People always omit this when they evaluate his 2022 performances - Axelsen's, too. To sustain a great career (or be a great player in general, which currently only Axelsen is), you need to be consistent. For consistency in advanced ages of player-dom, you need to work. Kobe, Lebron, LCW, Nadal, Djokovic all put the work in. Whatever it is that keeps Momota from playing well, I don't think it is the car accident, or a suddenly bad work ethic. He tries hard, but the second injury last autumn might have been too much to overcome mentally. And it looks like he's getting absolutely no help whatsoever from the coaches.
Beautifully written. I really love watching Momota play and his matches are the only ones that spark my excitement. With age comes the desire to let go a little, he has been seen at the clubs for example. I remember when Taufik was due for retirement, there was something unpleasant about watching his game by one point. I do not feel that Momota is experiencing the same fate, he still has more to give once he gets out of the apparent slump.
Thing is momota is not really at the age of retirement or thought about it before all these happened. Something is causing his form to drop be it mental, ptsd or an injury we do not know of. It really depends if he is still happy to keep working on it and find different ways to regain his form, or if he is okay not being a top 5 player anymore. If not, he is still in his 20s, finding something else he enjoys might be an option too.
What injury was this? I mean the timing fits, but it would be good to know which part of Momota was affected.
He might also be trying for a medal in Paris considering he still haven’t got to play properly in an Olympics yet, but who knows
Drastic change or retirement! Whichever the case may be - Momota has shown me a very enjoyable and high level badminton which was nice to watch.
Perhaps he is just pushing himself too hard physically? Many years ago when I was in my adolescence, my gandmother who is very intellectual laughed at me for going to the gym. She said that all of the energy that im channeling to get bigger does no longer go to my mental processes. Kento has become bigger thats for sure.
That is what I think either. After the accident, his body is more prone to injury. I do not remember other injuries he had. May be he had none. And after the accident he learned how it is to be "mortal". Now he can be easily injured where before he made some push ups and proceeded match with his head held high. And it influences not only body but also his mind. I bet that deep inside he is frightened. We may say that because of the accident he suddenly aged on 5-10 years. That's a lot.
He push himself to his limit, and he lost the chance to take part in WC 2021. He took back 80% his form, won Shi Yu Qi and Lee Zii Jia in Sudirman Cup 2021, won Antonsen in Indonesia Master 2021, took 1 game from Viktor in Denmark Open 2021, and by pushing himself to limit, he lost everything after got back injury. In contrast, Yamaguchi also "lost" in Olympic, but she knew what needs to be done. She "lost" many super tours before World Champion 2021 and 2022 (You know what I mean) Every year when Yamaguchi won German Open (3 times: 2017-18-19), she would lost in All England. But in 2022, She lost German Open and immediately won All England.
Wierd question but does anyone think that he misses the smell of his old Astrox 88? Ive paid wikipeadia a little visit and saw how many tournaments he had won. Insane. There is a pro at my badminton who plays with the 88. He has around 4 of the newer pro models but prefers the OG.
I don't know if he is "more prone to injury" after the accident and Covid. Let's recap: He was still basically on a comeback after 1 1/2 years of absence (if you leave out the isolated tournaments of AE 2021 and Olympics 2021) and had played literally an entire month of badminton: Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup, Denmark Open, French Open. We all remember how visibly exhausted he was in Paris after the final of the Denmark Open and said he should not play this tournament. He did play and injured his back. D'uh. After that, he had a month's worth of break/recovery and won the Indonesia 750 comfortably without dropping a game. In the following week at the Indonesia 1000, he again looked extremely tired but got through a tough match against Lakshya Sen in the first round. In the second round, he has no chance against LKY in the first game and Gill and Morten Frost talk about his condition quite candidly, for example that sometimes the coaches should stop a player from overplaying because the players don't realize the severity of the situation. As we all know, nobody stopped Momota, he fought - again - until he could barely walk and - again - injured his back, just like in Paris. Compare to Axelsen: After the Denmark Open final, he had short stop in Paris, made one swing of the racket, said thank you, but I'm injured/unable to play and went right back to Dubai to recover. The smart thing to do after a brutal month of important tournaments. And he wasn't even on a comeback after an extremely long break, like Momota. In Indonesia, he didn't gave his all in the first of three tournaments, lost to Prannoy in the second round, but then was ready for the 1000 and the WTF and won both. Once again, the smart choice. After this year's WC, for which he has surely prepared intensely, he skipped the Japan Open. He probably would've won it anyway, given the quality of the opposition, but he once again did the smart thing and managed his career way in a professional way. This is not a case of being more injury prone after an accident. It is a case of negligence and stupidity.
Just want to say that Nishimoto's defense is currently very good and he keeps getting the shuttle back. This was what Momota was good at also and it is just non-existent now. Momota used to do that and he had superb racket skills and shot quality. Nothing remains. Nothing! I don't know - he doesn't wanna play anymore. Maybe the accident started to change his perception of life idk. He won after that but idk.
I like the racket debate - but it would help let's say if we were debating the quality of his attacks or particular shots. Right now - Momota is beyond racket - he isn't playing professional badminton. He is just a carcass of the previous player he was. He is playing just because he was previously playing at this level. My expectation was high for the WC - I even said he was gonna win it - because I again expected him to come back - he had an opportunity again to do something on his home ground. But nothing happened. Again - either there is a drastic change to his life and training environment or he retires.
