Nishimoto lost today but I still think that "Nishimoto's game" is fine. Nishimoto made many mistakes today, but just sometimes good, sometimes not good. Wait for Indonesia Master. ^-^
Yes, I did noticed that Nishimoto has improved much. In fact , I even sense that Nishimoto makes more efforts than Momota to save opponent's smashes and attacks. ... And quite a number of times... went on to score points by willing to do that. This was what Momota was like before he became world number 1. I even thought that Momota used to make his opponents afraid of his willingness to put up a rock solid defence ... that often help him score points by doing what is un expected. But of course, Momota is probably working on polishing up his other skill set . Hope Momota will eventually merge the earlier skill set that brought him to the top with what he has now. Although, I understand that his earlier skill set does seem to take a lot of energy out of him and he becomes very tired after each match. He is searching for a way to play that all help him conserve energy as much as possible yet still be effective. It is the "working smart vs working hard" thing. But it is nice to see a player work smart AND work hard. Because the effects of losing in a match also drains a lot of energy out of us. Might as well be winning and suffer the good kind of tiredness. Meanwhile, it is good to see Nishimoto rising up. Still remember it was Nishimoto who was able to beat Lim Chong Wei... (one time at least). And he also managed to win Momota in the last encounter. Now it is up to him, how far he wants to take it.
his old form required a lots energy, so he lost many times because he was not enough energy for that kind of tactic. I think that his big weakness is his stamina. Look back to Hong Kong Open, he lost to Son Wan Ho just because he has run of stamina in the third game. What a pity Now, he somehow find a way to solve it, by better stamina and slight (smart) smashes.
No, it was Momota who totally outmanoeuvred Nishimoto at their last encounter on February 17... at the S/J League Top 4 Tournament Final between Tonami and NTT-East. The scoreline, 21-15, 21-11, says it all. Unlike Momota, Nishimoto has always been a retriever. He will dive to try and save anything; I am not sure whether it is particularly smart, but it is his style. On the downside, his ranking has hardly changed in the last six months, and he has yet to win a meaningful tournament. If Nishimoto manages to beat Chou Tien Chen today, then that will be something to celebrate. However, unless he can add another element (variation?) to his game, I can't see him make it into the top five. P.S. It looks like Nishimoto has also opted for the sleeveless look
I can see it, give him some months. He will on top 5, but first, I hope he can be on top 8 to become a seed (avoid strong players at first round and have more stamina (his weakness) to go though the final.
