not fully recovered from grueling denmark open final (https://360badminton.com/news/axels...ut-off-both-legs-and-go-away-in-a-wheelchair/) ... just because he finished the denmark match doesn't mean he'd be fully ready to play in a few days time. look how momota performed in his 1st round french open match... yikes. wanted to avoid 'committed player' penalty. [yet another frucked up bwf bylaw]
if he wanted to avoid mo, doesnt need to off so soon cos they could only meet in final. The "glory" he already gave up is the winning streak
Here’s the statement from his FB page. I’d say he’s simply exhausted from the past weeks and wants to properly recover before the upcoming Bali triple header.
I know, but back-to-back tournaments are the norm in the Super Series/World Tour circuit. As you've hinted, he may not be fully ready to play in a few days time. Why? Momota looks ready , how he just played against Kidambi is another matter. Who knows, now that Viktor is out of the way, his mood is lifted the following rounds with an eye to the trophy. Point 2 is understood, simply do what's necessary to avoid the penalty. If I'm not wrong, he still got to stay around for a couple of days to take part in some interviews and promotional activities.
Playing the same opponent, esp your main rival the next week , regardless which rounds is not soon enough?
I've seen this posted in the tournament thread. Frankly, what I conjectured might be what Viktor has in mind,it is not the least bit unflattering or whatever. In fact, I think it's a prudent decision after such an important, hard-won victory to want to consolidate the gains by maintaining the momentum going forward, as they are sure to have many more tough battles ahead. Regroup, regather your thoughts, fine tune your strategy, work on the shortcomings that the opponent exposed, tweak your game to exploit your opponent's revealed weaknesses, reinforce your strengths - all this to be even better prepared for future battles to come. What nemesis, jinx, will soon become a thing of the past. I believe, Viktor will reign for at least a short while.
Oh, come on, is that all you can resort to? I'd like to credit you with more intelligence than that apart from not getting my drift right. Let me repeat, it's almost vital for VA to continue his winning streak against Momota for a couple more times to break Momota's inner belief he has VA's number. If Viktor loses to Momota so soon after that rousing victory, it may just undo all his gains, not just technically but, more importantly, psychologically in view of their lop-sided H2H (now 14-2 in KM's favour?) VA's goal is to win the war, not just a battle or two far apart in the years ahead. Get it? Mind you, Momota is not done yet. That one loss last Sunday may be treated as an anomaly, didn't he take the opening set before going down in defeat? You really have to shake Momota's confidence more thoroughly - one victory doesn't prove much. Understand?
How can Axelsen be so tired? He only had 1 hard match in Sudirman cup, Thomas cup and Denmark open combined, the rest was reasonably easy wins. Edit: okay, he stated it was small injuries and not tiredness, so I dont mean to critisize him.
Maybe, but I don’t think we need to dissect it too much. They will play together soon in Indonesia I think? Top players inevitably will meet up quite frequently. what I’m trying to say is, there might be a chance that Momota was a factor in VA’s retiring from French Open, but I don’t think it’s a major consideration.
in normal times, yes, back-to-back tourneys are normal. have the past 18+ months been anything close to normal? normally these athletes plan their training schedules & tournament schedules looking 12+ months ahead in order to peak for the 'important' tournaments. there's a rhythm to the process of professional competition in all professional sports: fitting practice & training into pre-season, competition season, then off-season. since march of 2020 who has had a normal schedule enabling them to compete under normal conditions? nobody. at this point in time i woudn't expect anybody to achieve their normal results yet. when will it get back to normal? logic tells me ~18 months from badminton's restart date. it may or may not return to what we knew as normal. if it doesn't, these next 18 months will give us an idea of what the new normal will be.
yes. a quick witted joke that made me laugh. any credit from you is insignificant to my level of intelligence. it had nothing to do with your 'drift'. i haven't read 95% of your drifts since 2012. they're way too long, indulgent and uninformative.
It does make sense, but if that is indeed how VA thinks, I think he would go for the next win asap, because he has the upper hand right now, and Momota is also tired. I think his retirement from FO is simply in acknowledgement that he might not even reach the final (which is the success criterion for him at the moment); and if he would reach it, he would being even more exhausted, and probably injured, and thus gamble his chances of being properly ready, physically as mentally, for the Indonesia leg and the WC. He already played back-to-back tournaments, Thomas Cup and Denmark Open. On the mental side, he already played three back-to-back tournaments (including Sudirman) right after the OG. If you compare with how the other olympic champions are faring right now, VA is doing more than fine.
This. Framing that withdrawal the other way round without any actual evidence is just highly illogical. Especially since there are zero precendents in the past in which Viktor backed away from confrontation, regardless the current odds and momentum.
I don't think Justin_L was trying to "frame" it; just putting it out there as a potential factor. But I agree with you, didn't even think of that, but it is true that their current H2H really speaks against a mindset of "backing away from a confrontation with Momota". He already had plenty of opportunities to do that .. but he always accepted the challenge and believed that "this time he would win"; also at 1-13 H2H.
Even so, Viktor is no exception, every active player/pair is in the same situation. And the norm for pre-Covid pandemic period lasted years unlike now which is less than two months for which very few top players/pairs go the whole hog, that is the full five rounds, in every tournament played. For sure, Momota's situation is no different from VA's. In fact, some are worse as they have internal tournaments to take part in (eg, the 2-week China National Games just after the Olympics and before the resumption of international events). As you can see, I don't hold it against VA at all, respect his decision, and even thought it's a wise decision considering his special situation vis-a-vis his nemesis Momota who still holds an overwhelming psychological advantage in their H2H. I won't be surprised Momota is interested to meet VA again this week, if only to probe his opponent's new game, his strengths, weaknesses and shortcomings. Don't forget, Momota took G1, 22-20, and was ahead most of G2 until 17-14 before VA drew level and overtook him, then just 1-point in it at 19-18 before VA closed it out with 21-18. Personally, I'd much prefer to see both archrivals in good shape to give us a true indication of their respective strengths going forward. As for minor or niggling injuries and aches, it's nothing unusual for every seasoned professional athlete; for example, Fu Haifeng revealed he was almost never free from it throughout his career.
I beg to differ. Once you managed to end a long losing streak to the same archrival who also has a psychological crush on you, not only do you treasure it but also wish to do it again to consolidate the gain and make it last. The last thing you want is to fall back to square one so soon. Why risk it? Bear in mind, Momota came close to winning that match in two straight sets. It pays to do more in-depth analysis of your opponent's game, be well prepared and ready for your next encounter, both tactically and strategically. It's fine, we can agree to disagree.
No, no, we totally agree on this. I just question when his chances of achieving this are highest. Now? Or 3 weeks from now. There are arguments for and against both. I think we would need to be in their minds to know the answer to that.
Let me put it another way. In the past it was VA trying again and again, each time in vain and compounding the problem was the demoralizing aspect of psychological defeat which virtually allowed Momota to almost win at will against him and thus becoming his nemesis as VA seemed stuck in a hellhole. VA's near total shutout in H2H in Momota's favour says it all. Now that there is suddenly light at the end of the tunnel with that stirring come-from-behind victory at the Denmark Open Final, it's going to be a different story henceforth. Surely, a flash in the pan just doesn't cut it. Crucially, VA must go on to score a couple more decisive victories over Momota to finally break the jinx once and for all by establishing a healthy balance in their H2H in future. " One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation." - Arthur Ashe " Before anything else, preparation is the key to success." - Alexander Graham Bell
