Iirc a small part of bone in his elbow split off and irritated the tissue around it. Took quite a while to diagnose.
Didn’t know that but I remember GC mentioning in one of his matches that his smashes were noticeably weaker than before his injury.
I can't remember her saying that but then again, I haven't watched every match. But yeah, that's what I noticed pre and post injury. He just had less penetrating power on smashes after that. Whether that affected him 2 years after the injury is anyone's guess.
Yes I remember that GC said something along those lines but that will be difficult to find the video. His smashing during the Olympic XD final 2008 and recent years is worlds apart.
I must say I have a different idea of the timeline. Lee's major elbow injury was in 2010. He won the Korea Open, then played Malaysia, All England, and Swiss then took a few months off, missing the Asian Championships, Thomas Cup, and Singapore and Indonesia, then was back for Macau and the Worlds in the summer. I never thought his smash was much of a threat before that, and Jung always rotated to the back. I seem to remember him bulking up a little and smashing harder toward the end of his partnership with Jung Jae Sung. From late 2011, Jung was complaining of a shoulder injury and he skipped the Thomas Cup in 2012. During that period, Lee Yong Dae was playing at the back more and I seem to remember him either showing respectable smash speeds (were they showing them that year?) or at least displaying greater power. Maybe not like Jung, Ko, or Xu, but still stronger than when he was younger.
Yes his smash isn't as powerful as it once was but it isn't a massive difference imo. But what has been noticeably different for me, was the effectiveness of his smash. In his latter years his smash just became too predictable and easy to return whereas in his earlier years he was more comfortable with placing his smash differently on occasions smashing cross court, down the line etc. I think it partly coincided with the time he stopped playing XD and also seemed more tactically mature. Whether that had anything to do with it I don't know, but he became more risk averse playing safe shots all the time, waiting patiently for his opponent to make the mistakes - which I guess when you think about it, kind of makes sense. It happens in all sports. As a player matures, they tend to take a more passive strategy, relying on their experience to choose the right moment to attack. Lin Dan, Roger Federer, Lewis Hamilton etc all have adopted a similar kind of style, and not going all out all of the time.
Here is a glimpse on LYD new life with his daughter Ye Bin English sub is available At about 2:30 into the video, he really mentioned on how he wanted to keep playing badminton so Ye Bin can watch him play great games. That really gives the idea that he will play again internationally where he belongs
watching some old md matches especially lyd/jjs vs cai/fu, damn I miss lyd so much btw which pair do you guys think are better or at least who you preferred the most ? lyd/jjs or lyd/yys ?
Agreed. I get so nostalgic when I watch especially the LYD/JJS vs Cai & Fu battles. As to JJS or YYS, I think it's a different category. Whereas Ko SH was too limiting within the partnership, Yoo and Jung offered different abilities, albeit both being back-court, smashing players. They both have powerful smashes and strong defences, but Yoo offers better mobility (mostly due to being taller) and more versatility at the front court. Jung had arguably a more dependable defence and slightly better positioning (Yoo is seen late or diving in the rear court when LYD moves up to the net and opponent pushes/drives). Again, the trouble for anyone playing with LYD is that they will be smashed on 90% of the time. That's a tough ask for anyone. And when LYD was on form, his defence was nearly impenetrable, so imagine the pressure on not letting him or the partnership down during defense! An interesting dream team with an in-form LYD would be Marcus Gideon who is great all-around. I don't see anyone else really being able to partner LYD, including Zhang Nan's current partner Liu Cheng who is great above net but frustratingly poor below.
I really miss those LYD/JJS vs CY/FHF matches. A lot of magic could be witnessed in those...2011 HK Open, 2009 WC final, 2012 Korea Open and All England final, 2011 WC semis to name just a few... And the 2008 AE semis for a great LYD match. That was some great defense, even he himself couldnt compare in his later years
Only problem with LYD is that he depends on his defence too much. Once his opponents learn to isolate him to the back, he's pretty much useless in attack. Nowadays the successful MD pair will be more all rounder being able to both attack and defend successfully, being able to present a danger to their opponents whether front or back.
It was less of a problem until 2012 though, more so in the pairings after. One of the reasons the Ko/Lee partnership failed was that they tried to get in their favored attacking formation so much that they'd sometimes give up attacking opportunities for it, or get outplayed and forced into defense because the rotation was obvious and exploitable. Ko's defense was another, of course. Also I think he might have been a bit too amenable, trying too much to please his partner, and I have the feeling LYD needs someone to stand on equal ground and not defer to him.
shame we couldn't see them playing against each other in london olympics final jjs seems nervous in their sf match against boe/mog, making some uncharacteristic errors in crucial moments of game 3
I think this is highly debatable. (And I know Steen (Pedersen?) in his commentary mentioned that the strength of a partnership is to see how effective they are when they are out of their favoured rotation, but I disagree.) First, if the statement by Visor is true, then two strong smashers forming a team would be fearsome whoever is at the back. But this has not shown to be true. Which successful partnership is based on this combination? I think the key is to have an effective, potent front court player and a solid, reliable and mobile rear court player. Of course, the bigger the smash the better, but the very essence of doubles is to setup the partner. And every successful partnership (MD, WD, XD) that I have observed in the past 10 years has had a potent front court player. LYD, of course, but Cai Yun, Setiawan, Boe, Sukamuljo, Ma Jin, Zhai Yun Lei, Natsir...etc. In fact I can think of two specific MD pairings that I think were fearsome at the back, but ultimately fell short of their potential because of the lack of front court prowess: Chai Biao / Hong Wei, and Kim Sa Rang and Kim Ki Jung. All four had great smashes (esp Hong Wei) but they often fell short against regular champions with a front-court killer..
I agree. The important thing about a strong front court player is that they win and keep the attack, that's why high powered front court players usually have more influence on the game than strong back court players (or strong smashers, more precisely). If you can't win the attack, you can't use your smash, so the highest priority is to get the attack in the first place. I think that's the reason we saw more pairs with more allround games rise after the 2012 Olympics, with both players of really successful pairs being good in the service situation in order to win the attack often enough. Examples of successful pairs with no huge smash would be Ahsan/Setiawan, to an extent YYS/LYD. The really huge smasher seems to be less important these days than in the 2005-2012 era, I'd say.
