Two Expected Losses
Vynnyk (Wenter): Andro New Core OFF/S, NUZN 55, Dr. Neubauer Anti ABS 3 Pro
Wang Yidi: W968, NEO Blue National Hurricane, K3 Pro
When I wrote this title, I was so resolute. But when I flipped back through my own articles, I hesitated for a moment. In early November last year, I wrote this piece:
“Two awesome finals; they both found the style that suits them.”
At the time, at the Montpellier Champions event, Wang Yidi beat Vynnyk 4-3. If there was any effective strategy, it could be distilled into two words: “resolute.” You resolutely believe you can win, resolutely trust you can defend Vynnyk’s forehand loop-drive, resolutely believe your attack can penetrate Vynnyk.
(Vynnyk’s blade.)
When you’re not confident enough and waver, you revert to your old self. That’s the Wang Yidi we know, the one who plays so conflicted and uncomfortable against pips players.
At the Singapore Grand Smash, women’s singles quarterfinal, Wang Yidi lost to Vynnyk 2-4. It seems she’s back to square one. But human growth isn’t a straight upward line; it’s a repetitive, back-and-forth, advancing-and-retreating spiral.
Sometimes, against a pips opponent who looks a bit complicated to you, you need to simplify the complex. Attack her forehand corner more, trust you can defend her inverted-rubber attack, and at the same time trust the penetrating power of your own attack. Roughly that. After all, we’ve talked plenty about tactics. Some opponents are just thorny for us, and without a do-or-die, burn-the-boats kind of nerve, you can only go down in defeat.
What’s more, this year’s Vynnyk has taken her attacking consistency up another level, winning the European Top 16 women’s singles at the start of the year. Earlier she also beat the formidable Zhu Yuling.
Lin Shidong: outer ALC custom, NEO Blue National Hurricane, D09c
Felix: Tibhar Felix, K3 Pro special on both sides
Men’s singles quarterfinal, Lin Shidong lost to the younger Lebrun 2-4. This is Lin Shidong’s fourth straight loss to this opponent. Frankly, this match was played decently. He was basically fairly decisive; he just genuinely couldn’t beat him. Tactically, it also wasn’t quite right.
On the very first serve of the match, Lin Shidong served fast and long into Felix’s playing elbow (body). From this ball, you could roughly see the idea of trying to restrict Felix’s backhand flip. But he kept serving from the pivot position, and the match fell behind 1-3. Only in the fifth game did he start to change to serving from the middle position. This favored his own backhand attack and also helped with defense.
The reasons he genuinely couldn’t win come down to three main points.
One, Felix’s serves are varied: clockwise spin, counterclockwise spin, with long-short combinations too. And the rhythm is fast enough. He really serves well. We saw some balls Lin Shidong couldn’t read clearly, where he meant to flip but suddenly changed to a push.
Two, Felix’s forehand is only good enough, but Lin Shidong’s forehand isn’t solid either. In the second game’s timeout, Wang Hao reminded Lin Shidong to loop however feels comfortable and to play a few more shots, which somewhat helped build his confidence. But in forehand-to-forehand rallies, it still wasn’t thick (solid) enough. Sometimes Felix could even counter-loop your forehand loop-drive with his backhand from mid-distance.
It takes the brave to win when two strong sides clash. Courage alone won’t do it. The forehand strength really does still need polishing.
Three, on the backhand side, Felix played everything on the rising phase. His thinking is to serve a ball, you can’t flip with quality, then he counter-smacks. His backhand counter-rip and counter-smack ability has risen again, with a high hit rate and big threat.
Overall, tactically he could attack Felix’s forehand corner more. But in terms of strength, right now he genuinely can’t beat him.
It’s just that, as we said above, when you genuinely can’t win, you either wait it out until the opponent errs, or you burn the boats, simplify the complex, attack with everything you’ve got at higher quality, and see whether you can earn the favor of the goddess of victory.