What TTY must be thinking after people claiming this is the greatest women's singles final ever......
I was stressing out for her or Sindhu not to get injured, It was safe to have an extra pause time between rallies for that reason. The 2nd game was a nightmare to watch, am I the only one who noticed N.O almost crying on court? Gosh I wanted to hug her so bad seeing how things went torturous. At least for Sindhu the retrieving work is made a bit easier during dives or overheads. Okuhara couldn't do more than starting using backhands near the end, a rarity for her. Her will to win and take revenge from Rio was diamond solid this day, what a symbolic victory defeating Marin and Sindhu on the way in a tactically dominant fashion.
21-19 20-22 22-20 Not my definition of dominant. I was impressed with her left-leg jump-out near the end. She was dead tired, but just kept on moving.
i would have to agree w/ yf19-sama. yes, tactically dominant. not axelsen over chen long dominant. her game plans were dynamic, always adjusting. the fact she was successful carrying out her plan(s) against the 3 toughest players in the draw (carolina, saina, pvs) is/was incredible. oh, and all of her matches (except 1) were 3 games, so i doubt anyone will ?'n her fitness & focus for a long time.
If u turn up the volume.. u can hear, what i think, Nozumi's breath gaping for air at the end of second set and almost the whole of third set. It gives me the chill. Use headset or something.. i think the on court microphone pick that up. I mean to think for the whole match, she literally keep her pace chasing the shuttle, taking that extra step because of her lack of height, and fighting off tiredness.. Crazy.
The microphone picked sound from the near side as well as coachs advices and that added to the spectating tension. Sounds was crisp indeed, added that my broadcast did not include commentaries. To have sharper insight of the game is good to see beyong the total scoring, paying attention HOW those points happened. Remind that one player have the body type allowing her to score points in a less demanding fashion and could have expedited the match if she was able to use that advantage but that did not happen. Sindhu had to work as hard as her opponent and was shaked mentally after the first game, a match start where she was supposed to impose her style. Okuhara challenging body type ironically push her to do more tactical preparation wich is key to win.
Nozomi Okuhara personifies tenacity, the never-say-die spirit. Watching that long, tough grueling match with Sindhu, esp, we could almost feel her straining every nerve to get all the shots back right to the very last moment. A perfect demonstration of how to grind out a win even when things aren't going your way at the crucial stage.
Nozomi always gives us the best match ever every time she is in the final. All England Final 2016 and Dubai SSF 2015 against Wang Shixian and Wang Yihan, respectively, are other examples of best match ever produced by Nozomi. I hope she will give us a match better than this match in other final in the future. Hopefully, the matches are against Tai Tzu Ying or Li Xuerui.
No, please not TTY against Nozomi... they're both my favorites, I wouldn't know who to cheer for! But it was really incredible show of stamina to be able to play Sindhu for close to 2 hrs after playing against Marin for 1.5 hrs 2 days prior and then Nehwal for 1.1 hrs just one day prior... all 3 matches stretching out to 3 games.
Yes, it was much easier to pick who to cheer for in the old days when WS discipline was still dominated by China. I used to support anyone playing against China Players because they were too dominant. This is not the case now. I would fully support Wang Yihan if her teamates were Sun Yu and friends and not Li Xuerui and other Wangs.
Li Xuerui just played at the national badminton games in China this week. So yes, we expect her to comeback soon and probably waiting for that clash against Nozomi
Is the the longest rally ever for woman single? 73 shoot at 20:20 of the 2nd game. Is it the longest woman single game ever? I remeber N.O. played another game (All England? with Wang Shixian of China?) also around 110mins.
In the 2015 Malaysia Open quarter-finals, Wang Shi Xian beat Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 15-21, 22-20. From the first serve to the last point scored, the grueling match took 1 hour 51 minutes. Wang Shi Xian held Nozomi Okuhara by the arm to help Nozomi walk off the court. I think Nozomi Okuhara picked up her tenacity from Wang Shi Xian.