Good win for LD - but if he plays anything like this in the OG, he won't get a medal. CTC wasn't able to force the pace up, but if LD meets a more proactive player, he'll be in trouble. Not a very high pace from him at all. LCW, CL, KM should be able to blast him off the court...
I don't understand why the organizers always ask these kind of questions (what is so special about this tournament [German Open, All England, ...]?). What do they expect? It's just another GPG tournament victory for him.
I venture to say, Lin Dan's issue is mainly physical, age and fitness. As he resolves his fitness/stamina problem - can't do anything about age - he gets better and better, closer and closer to the Lin Dan I know. As for his lack of motivation,it's becoming less of a drawback as the Olympic draws near.
At the very least, I can, with some justification , say, if Lin Dan wants it, he gets it. This is only the beginning for 2016, Lin Dan, we want more !
Very interesting, Lin Dan finally trying to step up his game. Much more smashes and pace compared to his performances of last year. Let's see if it'll work out in the end.
Wuhoo!! Couldn't watch the end, but nevertheless I can see the result I desired!! Congo LD next stop Birmingham AE 2016
As a matter of fact,overall, CTC made far fewer unforced errors than Lin Dan who gifted quite many throughout the match, whereas CTC's errors, especially towards the end of the 3rd set , in my opinion, could be attributed to his constant heightened state of tension and the physical demands he subject himself to running all over the court retrieving everything such that at some point the body is bound to give way for a while.
[MENTION=86374]Justin L[/MENTION] Gotta Believe till End.The Dream is improbable but not Impossible.Certainly not for this man.
LMAO. Did you checked stats of Net winners and Smash winners of both players?And CTC didn't gave a penny.LD earned his victory the hard way and busted his ass off till it read 21 in the third game.
Good for you. Your eternal and irrational hatred for LCW doesnt change the fact that he's a much better player than LD at this point in time and has been for the past 2 years. Pretending that isnt so is just turning a blind eye to the truth. Now I'm not saying that it'll stay that way until Rio, and their meetings certainly have their own weird dynamics, but if you can't see that LCW is able to play a much higher pace than LD you're delusional. Same goes for CL, KM and quite a few others - however the ability to force that pace on him is something most players lack. Personally I believe the three I mentioned before can do just that.
Realistically, I don't expect Lin Dan to do very well at the AE, considering the amount of energy he's spent here over the six days. For an athlete age 33, it's not an insignificant factor unlike for a much younger athlete in his prime. We can't ignore the fact that several of his main rivals start fresh next week, eg Chen Long, Lee CW, Kento M, even Viktor A (who exited in R1 here). A younger Lin Dan, say 4 or 5 years ago, it wouldn't have mattered much as he'd still be supremely fit. Father Time is harsh and spares no one, the more so when we talk about physically strenuous sport at the professional level. When was the last time any MS won back-to-back tournaments of a high calibre ?