not joking, those are his priorities at the moment... ld is a very astute athlete... just watch him in his interviews he know his age limiting factor, he knows his $ worth, he knows his post retirement plans and businesses, he knows his goals atm, only chen long stands in his way
The transition of playing style for Lin Dan hasn't been easy or smooth, the problem was compounded by his knee injury after the AG last year. Coming back from his injury this year, I noticed he became even more passive, rallying a lot more, not smashing or defending smashes as well as before. For such an explosive attacking player with a superb defence to boot that he once was, such a change must be somewhat unnatural for him as j4ckie pointed out. In fact, for me, up till now, I'm still not used to the 'new' Lin Dan, sometimes even finding it painful to watch as he struggled time and again to score points with his smashes that are often easily returned, or caught by the opponent's unexpected retrievals, or left stranded by the opponent's smashes and sharp drop shots, or often having to scramble, many times in vain, to return shots that shouldn't trouble him too much - indeed a far cry from his 2007-2012 level. I opine that apart from waning motivation which I've been reiterating (pardon me), his current fitness level is a concern, age 32 notwithstanding. That's why LYB recently, after LD's debacle at the Jakarta WC, emphasized he wanted to personally get involved in LD's fitness training and work on some tactical adjustments to his game as well. If LCW at 33,or Hu Yun at 34, or Boonsak Ponsana at 33, or Sho Sasaki at 33 - can more often than not retrieve near-impossible shots, not just sharp smashes or drop shots, with relative ease, why not Lin Dan who is 32 years of age ? Nevertheless, all is not lost as Lin Dan has occasionally demonstrated he still has what it takes win, eg as in the MAS Open SS in March where at the semifinals he came back from behind to beat JOJ with some blistering badminton showing flashes of brilliance reminiscent of his heyday, and more notably the way he played and won at the JPN Open SS in Aug. Even so, 10 defeats this year alone, so far, 2 of them in humiliating fashion, cannot be easily dismissed as aberrations. I guess it's not getting easy to be a Lin Dan fan nowadays, esp for those who still want him to deliver the goods. I won't be the least bit surprised if not a few are beginning to wish he had chosen to retire while still at the height of his power winning gold at the London Olympics. To me, Lin Dan's prowess is not in question, never in doubt, it's his lack of sufficient motivation (there I go again) and suspect fitness that is the crux of the matter. I believe his fitness problem is the easier part to address, his age catching up notwithstanding, I repeat, but the motivation part is more tricky for which I can only hope, come nearer to Rio 2016, his motivation level reaches sky high again for a three-peat performance.
Only Chen Long Long in his way... Come on Visor are your seriously following LD''s recent matches. Please watch the Demark Open & French open he was beaten by lower ranked players and that too without a fight. Axelsen crushed LD and didnt allow him to reach two figures score. Every player ought to know his dollars worth and play accordingly. LD career is similar to Taufik and the end for Taufik was very similar to LD where he was getting defeated by lower ranked players. May be in China LD coudl be nos 2 behind Chen Long but in the International circuits there more is at least a dozen players capable of beating LD in straight sets
Lin Dan is past his prime - that's the bitter truth? Period? Just wondering, two questions: one, is Lin Dan's decline permanent or temporary ? Two, can Lin Dan when he is near his best still be good enough to beat the rest ? Well, LCW out of the blue was back to his best, almost, and won the French Open last month. The question is , can he do it again, and again, or when it matters ? How about Lin Dan who is in no way inferior to him,and why not ?
If I'm not wrong,the coffee shop business is his joint venture with a friend; the underwear business is his first private enterprise; Oakley eyewear, Montblanc luxury items, and other products(cooking oil,etc), he is their brand spokesman; for Yonex, it's his sponsorship.
My observations are slightly different. LD to my eyes has been playing a more attacking game in the past 6mths than he had previously. He is definitely smashing a lot more but his smashes are not as effective as it once was, they're not quite as powerful. Although I don't believe he has lost any of his power, accuracy or consistency in his strokes, I can see he is considerably slower, less explosive and his initial recovery step(s) are not as quick. Age is not a problem for him in my opinion. But fitness is, I'm not sure if he is as fit as he was a few years ago. His stamina is still there, but his feet are not as quick. And in this game, quick feet wins! Although I'm not a LD fan, but of all people, I would love to see LD beat CL again.
He does not do heavy smashes now, only "light" smashes, based on accuracy and fast execution, and allow him to keep his balance with less effort, so he can keep the rallye going if the opponent defend well. So it is attacking, but in a defensive perspective. At least that's how I read his game.
I think a problem with his smashes is not just the speed of the shuttle, but much more that he takes them later than he used to. He was one of the quickest players (if not the quickest) to intercept any slightly flat clear with some impressive, enormously explosive jumps. He seems tonbe lacking these exact jumps, I guess because of his knee injury. I also noticed that his stance is now higher than it used to be and his movements generally show less bending of he knees. I think he has been a master in peaking at chisen times and preparing carefully for selected events, lets wait and see if he can do it one more time for Rio.
That is what I mean. To do explosive smashes you need to be well behind the shuttle, make a step more or make a huge jump towards the back, and spend energy on the landing so to totally change direction so to move toward the net. But with the "light" smash ("stick smash" say the Danes, "spot smash" says the Chinese), LD just need to intercept the shuttle on its trajectory, with his body rarely turning, easily returning to the center.
To me, there's a big difference between Lin Dan's and Taufik's declining period. For Taufik, his decline began sometime in 2007 when he was still only 27 years old, and he stayed down all the way to his final retirement in 2013 at age 32 during which his best result was a losing finalist to Chen Jin at Paris WC 2010. Lin Dan, on the other hand, took a long one-year break after LOG'12, came back in 2013 at age 30 to immediately win his 5th WC crown. Subsequently, he took another six-month layoff and came back again in 2014 at age 31 to take the Incheon AG gold months later. Unfortunately, after the AG triumph beating Chen Long in the final, he injured his knee while playing soccer with some friends and aggravated it at the Denmark Open PSS that year, an injury that he described as the most severe in his career. I repeat, this year 2015 is Lin Dan's worst performance with a record 10 defeats inflicted on him so far, several in the early rounds of SS tournaments, but he, now age 32, still managed to break the losing streak with a fine title win at the JPN Open SS beating the likes of Viktor Axelsen. Sorry to say, I mean, Taufik Hidayat practically never recovered from his decline at a relatively young age of 26 in 2007 till he finally hanged up his racquet for good in 2013 at age 32. The contrast with Lin Dan's so-called decline couldn't be more stark though his (LD's) detractors would like to believe otherwise. However, that may be cold comfort for some of his ardent fans.
In Danish: Stik-smash. The English translation of this would be: "Sting smash". Meaning a less powerful but faster executed, more precise and often steeper smash.
Frankly, for the whole of this year thus far, I've yet to see a single lethal smash, the most potent weapon in his armoury, from him. I'm referring to a full-bodied,arm swinging wide, powerful jump-smash with the back slightly arched backward as he execute it at a steep angle. Instead, I see only half-power placement smashes with arm rotation only, in addition to mostly half-smashes or stick smashes. The trademark Super Dan smash, if I may use the description, is more or less gone, for the time being at least.
TH's career have been very different then LD's. Even in his prime, TH have been on occasion very low ranked, winning big tourneys when not seeded. Because he was very, very casual in most of tourneys, something LD never did except those last few years, after his "break" post OLY.
Point smash is the translation of the Chinese equivalent of stick smash (点杀), which means emphasis is on the placement, the spot or point where the shuttle lands.
Danish "stik" has multiple meanings: Poke, Sting, Stab. I think in English you can't really say Stick with the meaning that we intent here? What is the correct English word for this shot?
