Yao Jie retired in the 2nd set when she is match point down. Is she so badly injured that she cannot continue to give Hwang the satisfaction of winning outright ? I do not support either player but I do think that there is an issue of professionalism here.
I don't think she faked it as she had participated in a few tournaments previously this months. Off the top of my head, I know that she played two long games, NOT sets, against Zhang Ning in the MVP Cup just last week and right before that she played in the Chinese Taipei Open where the two met again. According to Gill Clark (???), the scores were pretty close (21-19 & 30-28 or something like that) indicating that it was long and tough battle for both. She might have played in the Macau Open & Malaysian Open this year as well but I am not sure. Anyway, those games finally took its toll on her. Even Zhang Ning withdrew from this tournament so I have to applaud Yao Jie for staying in the tournament till now.
Doesn't make much difference. I think what Yao did was fine. There was no meaning to keep playing at that moment. If you play checkers or some games similar, it is typical people retire at middle of the game, even without any injury. For Yao, especially she was badly injured, so keeping playing would further complicate the injury. Even she still could play, there was no meaning at all. I remember something similar in tennis, one guy wanted to retire due to injury when facing the matching point. The other guy complained, so this injured guy went back to the court to continue. In fact, he just did nothing but watching the other guy's serving. Is this the result you want? What's the difference? Retiring gives you a win, not a tie. That's the key point. By the way, if Yao had not been injured. She would definetly keep playing for herself. Lee CW just came back from 14:20 (?) to claim the championship. At that moment, Lin Dan would be very happy to see Lee CW retiring.
From my point of view, Yao Jie played exceptionally well these few tournaments. I don't think there is any point of her of citing injury during the match point just to make it "unofficial" win for the Korean. I mean its not that this is the first like Yao Jie lose. She have lost many times before. A win is still a win even its a walkout or injury. The Korean played her best, so i don't think she will feel not satisfied of the win. I'm sure she knows that she owns the Match. It all boils down to how we interpret the winner's feeling. Why do you want to complain about the person citing injury? I'm sure this is not the last time they will meet each other.
Winning a completed match and winning with a walkover may mean differently to different people. I had a similar experience when I nearly beat a more fancied (and arrogant) player, only for him to quit when he was very far down in the final set. It took away my satisfaction in beating him and I guess I can never say I have beaten him properly. It does mean a lot to 'lesser' players ! I do however genuinely wish Yao Jie well in her rehabilitation ( its never nice to be injured. )
That may be true. However, in this case, the word "walkover" is reported right beside the scores 21-15 and 20-12, so I think everyone gets the picture. I think that kind of so-close-but-no-cigar attitude toward the "win" would have been more severe if she hadn't beaten the world champion on the previous day.
