.. 'cuz his style of play is defense defense and then counter attack.. what ya think?
I agree with you cooler, however Lee`s form this year has been very disappointing compared with last year`s great results -perhaps he is trying to peak for the Olympicsmy favourite match this year -on Han`s dvds was the AE quarter -final between gade and roslin which featured gade`s sharp attacking game against roslin`s defensive retrieving -you are right -styles make great games.
