Men's singles player of the year

Discussion in '2004 Tournaments' started by hcyong, Dec 24, 2004.

  1. hcyong

    hcyong Regular Member

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    The competitive year is over. Time to reflect on the year past. I'm thinking we may want to have a poll on the player of the year. My take is:

    Leading contenders
    Lin Dan (WR #1)
    Chen Hong (WR #2)
    Bao Chunlai (WR #3)
    Peter Gade (WR #4)
    Taufik Hidayat (WR #5)

    Peter Gade's year is just highlighted by the European title. He came close in a few instances and never lost without a fight, but competition from Asia is just too stiff.

    Despite the #2 ranking, Chen Hong did not win anything except the Thomas Cup as the third singles, but he is reliable and steady.

    Bao Chunlai's year is the same story as Chen, while exuding slightly more confidence.

    Taufik's Olympic title should have been major enough to hand him the player-of-the-year title, but despite also winning the Asian and Indonesian titles, his year is riddled with ups and downs. He lose out closely to Lin Dan for my pick as the player of the year.

    Lin Dan's almost perfect year (Federer-style) is blemished by his nervous defeat in Athens (incidentally, Federer got nothing in Athens as well). He crushed a strong field to win in Switzerland, then took All-England, lost to Bao in Japan, spearheaded China to Thomas Cup title, lost uncharacteristically to Park Sung Hwan in Malaysia, followed by the shock in Athens, then bounced back to take Germany, Denmark and China in a trot, then lost to Taufik narrowly in Indonesia. His win-loss record is unmatched in 2004. He is the men's singles player of the year.

    It will be extremely difficult to break into the elite of the top players (as listed above). However, in 2005, we can watch out for:
    Lee Chong Wei, who at best, is capable of breaking the Chinese dominance
    Hafiz Hashim, who is still young and talented, and showed mental maturity this year.
    Parks Tae Sang and Sung Hwan, who being Koreans, can never be written off.
    Chen Jin and Gong Weijie, who being Chinese top juniors, are slated to be the next big guns.
    Simon Santoso, the next Taufik, if not in 2005, there's still ample time.

    Most likely to be player of the year in 2005:
    Lin Dan again.
     
    #1 hcyong, Dec 24, 2004
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2004
  2. aiyuuw

    aiyuuw Regular Member

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    i think:

    chen hong : no, he hasnt been so impressive this year, unlike last year, peter gade : no, he's not impressive this year, especially towards the end, losing early rounds, and all. bao chun lai : reached many finals/semi finals, but no titles, he's good, but not exactly the player of the year

    so it leaves :
    taufik : after crushed career for years, he finnally came back, won olympic, and lastly won indo open, i dont think his record has been very imoressive this year, but the gold medal is something, and also about his come back from career downfall he might be the player of the year
    lindan : soooo impressive year for this boy!except u count the olympic, but still i dont think his failure in athens will really cost him the award, so, he IS the stronger contender of the award:D
     
    #2 aiyuuw, Dec 24, 2004
    Last edited: Dec 24, 2004
  3. *GaDe~CaMiLlA*

    *GaDe~CaMiLlA* Regular Member

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    my bet still on taufik!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :p
     
  4. whizkelv

    whizkelv Regular Member

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    Gold: Lin Dan
    Silver: Taufik Hidayat
    Bronze: Chen Hong
     
  5. aiyuuw

    aiyuuw Regular Member

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    hmm, why are u believe in taufik so much, and not gade(i mean, its ur username):D , actually i hope that taufik will win, but still go with lin dan cos hes so damn great this year:cool:
     
  6. Anatolii

    Anatolii Regular Member

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    must be a real heavy bet! :D :D
     
  7. *GaDe~CaMiLlA*

    *GaDe~CaMiLlA* Regular Member

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    yeah.......i believed in Taufik so much,coz he won olympic,indo open...
    i think his record has been VERY impressive this year.and this year Gade only won European title and nothing else...and other tournament open,he just can reached in quarter or semi finals only.......BUT NEVER REACHED FINALS!!!
    so my bet on TAUFIK!!!!!!!!! :p :D
     
  8. *GaDe~CaMiLlA*

    *GaDe~CaMiLlA* Regular Member

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    hahaha...EXACTLY A REAL HEAVY BET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    :D
     
  9. hcyong

    hcyong Regular Member

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    The real question is why Taufik over Lin Dan? Is it just the Olympics?
     
  10. Anatolii

    Anatolii Regular Member

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    ;) she answered your question right before you asked it!! :D
     
  11. prince_user

    prince_user Regular Member

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    My votes on those who accomplished the most last year:

    1. Lin Dan - The guy has such an aura about him that players in the early rounds simply don't believe they can beat him. ( The loss to Susilo was an exception ).

    2. Taufik Hidayat - Enigmatic as ever. Should be number one because of the Olympic win but when he plays bad, he is reaaallly bad.

    3. Lee Chong Wei - Up and coming young gun. Won the Taipei and Malaysian Opens.

    4. Kenneth Jonassen - For accomplishing the most with the least ( considering his age ).
     
  12. jcl49

    jcl49 Regular Member

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    It's the emotion and tears of exuberation! :p
     
  13. kwun

    kwun Administrator

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    when i pick the player of the year, i made sure i remember that it is the player of the year, and not just one tournament. imho, Taufik should never be picked. he won the Olympics and a couple of other ones, sure. but he didn't perform at all for the rest of the year. to me, that shows inconsistency and will be heavily discount in my scale.

    Lin Dan should be without doubt the best player of the year, he has shown consistency throughout the year, and won almost all tournaments he played. he missed a couple, but that doesn't mean too much.
     
  14. aiyuuw

    aiyuuw Regular Member

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    yea, lin dan should have won not just the ms player oty, but also overall, imho:mad:

    but they picked,,,,,,,,,taufik,,,,?
    ok, whatever,,,,,,,
     
  15. jump_smash

    jump_smash Regular Member

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    This has happend before why do you think Candra got it in 2000? Olympics!

    Anyway:

    Lin Dan
    5 GP wins
    2 GP semi-finals
    1 GP quarter final
    1 GP round of 32

    Taufik Hidayat
    1 Olympics
    1 GP Win
    1 Championship win
    2 GP Semi Finals
    2 GP round of 16
    2 GP round of 64

    Head to Head
    Year Tournament Round Winner Score
    2004 DJARUM INDONESIA OPEN 2004 Semi-Finals HIDAYAT 15-5 5-15 11-15
    2001 Asia Badmin Champs 2001 (I) 1/16 LIN 15-2 15-3

    My head says Lin Dan, but my heart says Taufik, prefer his game more, and given he has defeated Lin once, and Peter pushed him at All-England, maybe 2005 won't be Lin's year.
     
  16. hcyong

    hcyong Regular Member

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    It is hard for a men's singles player to own a year (like Schumacher did last year). Yet Lin Dan came close to it last year despite one or two major blemishes. Lin Dan's 2004 is easily comparable to Roger Federer's 2004*, and I think no one can doubt 2004 tennis belonged to Roger.

    * Olympics is not considered big for tennis, so his early loss in the Olympics is not a big deal at all. IMHO, that is why tennis should not be an Olympic sport. Give some other sport a shot in the arm. Like squash.
     
  17. Simp84

    Simp84 Regular Member

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    Hey aiyuuw~ how come you like Lin Dan so much??
    Dont you think his attitude sucks? haha :p
    If he is more humble and less arragont he will be my favorite too :)
     
  18. aiyuuw

    aiyuuw Regular Member

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    iwell, to be honest i like taufik more, lol:D , i know that sounds weird,but to be fair, he ruled 2004 indeed, so yea, even tho lin dan is the most deserving imho, im VERY glad taufik win, becos i like him (his style of play is exciting! and he has that character, which for some is annoying, but for me its,,funny!:D ),but cant see how did they pick him, so thats why i said those things
    i hope that taufik hidayat will realize what gift he has, and start to use it to the maximum, and be consistent, and stop being lazy, and maybe doing some complaints on court(becos for some reasons i kinda like it):D
     
    #18 aiyuuw, Feb 4, 2005
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2005
  19. Anatolii

    Anatolii Regular Member

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    i guess some people tend to get tired of mr. niceguys, and aiyuuw is definitely one of them :p :D

    about why lindan shouldn't have gotten the award, i suppose dominating in tournamentss in which 'lesser' playerss participated in isn't really that a great feat, despite the commendable consistency he's shown.

    as for taufik, yeah, the player of the year title does seem a little unbefitting, but triumphing all those worthy players in olymps must have worthed everything, plus the fact that he won another tournament or so after that meant he's really got stuff in him, thus showing that the victory in olymps was not because of lady luck.
     
    #19 Anatolii, Feb 4, 2005
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2005
  20. prince_user

    prince_user Regular Member

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    I think you had better check your facts before you mouth off generalities about Lin Dan dominating where there were lesser players. In the Swiss and All England Opens which Lin Dan dominated as you say, 18 of the year end top 20 ranked players were present. " Lesser players", you forget that these 2 tournaments had more top 20 ranked players than the Olympics ( which had 15 ).

    If you based your statement on the presence at the year-end tournaments, again you forget that many players such as Susilo and the Koreans hardly played after the Olympics. As a final note, in the 2 year end tournaments, the China Open ( won by Lin Dan ), and the Indonesian Open ( won by Taufik Hidayat ), you will note that 15 of the top 20 were in the China Open while 14 were in the Indonesian Open.

    Dominating where there were " lesser" players, rubbish IMHO.
     

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