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In the 2024 Denmark Open men's singles final, the home favorite, Anders Antonsen, displays a masterclass against Koki Watanabe from Japan. In this video, we will cover exactly how Anders perfectly uses his strategy to beat Koki Watanabe to win the 2024 Denmark Open for a second time.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
in the finals of the 2024 Denmark open
0:02
Anders antonson displayed a master class
0:04
against Ki wanabe in this video we will
0:07
break down antonson strategy which
0:09
perfectly took advantage of ki's play
0:11
style and reach and how an tonson
0:13
ultimately used this strategy to
0:14
complement his own game as
0:20
[Applause]
0:22
well before examining antonson strategy
0:25
we must first understand the strengths
0:26
and weaknesses of both antonson and Ki
0:29
to put it briefly antonson strengths lie
0:31
in the midcourt and front Court antonson
0:33
generally likes to play down in the back
0:35
court and follows up to try and create
0:37
opportunities at the front and midcourt
0:39
his flat game is very strong as he is
0:41
able to effectively put pressure on
0:43
opponents through drives and neutralize
0:44
their flat game as
0:48
well yeah that's
0:51
clever how did he get that
0:54
back antonson also has good touch at the
0:57
front court and is very good at spinning
0:58
net shots back went through my mind that
1:01
sometimes a shot like that
1:03
just changes however antonson back court
1:07
is not as deadly because he simply lacks
1:09
the raw power while his smashes are very
1:12
accurate and steep players at antonson
1:14
level do not feel as much pressure
1:15
pushing him to the
1:18
back Nice
1:23
Shot KI on the other hand is very fast
1:25
on his feet and has Strong attacking
1:27
play he also has similar strengths to
1:29
antonson he is quite strong in the flat
1:31
game and has a good touch at the net
1:33
however ki's around the head side seems
1:35
to be his best asset as it is very
1:37
difficult to guess what shot he is going
1:38
to play from there ki's smash is
1:41
powerful and he has a good stop drop but
1:43
his weakness lies in his reach and
1:44
height at only 5' 5 in or 166 cm tall K
1:49
must take more steps when running the
1:51
cross which effectively causes him to
1:53
lose more energy
2:04
however the good thing about Badminton
2:06
is that being taller and bigger doesn't
2:07
necessarily make you a better player
2:09
these attributes can still be used
2:11
against you and in this case it can be
2:12
used against
2:13
antonson knowing these strengths and
2:15
weaknesses we can now expand on antonson
2:19
strategy if you've watched this video up
2:21
here in which we discuss how to play
2:23
against faster opponents you will know
2:25
that slowing the pace through a four
2:27
corner style and breaking your
2:28
opponent's rhythm is the way to go and
2:30
this is exactly what antonson did
2:32
against a faster player like Ki antonson
2:34
veered away from his usual box-like
2:36
style and played more of a four corner
2:37
style against K he aimed to Target ki's
2:40
weakness in his height and reach in
2:42
these rallies you can see how antonson
2:44
plays cross blocks that are tighter to
2:45
the net along with lifts that travel
2:47
over K's
2:54
head because K is shorter these lifts
2:57
can be faster and flatter as he rels the
3:00
reach to cut off these pushes this means
3:03
that Ki has to turn his body for these
3:05
shots often putting Ki in a position
3:07
where he is falling backward and
3:09
attempting to play down there is not
3:11
much Ki can do in this
3:18
position on top of this antonson control
3:21
on his lifts was exceptional in this
3:23
match so even if Ki attempted to force a
3:26
smash to try to speed up the pace of the
3:28
game antonson would still have full
3:30
control of the
3:33
shuttle so now we understand Anton's
3:36
play style in this match but how does he
3:37
score points because at the pro level
3:40
you cannot simply rally to score you
3:42
must add and Pace changes deceptions
3:45
variations in your shots to
3:47
[Music]
3:49
win antonson was also extremely patient
3:52
when playing these rallies he waited for
3:54
his opportunities and it paid off
3:56
antonson was fine with playing the
3:57
longer rallies as he was in complete
4:00
control but when he was given the
4:01
opportunity he would change pace through
4:04
stick smashes or by following up
4:08
quickly in these rallies you can see
4:10
that antonson is changing not only the
4:12
pace but also the Direction with
4:13
crosscourt smashes on his around the
4:16
head side he mainly hit down and
4:17
straight but suddenly he hits cross
4:19
which catches K off
4:23
guard good block
4:36
[Applause]
4:40
many of antonson winning shots were
4:41
targeted at ki's backhand defense
4:44
because of ki's lack of reach these
4:45
accurate smashes could not be simply
4:47
blocked by reaching out the racket
4:49
instead ki's right leg must move across
4:51
his body to turn and reach the shuttle
4:54
this takes time and energy hence why
4:56
antonson won points off this shot
5:00
antonson changed Pace not only in the
5:02
back but also in the front Court he was
5:04
excellent at transitioning from Fast to
5:06
slow like in this rally where he full
5:08
Smashes in the back and follows up with
5:10
a slow but tight net shot at the front
5:25
Court good body smash yeah
5:33
antonson had very good variation in the
5:35
front Court which made it difficult for
5:37
KI to move smoothly it was difficult for
5:39
K to guess whether antonson would play
5:41
back to the net or push him to the back
5:43
because of these little holds where
5:44
antonson would show his racket face
5:46
first and then change last
5:51
second and on top of this antonson also
5:53
had shots where he would block further
5:55
into the court and preferably more at
5:56
ki's body to incite K to play back at
5:59
the net where he would be waiting
6:01
according to the commentators Steen and
6:03
Jill this is the type of shot that
6:04
antonson coaches told him to play more
6:06
of Casper on his side called for small
6:11
deceptions and then play to the front
6:13
court or play into the midcourt area
6:17
below the tape where Wata will try to
6:20
play back at the net blocking further
6:22
and more into Ci's body is especially
6:24
effective when Ki has just hit a shot in
6:26
his back cord this is because Ki expects
6:29
a shot towards the front Court as
6:30
antonson has often played a tighter
6:32
block towards the net after pushing Ki
6:34
to the back so when a shot comes at him
6:36
in the midcourt the natural response is
6:38
to Simply block antonson knows this and
6:40
waits for KI at the net which is also a
6:42
display of his ability to anticipate
6:44
speaking of anticipation and variation
6:46
we also want to take a look at antonson
6:47
[Music]
6:49
service while service is likely the most
6:52
important shot in the game it is quite
6:54
often overlooked however having an
6:56
effective serve in anticipating the next
6:58
shot that will come is crucial to put
7:00
you ahead in rallies antonson is very
7:02
good at this as he mixes up his serves
7:04
very well but he also understands
7:06
depending on his serve where the most
7:07
likely return of serve will be most
7:09
people understand the importance of
7:11
variation in terms of flicking and short
7:13
service but what is often overlooked is
7:16
aiming the serve and serving into the
7:17
midcourt for example if we examine
7:19
antonson service here we can see that it
7:21
is slower but
7:24
tighter when it is slower and Tighter
7:26
like this the first and natural response
7:28
of a player is to try to to attack it
7:30
with a spin net this is especially
7:31
apparent when they receive the serve
7:33
with a forehand
7:34
grip when you serve further into your
7:37
opponents Court you incite a drive or a
7:40
push depending on your service quality
7:42
here is an example of antonson serving
7:44
further into the court and a little
7:45
higher to incite the drive from Ki which
7:47
he promptly
7:50
counterattacks overall as antonson
7:52
demonstrated when all these aspects come
7:54
together along with superb shot quality
7:56
it proves extremely difficult to beat
7:58
him this ultimately allowed antonson to
8:00
win a well-deserved second title at the
8:02
Denmark
8:03
open toose out
8:06
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8:09
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8:12
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8:14
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8:15
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8:17
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8:20
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