Agree. I think LD knows TH's best performance is still above him. After 05 WC, people said, "ah, LD was tired after the long match with Gade", but LD denied such excuse. After 06 AG (or 06 Jap, can't remember), some said LD is just not himself in the 1st game. Again LD said no, that is not the case. But with his 2nd WC title, now it seems he becomes more confident and is closer to erase this "shadow", either by beating an "in form" TH, or by winning the Olympic title.
Haha. Tell this "just one other tournament" theory to LYB. Btw, when interviewed before 06 AG, LD said, there are two major tournaments in the near future for him, 06 AG and 08 Olympics.
At the time, LD did the greatest comeback against LCW. Then, only a few months later, to have LCW get revenge and do the greatest comeback (of the NSS) modern era. That game was unbelievable! Hats off to LCW for that amazing comeback. Wasn't he done 12-20 in the 3rd set or something? Absolutely amazing.
LCW did 12:16 to 21:16 yesterday. Unbelievable. CJ's confidence must be shattered. Also don't forget LD lost to "Chinese MS specialist" Boonsak Ponsana a few months ago too.
TH mentioned that he still wanted to go to Beijing '08..I am sure that he needs points badly..so this time, he wont just let SS win ....remember that TH was asking to play at HK open this year as he needed more points for Beijing'08....
Mmm ... IMHO Taufik doesn't have what Federer has (consistencies in winning regular + big tournaments). If he had the consistency of winning tournaments, he might fail to win the big events (I say 'might' coz we never know). Winning a lot of tournaments might give players extra pressure to win the big events (Kim/Ra would be a good example, in fact they lost on the event that they really wanted to win the most. Because after winning a lot of tournaments consecutively, Kim/Ra felt that they were 'obligated' to win the olympics). Taufik is no doubt the most-gifted players with wonderful techniques. He knows when to control his performance so that he would reach his peak-performance at big events. I'm not trying to find excuses for Taufik's losses in regular tournaments, I believe he really lost a lot of matches in those regular tournaments even when he played his best, but I just think he is so mentally-strong that those losses didn't bother him too much for big events preparations.
There is a good chance to get easy points in a few days -- Chinese Taipei Open, since China has withdrawn. Especially good chance for Kido/Setiawan -- Can they become world No.1? And Lilyana/Vita -- Can they get enough ranking points so that they do not need to play pairs like Gao/Huang too early? And of course TH. If he can do well in Taipei, he can afford to skip a few other tournaments maybe.
Oh man...u have clearly underestimated the prestige of this "one" tournament Remember also how Kim Dong Moon/Ra Kyung Min basically dominated the entire XD field for a few years, only to lose tragically in the early rounds of Athens 2004. Try telling them that the Olympics is just "one" other tournament The defeat was really painful to them....
Talking about consistency, definitely LD. But talking about peak performance, I think TH at his peak is the most formidable MS in the 21st century. Also I think Kim/Ra is simply mentally exhausted in those big events. They both play two events, with Kim the leader in Kim/Ha and Ra need to do everything in Ra/Lee (compare, alghouth Gao Ling needs to play two events, Gao/Huang are more balanced). They are visibly tired in 01 WC XD final, and Kim simply seems mentally exhausted in 01 WC MD final. In 03 WC Ha was injured and Kim was soooo agressive and dominant in his XD games.
