The Arctic Open semi-final match between Chou Tien Chen and Koki Watanabe saw an interesting match where Chou Tien Chen won by using a very common tactic on Koki: hitting the shots to the left and then the right and keep making Koki twist and turn. Let’s discuss this tactic.

Chou Tien Chen is playing some of the best badminton of his career in his twilight years. It is absolutely stunning stuff, and I keep telling Fred that Chou is now playing like Lee Chong Wei. He has so much control in his game now, no longer rushing his shots, and taking the time to measure and see where his opponent is before hitting the shot with the perfect placement. This is a much improved version of Chou, and he now selects the right shot almost all the time.

Koki Watanabe has a lot of speed and he likes to move his opponents from side to side. He often follows up net shots with cross net shots. And when he hits his half smashes, he goes cross court with great frequency. When he hits lobs to the baseline, he would send one to the right, the hit a half smash to the other side. That is his preferred tactical approach.

On this day, Chou used the same tactics against Koki. Chou hit his shots to Koki’s forehand at the baseline, then hits another to his backhand side. Koki chooses to hit a drop shot to Chou’s backhand side, which Chou manages to reach early. Chou unleashes a spinning net shot. Koki has to run the full diagonal of the court to retrieve that shot, and he has to lift it because he was reaching it late. This allows Chou to hit the next shot with a half smash to Koki’s backhand side, and winning the point. This rally is shown in the 5 minute highlight starting at 0:41.

Chou is showing a lot more patience, as he sets up the killshot roughly 3 to 4 shots before that. Chou was peppering lobs and lifts to the back of the court, looking for an opportunity to set up a killshot. The opportunity came when Chou hit the shuttle to the backhand side of the baseline, and Koki returned the shot with a drop shot to Chou’s backhand side. Chou could reach the shot early, and this allows him to set up the kill shot.

Chou continued this tactical approach throughout the match. Constantly probing and moving Koki from side to side. When the opportunity came, Chou would either hit a net shot which is close to the net, or send a half smash downwards. That causes Koki to rush in, and then Chou would lift the shuttle to the other side of the court, which would cause Koki to turn to retrieve it. After that, Koki is at the mercy of Chou, and Chou has a simple task of sending the shuttle downwards to the other side of the court.

This twisting and turning eventually tire out Koki, and by the 3rd game, Koki had no more fight in him. Chou in the end won comfortably in the 3rd game, 21 – 10.

This tactic is basic and effective. It is just as simple as the spinning net shot and smash combination. This tactic requires a lot of physical effort from the player as he moves the opponent around, and requires a great deal more fitness than the lift and smash tactic.

Happy trying this tactic! When it comes out right, it is a great deal of fun.

hat’s all for this entry.

Until the next update, eat well, get plenty of rest, and keep the badminton going!