That's the problem. I think the whole CHN Team wants to rest after the Asian Games, the Spanish Masters starts exactly on the last day of the AG Individual event.
Li Xuerui's comeback trail so far, in terms of individual tournaments (excluding the Uber Cup), started with three titles in a row, followed by four losses, one each to Gao Fangjie, Michelle Li, He Bingjiao and Han Yue, then another title win at KOR Masters avenging her defeat on Han Yue the previous week's semifinal at the Syed Modi Open. Not bad, four titles in eight tournaments, immediately after the opening Uber Cup Team event, her very first tournament. Now that her world ranking has gone up within the top 32, standing at 31 as of now and expected to rise a few notches after the KOR Masters triumph today, she can start entering the higher level tournaments going forward, such as WTS1000/750/500, particularly the top two levels, WTS1000/750 where no Qualifications rounds are available. Next year is when the real challenge begins for Li Xuerui in her attempt to scale the summit again and aim for Tokyo 2020 OG. All the best.
Li Xuerui has risen to world rank 25, from a low of 217 when she first started at the beginning of the year in Feb playing the Lingsui China Masters in April, which means she is ready for the top level tournaments next season in 2019. However, Xia Xuanze has pointed out at the press conference yesterday night (6th Dec) that while Li Xuerui currently has , on the whole, more or less regained her technical skills and feel for the game , she still must work on her court movement, the ability to twist and turn, that is , improve her court coverage (thereby implying her need to strengthen her fitness and stamina). But, owing to her experience of major injury, Li Xuerui is still apprehensive during matches and needs sufficient time to fully recover from it (the phobia). http://sports.sina.com.cn/others/badmin/2018-12-07/doc-ihprknvt5433430.shtml
Watching her last few matches we can say that she still hasn't lost touch, but does tend to zone out and lose focus, and is prone to making errors consecutively. A lot of times she puts herself in trouble with the wrong shots.
Strange, I don't see Li Xuerui registered for any of the three WTS tournaments in Jan 2019. Winter training without interruption, intensive, all-inclusive, comprehensive, systematic ? Looks like she's taking Xia Xuanze's advice to heart.
Li Xuerui has been registered in Indonesia Masters, she is being the 21st player on the M&Q list. The same goes with all CHN Top Doubles.
Li Xuerui will be playing PV Sindhu in the first round of Indonesian masters. Let's see how she perform against the top players after her comeback.
Woah, already showing pessimism. Let's just wait and see. LXR used to be a top player and certainly is not the one that we can casually write off. SN is older than her, but still able to be in the top 10. Give LXR a bit of her time, though it is not easy as a lot of youngsters are on their way.
Well...you can watch her match this week against the WR#194 and see for yourself. It wasn't even 21-point games.
LXR still has quality as a top player. But, she does commit some errors. As this is CBSL, not BWF tournaments, I don't know if LXR is going all out or not. Just because she plays terrible at one tournament doesn't mean that she continues to be like that in the later tournaments. Her Uber Cup campaign is disastrous like you have hinted, but she went on to win back-to-back titles a month later. I don't think LXR has met any of the top 8 (besides meeting her compatriots) in 2018. She will face PVS in Indonesia Masters. IMO, this is her real test. I am not ready to write her off. I don't even know if she can reach the top 10, though it will be very hard for her.
To be fair, that match LXR lost to Wang Zhiyi at the CBSL was a very close affair, the decider was just 1 point difference, 11-10 to WZY. As for Wang Zhiyi, we know what's she's capable of, no mean player, she can scalp any of the world's player outside of top 8/10, I believe; her world ranking is unreflective of her true strength. Besides, Li Xuerui has in last November won the KOR Masters beat the likes of Gregoria Tunjung, Goh Jin Wei and Han Yue for the title, not a top-notch performance by her previous standard, nevertheless, a sign she's recaptured most of her touch, except that her fitness and stamina is still suspect. As Xia Xuanze has pointed out, if LXR is to aim for an Olympic spot, she must improve her mobility ,her major shortcoming at the moment, as she has more or less regained her pre-ROG'16 technical skills. What's concerning for now is that she's not started her winter training yet as she's playing the ongoing CBSL which ends Jan 19 if her team progresses to the final, a good chance as Xiamen is right at the top after 10 rounds played (four more rounds in the preliminary stage to go before the semifinals and final). Not only that she's signed up to play the INA masters commencing 22nd Jan. That means she only has time in February to do any serious training , assuming she's not taking part in any of the two WTS300 tournaments available, namely, the Spain Masters (19-24 Feb'19) and the German Open (26 Feb -3 Mar'19). Well, it's up to her, personally, I doubt less than a month's intensive, targeted, personalized training is sufficient for her, considering her special situation coming back from a long one-and-a half-year injury layoff.
I want to see LXR make a comeback as much as anyone...but there’s good wishes, and then there’s wishful thinking. If she beats PVS I will be pleasantly surprised...but I won’t bet the farm on it.
B-player? What do you mean? Chen Xiaoxin has played at high tier tournaments for some time. She certainly is not some no name player.
LXR surely gave tough time to Okuhara. Matched her well and was certainly better in skills. If it wasn't for LXR's knee, Okuhara stood no chance. I feel LXR would improve further over this year.