Personally, I think LXR should take it easy. After all her own health is the most important to her. She has got the Olympics gold medal already and win so many super series from 2012 to 2014 She need to be patient as it would be career ending event if she re fracture the same foot. I think she should aim for world championship 2017 rather than to retain Olympic Gold 2016. I know it is tough but I think it is at her best interest.
she has even better skills than marin and inthanon combined, but again, no use having a ferrari without good F1 tyres.
Wow, better than Marin and Intanon combined ?! One would have thought that's an overstatement, for me, she is simply the best, and that's enough. I should like to believe and sincerely hope that such a rare talent doesn't go to waste, time is on her side at age 24 now, may all those missed opportunities and injury woes serve to toughen and help her grow up as a player.
Li Xuerui playing box badminton [video=youtube;EIAxi08htrw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIAxi08htrw[/video]
So, Li Xuerui beat the most in-form WS player currently, Nozomi Okuhara, at the semifinals of the ongoing German Open GPG'16. On the one hand, I'm quite pleased but, on the other hand, I can't help feeling concerned at the way she dropped G1 after a strong start to go into a clear lead, as much as 14-7 before she went on to lose the next 13 points. I put it down to one of her mental issue. As it is, LXR's game is already so strenous, yet she often throws away points and the set needlessly, and end up having to expend more time and energy on court. If it happens in the final, not so bad, but if not, she is straining herself unnecessarily, both physically and mentally. I hope she herself and her coach(es) continue to work on this mental aspect of her game. To me, it's like an old 'disease' which she is still not completely 'cured' of. Proverbially, she is still her own worst enemy.
However, on a positive note, the fact that she could quickly get over the G1 debacle and pulled herself together to win the next two sets convincingly, is very encouraging to see. Nonetheless, we shouldn't brush off what happened inexplicably in G1 lightly just because she won the match eventually in emphatic fashion. I repeat, choosing to conveniently overlook her mental weakness problem that was clearly still evident, and hoping that it'd go away by itself, may be cause for regret later. An unwise thing to do, absolutely.As we know, it has already cost her two WC titles. This is the Olympic year, we most certainly don't want to see history repeat itself at Rio, for she is undeniably the best WS player in the world, in my opinion. On her day, really nobody can stop her.
I'm still waiting for convincing signs that Li Xuerui's mental fragility issue is more or less overcome by her, but I'm a bit more optimistic now, she seems to be outgrowing the problem as she matures, hopefully. On the other hand, I can't help but worry about her fitness level, still suspect, quite concerning with Rio just two months away. To me, Li Xuerui is still the most complete and skillful player in the circuit. As long as she strengthens her mentality and improves on her fitness, she is the top contender for Rio Olympic gold, getting her two-peat. All the very best to Li Xuerui. JiaYou !
No worry, the training program is designed to have her and other contenders at peak at Rio Oly... these Cups were just warming-up events. Players simply cannot have two peaks at the 3-month interval...
BCers, may you please elaborate in technical-analytical exposition of the match between Li Xuerui vs Sung Ji Hyun? I noticed there were some changes in the ways LXR played the game in G1 vs G2 & G3, resulted in different outcomes. Also in G1 she made many errors but reduced drastically in G2 & G3. What happened indeed? I am aware there were changes in LXR's play but just could not describe or identify the changes clearly. Can you help to make it clear? TIA.
Perhaps this article might help http://sports.sina.com.cn/others/badmin/2016-05-21/doc-ifxsktkr5853780.shtml ? My brief translation of the relevant parts, including the highlighted portion with emphasis added by the author follows: In today's match, Li Xuerui in the opening set faced quite q bit of problem. Trailing 9-11, she lost 4 consecutive points to go 9-15 down, mainly due to making too many mistakes where just clears to the backline alone resulted in 4 mistakes, cross-court drops and net errors caused her another 4-5 points. Furthermore, the opponent was playing very positively, bringing the shuttle down at every opportunity, apparently throwing Li Xuerui into disorder. As a result, Li Xuerui quickly dropped the first set. In G2, Li Xuerui initiated more variation in her game; one, is to rely mainly on low serves, preventing the opponent from playing an outright smash; next, she injected more pace, employing attacking clears and net shots in combination to move the opponent about, causing Sung Ji Hyun to tire herself running all over the court. Once an opportunity arose, Li Xuerui would smash straight down the line or execute round-the-head cross-court with a high success rate, rendering the opponent helpless. In the latter two sets, Li Xuerui led by a big margin all along, the opponent in the decider was physically unable to cope, her offensive ability decreased, completely reduced to passivity while coming under attack. In the end, Li Xuerui won by a handsome margin. Upon securing the match, Li Xueri has just achieved a performance record of 13-0 match victories in three Uber Cup tournaments. In 2012, Li Xuerui participated in her maiden Uber Cup as WS3, only playing two matches in the group stage,emerging fully victorious. In 2014, she assumed the role of WS1, winning all the 6 matches she played in, among which in the semifinals and final she separately beat Sung Ji Hyun and Mitani Minatsu respectively. In this year's Uber Cup, she again played WS1, once again scoring 5-0 wins, in the semifinals and final beating Saina Nehwal and Sung Ji Hyun respectively. In Uber Cup history, for Team CHN, only Li Lingwei had assumed the role of WS1 three times (in three Uber Cups) and maintained an undefeated record [I included this sentence for the sake of completion - Justin] What's even more amazing is, Li Xuerui in both the 2013 and 2015 Sudirman Cups was also undefeated in all her six matches played. In these four years Li Xuerui played in five major team championships, achieving a 19-0 astonishing result, this is also a new record.
Those are impressive stats, Justin L. Li Xuerui must really thrive in the team competitions and she handles the responsibility excellently.
Which surprised me actually. I've always thought she has mental fragility issues on the big occasions, esp evident in the WC, twice in the finals, and sometimes at other finals. Hmm, come to think of it, of late, Li Xuerui seems to have outgrown quite a bit of it as she matures. Instead it's her fitness level that I'm more concerned about at the moment. On a positive note,I trust in the final month leading to Rio, she will build up her fitness to peak condition and,most important, be mentally prepared to ascend the summit once again.
The way she played in this year 2016 Uber Cup impressed me a lot. She is really a good team leader and never drop a single match. Good for her. She has proven that she is a strong contender for WS gold medal in Olympics. I wish her all the best in her career.
Thanks a lot Justin for taking efforts and time to translate the related Sina Sports article. What a savior Watching Li Xuerui playing is fascinating, she's a master in badminton. And as long as she maintains an excellent stamina and minimize her errors, she is able to deal with any opponent! I have very good confidence in her.
It is not as simple as that. Team competition are not only "big occasions", for some players it is actually a more secure environment, they feel less pressure, because the group is backing them. The motivation comes naturally and some people are specially determined when there is a inside-outside confrontation. Wang Xin was such a player, for example.
You're wrong, all the players, CHN esp, have expressed time and again that team competition pressure is the greatest, much more so than in individual tournaments. One player's performance can very well affect the rest and nobody wants to be the one that brings the team down or, worse, be the cause for the team's defeat, esp the first singles or the tiebreaker match.
