So this is a tough one. I'd like to know in your opinion who is the most mentally tough player. Mental toughness displays itself by being consistent and not showing frustration on the court. IMO Chen Hong was the most mentally tough player to play badminton. I believe the main reason he was one of the few to ever consistently beat Lin Dan is because he very rarely made mistakes, which was frustrating to LD. Thoughts?
WD : Yu Yang, MD : Hendra Setiawan, Endo H/Hayakawa, XD : Ma Jin, Pederssen C.,WS : Ratchanok Intanon, MS : Wang Zheng Ming, Boonsak Ponsana, Kenichi Tago.
Leaving LD and LCW aside, I think the toughest and most consistent players are (whether playing at the lowly low GP/GP Gold tournaments, SS tournaments, TUC/Sudirman Cup, Asian Games or WC/OLY): 1. Gao Ling 2. Cai Yun 3. Yu Yang 4. ZYL All these four have won everything there is to be won.
I think PG was quite strong, though he never acheived what he wanted at the WC. Mainly because he met the winner in early rounds, bad karma. Nowadays, I think WSX is also strong. She can come back from behind and play above herself. Though I don't like them, Boe/Mo are also tough nuts. Setiawan is steady as a stone. In the past I was impressed by Mia Audina. But how not to remember also Zhang Ning?
Lin Dan used to be extremely confident. Its a tough call though because during his career he completely outclassed everyone. Ive never seen a number 1 in any sport absolutely stomp a number 2 like I did in Beijing. Im looking for someone who can weather a storm and keep consistent. Kenichi Tago seems like he hasnt been focusing on badminton anymore. He doesnt seem as solid as he was when he played LCW in that All England final. LCW seems to have pretty big mental toughness issues. Ive seen him lose to many people he is better than because he doesnt have the head to keep the pressure on his opponent. However there are a few uncommon games where he does this and he is absolutely amazing. WZM seems very lazy now, seems to have gone down in performace. He used to be able to easily dispose of Axelsen but I dont know what happened now.
I disagree with you.In MS,There is no mentally tougher player than Lin Dan...........Examples are WC 2011...2012 Oly.................and to counter your 'completely outclassed everyone' argument...... This Year Japan Open's first round match vs SWH...........he saved match points on 5 occasions in the second set and then went on the win the entire tournament.................two times this year(his worst year in professional career),he has overcome 3-11 deficit in the decider against Jan O and Viktor Axelsen respectively.........Hendra Setiwan in MD is my pick.
I think this is a difficult question to answer. "Who is" means a current player. Who was mentally tough and consistent is a harder because you have two qualities which doesn't mean winning all the time as one of those qualities. I would like to think it's those players who can grind out wins in very tight situations as being mentally tough. Gao Ling, Sun Jun, Camilla Martin, Foo Kok Keong, Hendrawan, Lin Dan, Setiawan, Tony Gunawan, Candra Wijaya, Kenneth Jonassen, Park Joo Bong, Kim Dong Moon So many players.
lol that's the most hillarious one I ever read!! For me if mental toughness is the only criteria to be considered WSX seems unbeatable.. In fact most CHN players are mentally quite tough!!
