The moment that those for letters appear in a player's thread, my interest in reading or contributing drops below zero for some reasons. Not sure if I'm the only one in here having this issue.
GOAT GOAT GOAT Maybe because it's one of the most subjective discussions ever with the least agreeable participants most times...?
GOAT in WS? None, no one can convince me the way Lin Dan does in MS and I don't think I need to elaborate. If TTY is a possible candidate, then a few others in the past , such as Zhang Ning, Li Lingwei, Han Aiping, Susi Susanti, just to name four would have qualified ahead of her. Really premature to ask that question of TTY, give her more time to prove herself worthy of consideration. I mean, at least, Carolina Marin has won two WC and one OG and yet how many of us are convinced she is the one. Similarly, for Chen Long, 2xWC and 1xOG plus a host of prestigious titles, and yet not many regard him as one of the greatest, simply because there is a Lin Dan. Not only that, some people think CL is not greater than LCW with his many silvers in WC and OG plus a plethora of prestigious titles, all because the latter is unfortunate to be born in the wrong era, an argument I'm in sympathy with. Yes, I agree it's necessary and important to count the majors, WC and OG, and it helps to have many more other prestigious but non-majors as well to make the case. Why the majors ? Because the WC and OG are what every top player worth his salt wants to win very much and prepare themselves thoroughly for to peak at just the right time for it, giving it top priority, and where every contestant big and small give of their utter best. If you play at least 3 to 5 such majors and fail to capture it each time,it simply means something is missing in your ability to succeed and you can't blame hard luck for it every single time. True, some players 'only ' won the big titles, even just one, and not much else - do we consider him/her a great player? Ji Xinpeng, the Sydney Olympic gold medallist who also won the Japan Open later that year but nothing else worth mentioning ? So, in my humble opinion, a really great player has to have a couple of major titles plus many more lesser but prestigious ones to his/her name to be convincing, inarguably. That's why Lin Dan, being the most decorated player in history , having won everything of significance, in particular the major ones multiple times - 5xWC, 2xOG,2xAG, 6xAE (semi-major?) - and no one else comes close, is widely regarded as The GOAT. What's more, many other great players themselves are in agreement with that claim, Lin Dan clearly stands out, far and away the most accomplished player ever. (Personally, the second best of all time, at a respectful distance, is Zhao Jianhua.)
Nobody said LD was GOAT in 2004. It took decade of hard toil and finally the moment arrived on 5th August 2012.
...aaaand here we go already... You forgot to add the words "unbelievably boring for those not participating".
Some crazy sh*t in there. The things she does in a match, you'd think it's a technical training session
And also ridiculously hard and ineffective most of the time but yeah, LCW got Kenneth Jonassen like 3 times with it in an exhibition match they did, you can find it easily on YT
Yeah, and he used it to gain an advantage against an Indian player at the Australian Open a few year ago.
Her technical skills are really great to watch. Even watching her footwork is a joy. She's really light-footed and quick.
She's like the cat toying around with the prey before devouring it. Always proactive on court, always thinking one or two steps ahead with a reply to anything her opponent throws at her. What's amazing is how from any position she has a choice of hitting to at least three other spots of the court. Her racket skills is just beautiful to behold as we watch and wait to see what kind of new creative never-seen-before shot she comes up with next. Though it's a joy for the spectators to watch, one must at least pity her poor opponent who is slowly but surely dying a death by a thousand cuts, while being twisted and turned back and forth to all four corners gradually being depleted not only physically but also mentally heading towards the inevitable end. Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Perfect summary of that clip. She is so early at the shuttle most of the times that it seems as if she has enough time to think through several options before hitting the shot. I've watched that clip several times yesterday and I seriously started to pity her opponents. They are stumbling aournd the court desperately and completely helpless and it doesn't help that you already know that it's not going to help them in the end. Still the question how long she will be able to play at that outstanding level does remain. There will always be a certains ups and downs in form over a whole season, so it will be interesting to see how she will still be in a down phase.
Tai Tzu Ying loves badminton and as long as she continues to smile on the court, she won't have a down! A long good rally, she loses and is happy and smiling. That's fantastic. Immediately afterwards she is back to 100% and plays even better than world class.
Who would have though the playfull style will reign at the top of the world during the Chinese girls supremacy era not so long ago. Glad to see how things have evolved because it brings also the attitude recreational players tend to seek for and erroneously they think disappears when people enter the pro scene.
