That is why I laugh when someone said Viktor Axelson is going to trash LKY. You do realize that LKY did beat VA before did you and that his form in this tournament is really good. I mean he just trashed Kidambi out of the water.
Let's give a standing ovation to Loh Kean Yew. You know, before the start of the match, my intuition tells me, LKY is going to do it today, and he did !!! Masterfully and in style !!! So there we have it, Loh Kean Yew has just provided us the answer to " How to play against Viktor Axelsen?" To be specific, I 'd put it down to three aspects - you've to be swift-footed; your net play must be meticulous, possess exquisite touch at the net; you have to read VA's game well enough so as to be able to anticipate his shotmaking as much as possible. Just my humble opinion.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but I think Viktor has been in his prime since he won the WC back in 2017. It’s just that Viktor plays more consistently at a higher level now. However, Viktor has his weaknesses. Prime Momota from 2018 to 2019, would pick on Viktor’s weaknesses. And you can see when LKY is on his game, he picks on Viktor’s weaknesses too. I don’t know why so many people in Badminton Central believe that Viktor is playing at a level that is so far above the rest of the players, and believe that peak Viktor in 2021/2022 is better than peak Viktor in 2017. IMO, peak Viktor in 2021/2022, is probably about the same as peak Viktor in 2017, who was probably the same as peak Viktor in 2018/2019. The difference is, peak Viktor in 2018/2019 was c*ck blocked by prime 2018/2019 Momota. And since 2018/2019, no other players have really raised their level of game to match Viktor, aside from LZJ at AE and LKY at the WC. I honestly don’t think Viktor has improved that much since he won the WC in 2017, it’s just that he plays more consistent at a higher level, but his peak performance is about the same as his run in the 2017 WC. Luckily for Viktor at the last WC, LKY’s form was inconsistent, and LKY was also in the other half of the bracket and LKY never met Viktor in the WC. But if LKY is on his A game on a specific day, watch out, he is capable of picking Viktor apart. Now let’s see if LKY can keep his form for the rest of the tournament - if it’s like LKY over the last 10 months, he is kind of inconsistent and he may easily revert to his inconsistent form again.
many mind blowing things happening today. olympic golds losing out to much worse players, top 30 rank player beating sen , wr2 mixed loses to worse pair , many many upsets.
2022 VA is whole different level than 2017-2019 VA. There's a reason why people are calling him Badminton Alien from 2022, and not 2017. Anyone can see that.
lol if sen cannot win today then when. avoided ctc,syq,axelsen,lzj,lky,christie , all in vain . very sad.
But then Viktor got picked apart today. Just like he got picked apart at the WC in December of last year. And it was the same player, LKY!
I firmly believe VA is a different player since his win at Tokyo Olympics. He is a physical beast now. He effortlessly moves all around the court, especially his lunges to front court are so smooth in the last 2 years. Game plan wise, he is no more reliant on his net game to set himself into attacking situations, rather he waits for a counter attacking opportunity. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk