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One of our most longtime requested
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videos was to do one about Malaysian
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men's singles player Darren Louu.
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This is a player that first really
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caught the world's attention when he
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nearly upset the goat of badminton, Lind
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Dan, at the 2012 Thomas Cup. And after
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that match, Darren Louu continued to
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show promise where he later won the 2012
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French Open and beat notable players
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like Chotian Chen and Victor Axelson.
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Unfortunately, however, it would seem
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that Darren did not reach his full
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Aside from a brief resurgence in 2018
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when he made it to the World
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Championship semi-finals, Darren's
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highest rank peaked at 10 and only
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lasted one week before his ranking
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plummeted in the next few years. And
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after more injuries, he eventually
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retired and is now coaching Lee Zj.
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First, we can look at what made Darren
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Lu so good. What people will notice
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immediately when watching Darren play is
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how smoothly he moves on court.
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With this smoothness comes extremely
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good power generation. If you ever
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watched him play, you'll see that his
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smash, drives, and pushes have some of
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the fastest shot speed on the circuit
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and is very difficult for his opponents
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Really, really well. Fast, furious,
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attacking to perfection.
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This is especially the case when you
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also consider how sudden his power
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generation is. What Darren is really
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good at is holding a very relaxed state
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and then suddenly hitting an extremely
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fast shot out of the blue. If you can
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keep your hitting motion the same across
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both soft and fast shots like Darren
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Lou, it becomes exceptionally difficult
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for your opponent to punish you. They
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can't just stand at the net waiting for
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a drop or net because they have to
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respect the smash and pushes. And as
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long as the drop and nets have decent
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quality, they can't just stand at the
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back either. This is what a lot of
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opponents who face Darren Louu
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experience. They have to be extra ready
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for the out ofthe- blue fast shots,
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which means they're often not able to
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punish the front court as much as they
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want and will often stand further back.
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This opens up the front court a little
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>> which is why you'll see that Darren Lou
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is usually the one attacking
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Now, the problem with Darren is that he
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lacks the explosive power in his
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footwork. Even though he can get the
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attack, there's no guarantee that he'll
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be able to kill it. This is how many top
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players strategize against him. They're
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not so worried about hitting the shot to
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the back court as Darren may not even
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attack it in the first place. And if he
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does, his follow-up is not particularly
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quick for a pro player.
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Thus, many players beat Darrenlu really
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just through outring him and making him
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tired. The delayed push off in Darren's
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recovery and split steps often make him
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take the shot lower and gives
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opportunities for his opponents to take
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And this lack of explosive power also
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affects Darren's defense.
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The Malaysian's defense often feels like
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it's in slow motion, while other top
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players have more instantaneous
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In the following clip, for example, you
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can directly compare Darren and Lee
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Chongwei's backhand defense. Lie Chong
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Wei feels much more instant, while
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Darren has a dragging feel.
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And because of this weakness in his
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footwork, Darren ends up becoming an
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Darren's skills set himself up well to
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be an attacking player, but his
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physicality cannot support it. This puts
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him in a situation where he's forced to
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constantly play better and better shots
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to win the rally. The more you try to
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pin the lines or play an even more
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unexpected shot, the more likely it is
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for you to make mistakes. You'll see
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this happen a lot with Darren.
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Darren Lou will often end up in
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positions where it's difficult to smash,
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but he ends up forcing it anyway because
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any other shot will drag on the rally.
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He puts full power into every shot to
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make it hard for his opponents, but that
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also leads him to hit out very often.
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Big big surprise that
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there's a compound effect here where
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using full power all the time makes
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Darren more tired and being more tired
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will lead to even more mistakes.
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This is why there are so many times
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where Darren would do well against a top
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player in the first set, but ultimately
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lose the match. There's just no more gas
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Darren needed just one more attribute
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that's on par with top players to truly
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compete. And in our eyes, it would have
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been more explosive footwork.
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People often compare him to Lie Chongwe
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given their similar movements, but
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Darren is missing the physicality part
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that Li Chongwe worked so hard to
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If there was a more targeted focus on
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building resilience and capability to
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move, Darren may have had a higher peak.
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Injuries around the calf and hamstring
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are what led to a downfall in Darren's
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performance after 2013 and 2014.
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>> without knowing his training program or
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anything behind the scenes, it's hard to
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say what exactly he needed to do.
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>> But for us as individuals, it's
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important to spend more time on fixing
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our specific issues than blindly
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following someone else's program.
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