I don't want to light any more fires here, as I think we have covered most aspects but without any disrespect to anyone, an interview, or chat with him wouldn't help IMO. Example 1: Interviewer: unlucky on the match nathan, what went wrong? NR:I was pee'd off at losing the 2nd game and couldn't be bothered trying in the third. Example 2: Interviewer; Unlucky on the match Nathan, what went wrong? NR: I am lazy in training, and rely on my skill to get me through, but was not good enough. Neither examples are likely to happen, and everyone can only speculate on the truth, no matter what any party says. Anything from the players are likely to be dimplomatic, generic excuses such as "they played very well", "they played the big points well" , "we were not performing to the level we can do" , or "one of us was carrying an injury/illness". These reasons come out in interviews with every sports person, and it helps them too, as it makes them believe it, this is why many sports people come out with the Quote "on our/my day we can beat anyone" because it is good for their confidence to say this.
I know thats one I use all the time!! (I should have won!!) I realise ge and nr just went back up to 1 in the world so congratulations but there should still be huge, more important goals. The worlds and olympics are surely the most important tourniments. I think that they are the best pair in the world at the moment but have to win one of these comps before they will be remembered. Winning any comp is amazing but these glories are fleeting. You are a world or olympic champion forever and everyone understands that. Saying, you were china, japan and england open champion means nothing to 99.5% of the world
yes, but the all england open is still the most prestisous tournament, and all players would like to win it
We did rank the tournaments irrespective of their "stars" somewhere else in the forum, I can't seem to find it anywhere though. I also believe they are the best pair in the world, technically they unorthodox in some ways, but for effectiveness they are No.1. This is what gives them their ranking of No.1, and why Gade and Chen Hong were ranked No.1 in the world for long periods. The difference being that their mental preparation and capability is not there. This is also the hardest to coach (near impossible), and why Chen/Gade/NR&GE and other pairs like them have not won the major tournaments as often as their skill indicates they should. Lin Dan is the opposite, he has a decent level of skill but way below the other top singles players such as Bao/Chen/Gade/Taufik et al. however his mental state is very stable. This is part of the reson why he can win so many events, but when players are on top form he can lose seemingly easily, or drop games he perhaps "shouldn't" Legend status comes where a strong mental capability combines with supreme skill, and is quite rare. KDM, Tony G, Gao Ling, Rudy Hartono are the only people I can think of off the top of my head. They were/are a level above everyone else in skill and Mental strength. Put simply, if NR/GE want to win as many tournaments as their skill indicates they should, then they need to improve their Mental state, but this is very hard to do, and I can't see it happening. I wouldn't be surprised if they win a WC however, since they are held every year now (too often IMO) but I wouldn't bet on it!
Easier said than done. Mental is much more Nature than Nuture IMO. For the master of both skill and Mind watch Roger Federer. IMO the best example of the ultimate sportsman we have in the world at present. (shame it is in a poor disicpline) The way he remains so calm even when executing a shot is amazing. He has the best skill, mind, and attitude to his life as a sportsman I have seen in any sport ever. Sport if full of those talented players who could not quite deal with training hard, learning from losing etc.. and players who have little talent, but try so hard to achieve what they want. This is what makes sport interesting (or boring if you have one man who has the perfect combination of the two)
i would have said that gade handles himself very well maybe even better than lin dan sometimes, i don't think i've ever seen gade get angry
This thread is diverging slightly, but being angry is not the important factor. Federer gets angry with himself. It is about pushing yourself over the winning line. Once in a final situation you are likely to get near to winning a game at least maybe just 5/6 points and pushing yourself over the line, is what mental capacity is all about. Gade is calm on court, but struggles to cross the Line. WC 2001 Fianl for example Hendrawan won first game easy as Gade very nervous. in the second game handrawan had blown himself out, and was really struggling physically. Gade needed just 2 (or three) points (i can't remember exactly) to force the third game, which in Hendrawans state would have ben gades for the taking, but he didn't make it. It was not luck IMO. Chen hong is an even more clear cut case. He has had Game ad Match points in alsmost every pressure game he has played. EG,AE 2001 final WC2003 QF, OG2005 QF, AE final 2003, AE QF 2006. All these games he was at the tip of of either match points or game points, and he threw them away. Much as I admire CH skills and know he has the ability to win, I don't think he will win a title bigger than AE.
this will be slightly closer to topic, when nathan and gail had all those match points i know how hard it is to finish the game off, i think the player/pair which is losing at that point has an advantage
But all they have to do at this point is win one rally. They have won many to get to this point, why not this final one. Also once Zhang/Gao had the match point would this not hand the advantage back to NR/GE? If this is the reason for them losing, it further enforces the point that they are weaker mentally than the other players. Ifthis is the case (which I beleive it isn't)then people would wait until they are match point down then win.
you just kind of totally proved me wrong so all i can do is agree, but you must of had games where you are on match point and you suddenly lose it and can't get going again. i know i have
well both pairs would probably have been more nervous than usual, zhang and gao would have been nervous about losing and nathan and gail would have been nevous about winning. Its about who can keep the nerves away most and I think at that point the english pair may have been a bit too scared of winning the match
i would have said it's more like, "we got to 14 we are sure to win now, it's only one point" and that would make you lose your concentration and you become complacent
It seems that any of the england teams regardless of sport will undergo this kind of analysis. As a nation we tend to get behind our teams when they are flying high and then tear them apart when they fail to meet expectations. Yes unfortunately Nathan and Gail failed to recliam the AE title but they have had so much success in past tournaments that has gone un-acknowledged, games in which Nathan has been by far the more aggresive/positive/mentally stable one of the pairing. One example of this was the QF of this years AE where the game I was watching saw Gail lose all concentration and her usual dominating net game went to tatters, it was Nathan that held it all together through a tough few points that allowed Gail to get her head back together and the pair to come out on top. I say praise them for the obvious outstanding pairing that they are, acknowledge the great results they produce, but stand by them in defeat and bad times. There is nothing more demoralising than knowing you are not playing/have not played at your 110% best and then have everyone else reinforcing the fact........it makes bouncing back from this sort of thing that much harder and take that much longer. I am sure that with a bit more support they will continue to be the best pair in the world.
