He clearly states he has accomplished all he wanted in terms of direct achievements (trophy, wins, medals, OG, etc) and his current goal is “... to try to extend his playing career” and also “hope to break more records or just to lengthen his career”.
I am afraid he can't win professional matches anymore. Completely immobile on the court and plays with a non-existent footwork. Losing 6-21 to Tsuneyama is bad enough. A GOAT being put on Court 5 and getting repeatedly curb-stomped by low level players gives a bad image to the sport itself. Should announce that it his farewell year immediately and hang his boots in Fuzhou 1000. This would be the Perfect END!
The Olympics qualification hasn't even started yet. I don't think he will hang anything anytime soon.
What if he wins Olympic gold 2020 Tokyo. I hope that happens. That will seal the deal, enough to make a movie. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Yup, agonising to watch, unbearable. Father time is giving him a hard time, a reality check the entire 2018 and I should expect more or less the same, that is no improvement, this year. To be honest, I seriously doubt he can do as well as LCW going forward despite the latter's odds against him - imagine, the trauma of contracting nose cancer can be debilitating both physically and psychologically, thus spelling the end of his career and whatever dreams he may have left. The difference between Lin Dan and Lee CW isn't mostly just the self-motivation and hunger for (a or another) big achievement but, more importantly, also their respective physicality based on their differing levels of self-discipline and intensity of training regime. In that case, why wait and prolong his misery all the way to Fuzhou's China Open WTS1000 Championship in front of his home crowd ? Personally, I feel it would be much better for him to try his level best to perform creditably at one of the next few tournaments and then take the opportunity to make a proper and dignified exit by announcing his retirement for good. That's just my opinion.
I too agree he should quit since it is quite improbable LD can make the 2-person quota for OLY MS but LD Yonex 10-year contract runs till 2025, averaged 10M Yuan per year. Still a lot of kaching, difficult-lah to walk away from that???
I know it's very uneasy for die hard fans to digest all this. But people need to understand he's the GOAT for a reason. The man has won it all and has full exclusive right to do what he truly wants. He's not getting any young. People shouldn't get sad or feel uneasy that Lin Dan is not invincible anymore or that he's getting beaten by lower ranked players. Lin Dan even at this age gives people a run for their money. I, being a supporter of LCW have no qualms in admitting that LD is the GOAT and no one has the right to tell him he should retire or not. I'm not taking a jibe at you , NTF for saying Lin Dan losing is giving a bad image to the sport.
i think he tries to avoid injury and hides his tactics..i remember that the last meeting between him and LCW at QF AE 2018, he was playing with his god mode (maybe to show his respect to LCW) . Since then, he came back to slow-mode when played against other opponent, even with Kento. Let's wait till the begin of Olympics qualification in order to see if LD will destroy any players he meets.
While I think it is a long shot LD can make CHN 2-person MS team, I concur to see how he does once QF starts. As for previous poster 'money or pride'...I agree perhaps both but $$$ comes first before pride...after all US$1.6M per year freebie money from YY is nothing to sneeze at. If I am the GOAT himself, my record stands safe and proud, and nobody can come close to touching it. I take the $$$ and laugh all the way to the bank, and let you guys debate for all I care...honestly I don't care
Interesting point. I remember in that AE match with LCW, Lin Dan actually showed glimpses of his former self, the only occasion in a long time that we've not seen him played with such brilliance, and, since then no more, almost inexplicably, as in the rest of the year he went down in one humiliating fashion after another in early R1 exits (17 altogether ?), the worst performance in his career so far. I guess we'll have to see how it actually goes for him once the OG qualification cycle begins in end April, but, to be honest, I'm not too hopeful. Still, though it's getting harder for me to say so, we may never know. At risk of sounding cliche, we can at best say, where there's a will, there's a way. But, can he escape the ravages of age for he's 35 going 36 years old and will turn 37 around Tokyo 2020 ? An unavoidable question. Wishful thinking is one thing, and reality another.
It's quite easily explained. LCW and LD know each other intimately on court. LD has been beating LCW for almost 16 years now, with only few matches going the other way. As a result, he is confident and comfortable when playing LCW, and can still anticipate his shots pretty well. That, coupled with his ability to control most of the rallies vs LCW, makes him look so much better than when he's playing other opponents whom he doesn't know well (or at all). At the same time, LCW is not playing a controlled, steady, risk-averse game that LD looks most uncomfortable with against days.
Still, Lin Dan was doing in that match with LCW the kind of game reminiscent of his former self, nearly, not wholly, and if he can do it more often with more top 10 opponents, that'll be really something to look forward to as all his ardent fans are hoping for. Well, (perhaps highly) improbable but not impossible.
I watched Kanta Tsuneyama beat Lin Dan 19-21, 21-14, 21-7. Lin Dan showed glimpses of his former self during the first game and quite rightly won it. However, he visibly tired and seemed to lose interest during the remaining two games. Why did he lose interest, I wonder?
