Nothing like Taufik's THL. Firstly, not for badminton, secondly, more for fashion. We should view the line first before condemning it.
agree with your 1st part of statement, LD's footwork is more like Ferrari (explosive, accelerate to full speed in shortest time) now than the BMW like (fluid and comfortable) in 2004. but for the 2nd part, I would say it's in sync with his transition from a good game-guessing to a more perfect game-reading player due to his upgraded ability... put it this way, now he have a Ferrari engine / reflection, he needs not to pedal too early, but to wait for his opponent's movement first, fully read his opponent's intention to the last minute possible, then react in a much shorter time than normally expected to reach the position very early and accurately, (and if necessary, impossibly earliest), for execution... in 2004, he didn't have such explosive Ferrari engine, so he had to anticipate (guess) the opponent's intention and act earliest possible (by using his well-trained fluid footwork) to allow enough time for himself to get into the best position for execution... so his footwork might not be as spectacular now, but much more efficient and lethal... remember Bruce Lee the martial art master?? very similar evolution in their respective field of specialty...
... if you look at LD's body movement during the matches nowadays, even with comparison with other players, you would find that LD has the least need to change his motion, minimum adjustment of body due to mis-judge, minimum over-stretch, over-step... such efficient and precise footwork in fact save him a lot of unnecessary energy consumption during the match...
i think, me as a player at a more or less low level, could learn very much from his original footwork when he began as a professionell. more then from his footwork from today. i do not why but sometimes before a match i watch his quarterfinal of swiss open 2004 against sho seung mo and then i feel more comfortable on court i already said it is hard to describe but i have not so much fun to watch his today's matches...
honestly lol at LD fashion. Doubt it is anything more than D&G and Yohji Yamamato's Y-3 inspired looks Gimme Comme Des Garcon anyday or Junya Watanabe eYe
Yeah,agreed much.Try watch OG2008,he's much move with his beautiful footwork.But now,he didnt move much,Im getting bored to watch his match.He's now more to power play.
That's a crazy match! SSM has definitely no way to really win any point from LD, who's way too fast for him.
Well, seems to me, before 2004, LD tried not to give his opponents any chance to attack him; Currently, LD usually gave ample chance to his opponents, and then (wickedly ) frustrate his opponents by counter-attacking. With his current perfect game-reading (together with the new rally point system), the second is a much more efficient way for him to win.
Such efficiency is a result of LD's great strength, superb body coordination, superman reflex. As Gillian Clark always marvelled, against most opponents, LD is literally walking on the court. But if you look at the area covered by such "walking", it's surprisingly large. It seems so far no one can mimick such efficient movement.
this is exactly the analogy I put forward to compare him with Bruce Lee: LD before 2004 = Bruce Lee with skillful "Wing Chun" LD now = Bruce Lee with "Jeet Kune Do" (and the "One Inch Punch") which one is more spectacular and which one is more lethal?? not difficult to tell...
