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in the semi-finals of the 2024 Japan
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open the 19-year-old from France Alex
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Lan pulls through in a huge upset match
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against the world number one shiu Chi
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one well how exactly did he do it first
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we want to go over some adjustments that
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him the first adjustment made by Alex
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was to focus on a shorter swing in the
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the reason for this was to make sure he
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can follow up quickly after hitting a
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shorter swing enables you to recover
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quicker after you swing as you are using
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less of your body this is crucial for
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following up on shots and allows you to
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earlier look how the shorter swing
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enabled Alex to put pressure on shiqi in
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the midcourt and front Court often
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initiating the spin net and the drive
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rubber the second adjustment said by the
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coach was to play more
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deceptions the reason why you play
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deceptions is to break your opponent's
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Rhythm the more you can break their
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Rhythm the more effort they have to
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spend to get that Rhythm back if you
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look at this rally you can see that she
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makes the correctional split step
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this is very energy sapping especially
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when you start to account for the loss
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of body control from shei when lunging
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Court the Foy looked at the L probably
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out and this is all on top of the
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fatigue that she has already built up
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from the Olympics and the rounds prior
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to playing Alex at the Japan open in
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this rally you can really see how low
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men the same can be said for Alex though
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in the first game Alex makes many
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Correctional split steps in anticipation
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of the back but seeing this shiu Chi
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plays back to the net many times with
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got enough on that one this
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time this breaks Alex's footwork in
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Rhythm and causes him to lose many
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points however in the interval between
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the first and second game Alex's coach
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tells him that if he Nets stay at the
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net because the most dangerous shot is
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if they play back to the net and when
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you play to the net stay there stay
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there yeah because the biggest like
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danger is when he plays back to the in
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men's singles if you control the net you
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will win the game that is why in these
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rallies you can see Alex netting and
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ready to move back to the net here Alex
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is not too worried about his backc court
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if he continues to take the net high he
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can control shiu Chi watch him
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repeatedly Target she's forehand and
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net if you take a look at his feet he is
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forward this is the same as 2008 lindan
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the final adjustment is mental toughness
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while it may not be the most exciting it
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is the most important this is because
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the pace Alex is playing at is very
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difficult to sustain it requires a great
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deal of physical effort but also needs a
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lot of mental effort to tell yourself to
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up when you get tired it is also very
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easy to make unforced errors
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however in this game Alex keeps his
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errors to a minimum and makes the points
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very difficult for she to
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earn because Alex was making these
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points difficult to earn and he was
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constantly playing these rallies at a
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fast pace making Shi Yuki chase the
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shuttle he was gradually dwindling down
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the Chinese players stamina thus leading
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errors good call that from
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him there's also another point we want
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to mention that influenced the coach's
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decision- making and that was the drift
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based on the commentary the drift seemed
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to be blowing from the side nearest to
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us to the other side this made it harder
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for the player on the side closest to us
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to control the depth on their shots
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there was also a significant side drift
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going from right to left on your screen
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however we will mainly focus on the
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front to back drift we can see in the
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first set Alex loses because of his play
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style he is trying to control and move
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shiuchi around on the side that is more
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difficult to control due to the drift
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time however in the third set he makes a
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significant adjustment before the 11
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points interval Alex is on Full attack
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he's back in front by the way yes you
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Che a big push about these
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men did he notice the difference between
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the drift increases the speed of the
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shuttle exchanging control for more
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power and that is exactly what Alex did
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to get the lead on the worse end this
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ultimately gave him confidence on the
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these are the three points that stood
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out to us from Alex coach but we also
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want to give a little insight of our own
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into this there was a difference in shot
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speed between the two players especially
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in the back court Alex Lan had very fast
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shots that made it difficult for shiu
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Chi to control the bird the faster your
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shot the more difficult it will be for
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your opponent to control the
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W this played a big role in Alex's
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ability to control the net so easily in
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this match because she had to defend
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men did he need to go for that I'm not
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sure he did thank you guys for watching
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