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the quarterfinals match between Alex
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lanir and Lok kinu at the 2024 Denmark
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open was one of the best matches we have
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watched recently both players showed
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exemplary skills and adaptations that
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pushed each other to the limits with a
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lot of back and forth it was a match
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that ultimately ended in Alex Lanier's
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Victory through a slight Edge in mental
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and physical prowess but let's talk
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about the skills and strategies
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first both players had specific goals in
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mind throughout the match for Al his
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goal was to set himself up for winners
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by using a lot of deceptions in the
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front court for low he played a style to
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prevent Alex from using those front
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Court deceptions by often pushing Alex
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to the back and using fast blocks and
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drives let's break down Alex's strategy
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first the great thing about this match
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is that we could hear what Alex's coach
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tells him at the intervals and see how
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Alex follows the feedback understand
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that when he lifts a little bit short
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you want to hammer I understand but from
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outside like I see he wants it yeah so
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yeah that first one like a little bit
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not full power then you are in a
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controlling position then you can create
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from the front also and then when he get
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like used a little bit to your softer
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shot then you can go as you just watched
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Alex's coach wanted him to focus Less on
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trying to win off strong Smashes in the
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backourt and play more variations to
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ultimately set himself up for wins from
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the front court if you guys watched our
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most recent video on why you should
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you'll understand that these Pro players
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will almost never make a mistake unless
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you break their Rhythm this was what
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Alex did very well in this match many of
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his points came from his deceptive Pace
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changes in the front court that broke
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Lo's Rhythm and caused him to play lower
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quality shots that Alex capitalized on a
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little sort of clip across G the same
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height but despite Alex winning we
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actually think loku had the better
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strategy in adaptations here's why
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in our last video many of you asked
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about how to counter players with a lot
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of deceptions Lowe's adaptations against
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Alex in the Denmark open quarterfinals
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is a good example seeing how Alex wanted
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to play the front Court more using
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deceptions low opted to play a box style
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where he played many flatter pushes fast
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blocks and drives that made it difficult
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for Alex to play deceptions
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that you can see that even though low is
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the one playing defense it's Alex who's
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under more pressure and exhaustion when
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you increase your shot speed it makes it
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difficult for your opponent to play
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deceptions think about it this way how
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often does an equally skilled opponent
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play a deception off your drive probably
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once in a while by luck just watch
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Alex's responses to Lowe's quick
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shots it's usually just a block or drive
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back couple this with flat fast pushes
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that reduce the angles that Alex can
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play at and low has the strategy that
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completely negates what Alex was trying
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wi now there is one problem with Lowe's
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strategy although he has effectively
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restricted Alex's ability to play
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deceptions he doesn't have options to
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set himself up for the attack this is
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why some of the rallies often felt
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stalemated where low was just playing
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defense until whoever made the mistake
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first and unfortunately for low he was
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the one that was more inconsistent on
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that day one thing we would have liked
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to see low do more often is remember his
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excellent net play and look to punish
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Alex's soft blocks yes typically when
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you block far you want to prepare for a
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push Alex however was very good with his
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timing and didn't didn't give low many
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opportunities to attack by netting back
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we would have liked to see low sacrifice
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a little bit of the backcourt in return
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for more control at the net throughout
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this match it did seem like Lowe's spin
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Nets cross Nets and brushes were much
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better than Alex's we can see that
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especially in the first game low played
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more cross Nets on Alex's Nets that
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often led to Winners or great positions
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for low to attack but as he began to
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focus more on playing box low generally
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forgot to play the net and hence was
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unable to convert his defense into ATT
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ATT if he had more fast to slow pace
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changes the match would have been more
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favor look how quick he was
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there one thing that's very impressive
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is how strong Alex's mental is at the
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age of 19 despite getting multiple
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warnings and a red card in the third
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game he still managed to pull through
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and win we cannot say the same about low
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keu though after watching this match a
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few times we actually believe that low
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had the better badminton technique and
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strategies low however fell short in the
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mental and physical game a lot of people
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were complaining about Alex's stalling
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And Delay tactics this shouldn't be
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anything to complain about though if you
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are the better player you'll win
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regardless of the breaks that your
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opponent takes in fact Alex taking these
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extra breaks means low has the same rest
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staying focused and not letting external
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factors bother you is part of the game
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for low we can clearly see mental
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instability in his game by looking at
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his gestures and movements after various
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errors while these gestures may seem
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like a very small thing it sends a
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signal of frustration or fatigue and
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pulls your mind out of the game to think
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about that frustration and fatigue this
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is why low makes so many unforced errors
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that cost him the game props to Alex for
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keeping a strong mental in the final
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stages of the match it's easy for us as
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Spectators to say that low needs to work
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on his mental But ultimately what
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separates the great players from the
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good is their ability to play at their
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highest level regardless of the
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a good way to practice your mental
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fortitude is to practice not showing any
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signs of negative emotions like fatigue
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frustration or anger it's definitely way
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harder than it sounds but it's so
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important to have the mental toughness
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to make the split-second decision to
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hold your head high and keep going over
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sitting down to take a
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break hopefully you learned a few things
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from this video If you like this video
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