Has any man ever excel as a XD player as well as a net player in a MD pair?
Park Joo Bong.
Kim Dong Moon.
Maybe Chris Adcock - Chris does relatively well by blocking across the net.
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Has any man ever excel as a XD player as well as a net player in a MD pair?
Give him time. Zhang will get better.
For a guy that hasn't competed in MD for basically 3 years...to just pick up a racket and already be a top 5 pair in the world is remarkable. Once he figures out all the things with Fu, he'll be a real contender.
Zhang Nan offers a different approach to dominating the net. Soft play on service receive to play the net shot at sharp angles instead of trying to push down the middle lane. He's not the strongest, fastest, but in my opinion one of the must tactically sound players on the circuit. His shot placements, and tactical awareness is simply outstanding. Even saying that ZN is not the best physically, he's not weak or slow either. His shots are simply put a highly effective form, smash with speed and angle, soft shot that sets your partner up. He's a prime example for being a well trained athlete who possess not one single skill that stands out, but his excellence in being an all round player is his "special skill" or flair.
His tactical awareness, and his unwillingness to play the fast drive game that makes current men's double fast and furious, might be what sets the new pairing apart.
CY/FHF's pairing worked well with FHF being a the hammer from the back of the court and CY dominating the rest.
ZN's pairing needs some work with FHF coz they play differently together due to various skills and it seems like FHF is improving his non-smashing plays.
I think ZN should try to replace CY's role coz FHF is good where he was and was winning while he was there.
Most likely because he has to conserve his energy for his XD games with ZYL...Zhang Nan's approach to net play is surely very different. He almost never lifts and likes to play hairpin shots or pushes. But 1 thing i would like to see him change is that he is a bit TOO eager at times to get to the net. That makes FHF do almost all of the hard smashing work.
Zhang Nan should feel comfortable to do some smashing as well. After all, he does all the smashing in his XD. He seems intimidated to smash in the MD.
Most likely because he has to conserve his energy for his XD games with ZYL...
I've always thought that the concept of pro athletes getting tired after one match a bit iffy. On a typical day, the chinese athletes do a morning session for skills, afternoon session with matches, and then some no racket physical training (just from watching some youtube videos of their interviews). Sure they play fast in a match, but i'm sure they train just as hard as they play a match, or at least at a relatively fast pace. Do they really have to conserve energy in a MD match just to play well in XD? Also, regarding physicality, men are typically (and to quote daft punk) "harder better faster stronger". I honestly don't think athletes of their caliber need to save any juice for their second match of the day. If ZYL can consistently play 2 matches a day and still win both, why can't ZN? Sure the guy works harder, but even LYD, KSH and a wealth of korean men's doubles players have proven they can work in two disciplines and be world+olympic champs. Some would also say that doubles is a lot faster than singles, but you also get two players cover a full court, whilst singles players cover a full court by themselves.
Just a thought to ponder upon, and it'd be interesting to hear other people's opinions on this.