In CHN, it's even more complicated: it's very competitive as there are too many young talents and the training method is more physically demanding. Compared to SEA countries, some players who emerged very early, are still playing until they are around 30s or more (Natsir, Setiawan, Kuncoro TBH, LCW, Kido, Ahsan, Ahmad and many other players in the past) . However, there are few exception in CHN like Zhang Ning, Yu Yang and of course Lin Dan.
In fact, VA has won his last match against all top 10 players currently. Except for Shi Yuqi - whom he has never faced. And the first player we find on the World Rankings list, to have beaten VA in their latest H2H, is Anders Antonsen at #14.
I'd say that the tall and strong player has this attacking advantage, only if he understands to vary his attack. The harder you hit, the more horizontal (and deeper into the court) your smash will travel. So for Viktor, this advantage really come to light, only when he remembers to not go full attack on every chance, but mix it up with sticks, cuts and other shots, not necessarily taking his 100% power smash on the first opportunity. His sticks and cuts are the ones that are so much steeper than what other players are throwing around, and that are the shots that will pay off, or lure the opponent a bit forward on court in their defensive positions - once lured forward, the power smashes and clears will increase in efficiency. If you notice this, you'll see that VA's most dominating performances, has been when he hes kept his patience and varied his attacks. Even vs. LCW here, he drops a lot of points in the end of 2nd set, because he's too close to the victory, and starts attacking too hard too early. On the note about stamina, it's fun to compare this to all the comments about him only winning because LCW and LD are old. If anyone would stand a perfect chance in a G3 against a youngster with weak stamina, it must be precisely these two players. But according to our resident LD and LCW experts, that doesn't seem to be the case ;-) Anyway, Viktor has improved his stamina, and it shows - but he has also improved his ability to stick to the game plan and his patience.
In fact, I think it's fair to say, that LCW has never been a smart player! His raw badminton talent and physique has been 2nd to none - maybe even above that of Lin Dan - but he has always failed to apply it in an intelligent way. For the vast majority of his matches, he is simply so much better than his opponent, that he runs them over, and the lack of strategic ability never shows. But when facing the absolute top opposition, it has become clear that he simply isn't capable of getting a good return on his talent. His H2H record against LD in big matches are way more negative than it should have been, simply because LD has this extra dimension - badminton intelligence at another level. I'd go so far and say, that it stretches beyond the court. He has not been able to put together an effective team around him, who has guided and helped him with these things. He has played too many tournaments and perhaps not cherry picked enough to come through at the biggest events. He's always going all out to win every single tournament. And while that is clearly admirable, and the fans must be very happy for this fact, it shows in the achievement logs. The Japan Open was his SS final #100. That's truly incredible. But you can't win them all, and you can't peak 12 months a year. I love to see LCW play for all the reasons above. But I also love badminton, because even though it's one of the most physical sports of all, it still rewards the thinking player so much.
