After playing a few games on saturday evening with BF member dgdz, I was even more tired than Saturdays play, and with an exam to think about on monday morning it was diffiult to concentrate considering 4days at AE and no preparation. but I managed to focus for some quality badminton matches. MS: Lin Dan was eager from the start. I was worried that his match against LCW would have taken some energy and mental strength from him, and especially against LHI who is a very consistent defensive player, Lin may play too many rallies and tire. The chinese coaches and Lin obviousley realised this too and it was clear from the start Lin wasn't here to mess around with a long game as pervious encounters with LHI. He was accurate and agressive from the start, and contolled LHI very well. Even though there were still some very long attacking rallies he chose his shots well and maintained attcking play. The second game continued this was, and despite a nasty fall and some early dodgy line calls (both ways) he continued with the "no prisoners" attitude and took the match impressively. A worthy winner, and positive signs of added maturity and acknowledgement that he is mortal and needs to adjust his game to his opponent. I place him as favourite for WC even if taufik plays. MD: Not wanting to sound too downbeat, but this wasn't a great game. The quality was high, but no real excitment in it. DEN were justifiable winners, who played solidly throughout the tournament with some tough opponents. MAL had no answer, and always seemed off the pace, despite age advantage, there game is reliant on speed and this wasn't good enough. WS: Similar feeling as the MD match it was three games, but not an exciting match. Similar in almost everyway to last years final. XXF should win next year too. WD: A classic match up. Zhang/Yang have beaten Gao/Huang 4/5 previous meetings, and the first game showed them to be much more powerful and actually quite a lot faster than Gao/Huang. Huang sui was again my Woman of the match though, as she played some truly fantastic defensive shots to break the younger pairs resolve. The third game was an attritional affair. with both pairs not able to finish rallies. Yang Wei was very tired. she just played the shots and waited for the mistakes. At one point Huang sui was talking to to everyone saying "we are all tired" (in CHinese) to the amusement of the (chinese speaking) crowd. Huang and Gao are a delight to watch they work well together and talk a lot. always saying "wo Lai le" (mine) and "jia you" to each other to encourage them. Zhang/Yang were mentally and physically broken by Gao/Huang and Huang was the driving force for Gao as she really didn't want to lose. 6 titles in a row, you can't argue with. a tremendous achievement. XD: Two fanastic games of very good mixed doubles play. Nathan/Gail were very keen to attack in the first game to take the edge off ZJ speed and power which they did to great effect and they came back well. Gao played not very well throughout the game, and there were at least three easy net kills she missed or hit out, and countless oppurtunities she missed to seize the advantage from Gail. Gail for the first time outplayed her at the net. She has definitely had a big improvement from the OG, but defence and net kill technique still causes some concern. The second game showed a tremndousperformance from ZJ, he was not relying on smash smash smash game to win the game, but playing more tactically with some clears and soft shots. His defence, normally a weakness was strong and saved them many times. Nathans big weakness is his movement back and many times this gained them the attack as ZJ hoisted the defensive strokes behind him. I said to my wife that I had never seen the ENG pair focus for so long, and the first two games lasted over 70 mins. I said they cannot focus for this long, it is only a matter of time. ZJ and Gao were so strong mentally even facing the 5 match points they played simple error free stuff and this showed there true class. Turly worthy winners, who can argue with 2 OG golds and WC medals? The third game was an apalling show of unprofessionalism. Nathan may have been tired, but he just didn't care. I have made it clear I don't like their attitude on court many time on the forum (see Last years AE review and many other posts) but this was the epitome of what I don't like. I feel so sorry for gail as all she could do was stand and let it happen. He let her to the back even. What I am surprised at that ENG fans didn't boo them. I support CHN all the way! The good will out! Looking forward to next year!!
Incidentally I read that Nathan Said that they hadn't played at the level they had the previous two days. I believe this incorrect, as they played at a much higher level for the first two games, very focussed and very few unforced errors. They were just outplayed and broken by CHN pair.
Good review James. I'm glad someone else has finally pointed out Robertson's awful display in the 3rd set. I think the main reason people didn't boo was that they wouldn't want Emms to think the booing was being directed at her. I actually thought she played very well, and her defence has improved enormously. She defends flat smashes very well with a crouch defence but is more vulnerable to steeper ones. I felt there was an obvious tactice to smash to ZJ's forehand as he kept trying to drive it back crosscourt, but Emms was able to cut it out. This got them a lot of comparatively easy points, but they started to struggle once these dried up and ZJ varied his defence a little more. The WD was also very good. We hadn't planned to stay for all of it as we had to drive back to Newcastle but I'm glad we did. Its good to hear what Huang Sui was saying - I'm sure Yang Wei started speaking in the same rally. Was she saying the same thing?
Thanks for your informative reports jamesd20! Disappointing attitude by Nathan Robertson apparently... (I didn't see the match)
There was one shot in the 3rd game, when the shuttle was between the two Brits. Both ended up not going for it when it, was clearly in. It was on Nathan's forehand, but he had clearly fallen sound asleep.
The shot of the match has to be in the 3rd game (I think). Huang was on the floor from crouching down to defend a flat smash. Even on the floor, she held her own. Zhang and Yang tried to capitalise on this and directed all attacks at Huang. Huang defended well and cleared to the back line beautifully - winning the point in the end.
what i thought is he has given up from that 14-14 of the 2nd set felt really sorry for Emms, can't she just kick Robertson and make him wake up?
am glad that i'm not the only one who doesn't like nathan.. i was there at German Open 2005 when he was playing MD with other Brit-Guy.. almost every point that they lost he shouted F**k all the time..for this attitude he got warned and yellow card.....he is so arrogant..
interestingly gail usually can.. altho nathan certainly is probably one of the least fit men on the circuit. When he was on superstars in england he didn't get thru the heats whereas gail got to the final, and won the basketball trial (even tho she was the shortest... her hand eye co-ordination is immense and her speed was brilliant) i think this shows the contrast in the players nathan is raw talent, great racquet skills, deceptive and can read the game pretty well. Gail is the worker, she goes adn goes and goes (even tho she was ill on friday night (tummy bug apparently)) I think nathan really struggles for motivation. if it's not gonna come easy and things aren't going his way it takes an almighty effort from gail to gee him up and win some points by herself so that nathan can see the light at the end of the tunnel again. They managed to get the third game off Xie / ZHang on friday - why not on sunday too? It's a real shame, the AE defence should have been theirs for the taking.. in my eyes they are the best pair in the world. but for nathan's mental weakness it would have been theirs.. they could have battled back in the 3rd set in the same way that nathan and gail tried to in the OG. but after losing ni the 2nd game even gail couldn't muster herself to bring nathan's head back up.. and i don't blame her. he's supposed to be the driving force.. not her oh well.. perhaps ant and nathan should swap partners.. mebbe donna and nathan would be good, maybe anthony and gail would be good. who knows. Coops
jcl49, Yes I forgot to mention that. actually she fell over on the first shot, then hit two shots on the floor and recovered to win the rally. She really was the driving force in the pair, as Gao seemed resigned to losing midway through the second set. She does very well to cover Gao after she has played more than one match in a day. A truly great pair. Yes I remember the shot (or not) in XD where the Nathan was in the middle, the smash came 1 foot to his backhand side and he was just stood up and not even attempt to hit it. My wife said he is a disgusting man, even from the start the way he acts between points.
After watching the final, I just wish Gail could find another partner. She has improved so much. In OG she seemed scared of Zhang Jun smashing, now she can return quite a lot of them, and more importantly, she is totally confident in herself. In contrast, Nathan is weaker than before, most of the times I do not see any difference between his and Gail's smashes . Zhang and Gao can literally think about what to eat tonight before returning Nathan's smashes. The 3rd game has some ridiculous moments. Among them, in one rally Nathan comfortably rested at the net and let Gail smash and smash, never bother to move to the back court. Gail used to be a bless to their opponents, but now she has improved so much, apparently due to her hard-training and motivation, she is almost 30 by the way. Nathan should be ashamed. It is really really annoying if your partner is not motivated and just fool around on court. Gail should go find another partner, maybe she should contact Tony Gunawan and form an international pair?
Nathan has to change his attitude, if not for his own sake, then for England, Gail and British Badminton in general. I have to agree after watching him play on numerous occasions, Gail has the spirit, but he lacks it at crucial times. He tends to crack-up when the chips are down. Sigh...
I think compared with the performance of Zhang/Yang in the last set of WD finals, Nathan's last set in the XD final looked like he was fighting for his life! In the 3rd set of the WD final, Zhang Jie Wen and Yang Wei looked like they were warming up before playing a social game! Yang Wei was just walking around the court causually like she just had a big dinner. There was no fire in her at all!! I wonder if the game was rigged to give Gao Ling and Huan Sui a sixth back-to-back AE title.
I've been wondering the same thing since Yang/Zhang doesn't seem to have ever won the AE. After winning Olympic gold and the world championships, it's surprising that they haven't won in the AE. Or have they?
No, Yang/Zhang never won AE WD title. So its unlikely they gave the title to Gao/Huang for Gao/Huang to made a record. Why would they when they surely want this WD AE title badly, cause this is the only major title they haven't had?
I did not watch this match yet. But I really doubt it. Yang/zhang are much better than Huang/Gao now, and based on theire experience and ability, it is impossible for them to be defeated by Huang/Gao.
