hmmmm.....we are almost half way thru year 2005..... looks like lindan,xie xingfang,zhangning,and the chinese WD are still very very dominant.... cheng hong victory in AE was quite unpredictable and the different winners in MX and MD in every tournaments are quite interesting to watch
recently recently taufik has prove him self that he is in good shape to scoope the WC title... while lin dan still the best player who has possiblity to become the biggest challanger after all... WS still dominated by Chinese ladies... and even worse they were produce the new line up jiang yiauw in singapore Open. MD is dominated by indonesian pair which put 4 pairs in the top 10 this moment... even there are two powerfull danish pair in top of the list but it wouldn't stop indonesia to get MD title in WC WD also a bit boring even some surprise had come when the qualification player could played till semifinal in S.open. it was the indonesian pair novita /polli who make the surprised after all. they dump number #4 world pair from korea in the 2nd round. and then they kick the malaysian pair from the turnament. but finaly they have to stop their game when the chinese showed their strenght as a powerfull pair and the champion after all. In XD no big change... thais, english, chinese, danish, malay has shown their best in this dicipline!!!
i am a fan of XD so i will chime in a little bit. i think there are some very promising pairs recently, and they provided great spectors in recent tournaments. one of my favorite is Sudket/Saralee (THA), less stable at times but both show great skills and detemination. they managed to topple Zhang/Gao in the Singapore Open last year. we cannot forget Thomas Laybourn / Kamilla Rytter Juhl (DEN), who stormed into the AE2005 final unseeded. how about Nova Widianto/Lilyana Natsir (INA). Lilyana is simply sensational with her speed, defense and composure. Nova is a good XD player but sometimes can be rather shaky. this pair is a joy to watch when they are in good form. although China do have some of the top pairs like Zhang/Gao, somehow i am not a fan of their style of mixed. not sure how to describe it, but perhaps lack in creativity? too rigid? the latest AE2005 semi and finals are a treat for mixed doubles fans.
if peter gade heals (goes back to his peak form)by august, which is probably impossible.. do you think he can beat taufik and lindan?
Chances are Peter will never fully heal and go back to the way he used to play. However, I believe that with his experience and modivation, he has a chance to beat taufik and lin dan if he works hard. In addition, I found that his shots are a lot more accurate compared to pre-injury Peter Gade and he has developed better mentality. Go peter
