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One standout player from the recent
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French Open has been Christo Pakov who
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beat quite literally half of the Chinese
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Taipei men's singles team and the former
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world number one Kunovit Viditsarn to
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reach the finals of a super 750.
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It's safe to say that he played
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extremely well that week. But actually
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his success hasn't been limited to this
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tournament alone. In fact, in this year,
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out of 17 tournaments, excluding the
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European Mixed Team Championships,
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Christo Popoff has made the quarterfinal
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stage or past that in 10 of them. That's
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well over 50% of the tournaments and
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explains his top 10 placement in the
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World Rankings. So, what's the secret?
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How does Kristo consistently make it far
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in so many of these World Tour
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tournaments? So, in this video, we want
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to analyze Kristo's game and break down
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how he is able to stay consistent as
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well as what prevents him from winning
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these titles. Pressure from Anton.
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The first thing that you might notice
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when watching Kristo play is that he
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retrieves very well. And this is due to
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his exceptional rhythm on court. But
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what ultimately aids his rhythm on court
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is his choice of shot. Kristo being both
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a singles and doubles player chooses to
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play more of a flat game with his
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opponents like drives and blocking
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further into the court. And this
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directly aids Christo's rhythm. This is
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important because one major flaw in
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Kristo's game is that he struggles
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against players who can break his
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rhythm. These are players who have very
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good holds and deceptions at the net and
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and players who can change the pace of
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the game within the rally extremely
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So by playing a doubles style in
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singles, he doesn't give his opponents
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the opportunities to hold or play
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deceptions. And in a way, they are
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dragged into Kristo's rhythm. This is
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because when Christo plays drives or
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blocks further into the court, the shot
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speed is much faster, which forces his
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opponents to take the next shot right
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away rather than allowing them to hold
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first. So now Christo can play in his
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You can see that when opponents play
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into Christo's pace on the court, it
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becomes very difficult for them to play.
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At this pace, Kristo can stay very
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consistent and avoid unforced errors,
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whereas his opponent may find it more
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challenging to play as the pace might be
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faster or slower depending on who they
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So, unless Christo's opponents can out
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rally him at his own pace, then they
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must do something extra to change the
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pace, like a shot combo, for example.
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And usually this means more unforced
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Another characteristic that is quite
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unique to Kristo is his ability to
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change his shot in defense. This skill
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is extremely important in singles, but
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it might be seen more and practiced more
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in doubles play. The ability to change
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your shot and defense is so important
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because it essentially prevents your
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opponent from being able to effectively
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change the pace with shot combos that
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involve following up after a downward
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shot. Smash and followup is one of the
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most commonly practiced drills in
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badminton. And it's no wonder that these
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professionals would smash and
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immediately start moving towards the
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front. It's in their muscle memory. So
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Kristo's ability to change his defensive
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shot from a straight block to a cross
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block, cross lift, straight lift, etc.
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is so important in preventing his
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opponents from changing the pace on him.
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As Kristo wants to stay in his comfort
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zone, for example, we can look at these
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rallies and pay attention to how
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Christo's opponent struggles to follow
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up because of Christo's change of shot
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Super discipline. Any singles discipline
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out of your opponent, get them out of
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position. Then that's when you go for
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by bringing doubles play into his
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singles game, Kristo is able to play
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towards his rhythm by playing faster
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shots like drives and blocks that travel
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further into the court, which gives his
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opponents less time to hold and play
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deceptions. And by preventing his
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opponents from changing the pace through
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his change in defense, Kristo makes it
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more difficult for them to play shot
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combos to incite a pace change. Both of
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these factors allow Kristo to stay
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within his comfortable rhythm on court,
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which enables him to play extremely
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consistently. So, we've stated a lot of
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good things about Kristo's game, but
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what's holding him back from being the
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The first aspect that we need to touch
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on is Christo's lack of holds and
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deceptions in both the front court and
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the back court. When we watch Kristo
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play, we notice that he would almost
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always opt to hit the shuttle right
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away. While this is by no means a wrong
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thing to do if you're trying to push the
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but it becomes readable for your
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opponent and allows your opponent to get
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used to your swing timing and shot
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speed, which is not a good thing. Once
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your opponent is used to your swing
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timing and shot speed, they begin to
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anticipate many shots and play much more
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This is exactly what Anders Anton was
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doing to Christo in the finals of the
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French Open. Antonson capitalized on
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Christo's lack of suddenness and pace
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changes in both the front court and the
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back court. You can kind of see it as a
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double-edged sword. Because Kristo does
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not play many holes or deceptions, he
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himself isn't making that many unforced
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errors because they might be more risky
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to play, especially if they aren't
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practiced well enough. But Kristo also
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gives Antonson more feeling on the
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So what we would like to see is if
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Cristo can add some fast to slow pace
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changes in the front court specifically
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after flat exchanges as these could be
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lethal weapons in breaking his
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and winning the point. But there is one
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more aspect that needs to be mentioned.
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Earlier in the video, we stated that
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Cristo played an extremely consistent
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game if he played in his rhythm. So, it
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might come as a surprise when we say
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impatience is holding him back from
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being the best. Because to be
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consistent, you have to be patient. But
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Crystal plays very impatiently and wants
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to play full smashes or drives at the
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net when his opponent is in a position
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to counter. So even if he can stay
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consistent for the long rallies, if he
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makes quick and short mistakes in the
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other rallies, then the majority of the
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points still go to his opponent.
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I think right. I thought it was going
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wide at the center line.
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As we said earlier in the video, Kristo
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tends to struggle against players that
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can break his rhythm. So, a large reason
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why Kristo lost to Anders in the French
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Open finals is because Anders is one of
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those players who have extremely good
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holds in both the back court and front
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court. To win at the professional level,
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being able to stay consistent at your
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own rhythm is sometimes not good enough,
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especially against players that can
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match that consistency. So you need to
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have a weapon that can break their
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consistency and you have to be able to
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sustain that high level of play
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throughout the entire match and even the
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entire tournament. That's what players
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like Lee Chongi in the older era or Ansi
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Young in the new generation are doing so
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well. And Christo is also doing this
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very well. Hence the consistency in his
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results. But sometimes the errors leak
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in a little too much which results in
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tournament runs falling short of the
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title. Do you guys think Crystal has
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what it takes to reach top five in the
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world? Let us know in the comments
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below. If you guys like this video, make
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sure to hit the like and subscribe
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button. And as always, thanks for
