In that video, from Swiss Open 2010, Chen Long receives a yellow card for asking too many times his court to be mopped. You can hear Gade complaining "10 times he asks for !" Are Chinese players abusing too much of that ? [video]http://www.youtube.com/user/helma1?feature=chclk#p/u/0/Uj8fMugC-Zw[/video]
Not particularly Chinese players only. Many, many other teams do that. It's just that Chinese players are good at mind games but don't single them out.
Almost every player will use that to calm their nerves, not just chinese player. However abusing it should be something that should not happen.
The Yellow card was given because CL protested against the umpire's decision to carry on with the game when he requested for the floor mopping. The umpire's decision is a large part due to Gade's rather underhanded tactic of rousing the crowd about the floor mops. I think the Gade was ridiculous. CL requested for the mopping in after winning those rallies. It's not as if CL is trying to stop a losing streak. Gade was just frustrated and trying to prevent certain defeat as CL was using the correct strategy of eroding Gade's stamina. CL obviously recovers faster than Gade and such delays tend to benefit CL more. The difference in recovery is obvious in the WC2010 SF between CJ and Gade in how CJ simply stretched Gade's stamina in Set 1 and proceeded to score an easy victory in Set 2/3.
so in other words, some people use court mopping as a delay strategy, while some other people complains about other people's court mopping as a delay strategy. this mind game thingy is a bit beyond me.
Is there a real danger of injury if there are any wet or damp spots on the court? I often see players repeatedly rub the section of the court that has just been mopped, with their shoes, as if to ensure that the part is copletely dry and has even traction. I would think a player is entitled to be extra careful about this. And since we are talking about high quality players at internatinal events, we must consider the consequences of a slip or injury to the player's career, as well as the strength and composition of the national side.