0:00
This rally looks completely normal. It
0:02
just seems like Kadami plays a loose
0:03
shot and Mamota punishes.
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But actually, how Mamota builds this
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rally and gets Kadami to play this loose
0:11
shot and ultimately kills it is a great
0:13
example of Mamot's tactical genius.
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So, in this video, we're going to break
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down exactly how Mamota controls this
0:21
entire rally step by step.
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First, let's start by watching the
0:47
Let's rewind back to the start. First,
0:51
Mimoda starts the rally off by pushing
0:53
the pace by playing down in the back
0:55
court and hitting right away in the
0:58
front court on his follow-up. By pushing
1:00
the pace of the rally, he forces more
1:02
pressure onto Kadami and essentially
1:04
drags Kadami into his rhythm. And for a
1:07
few sequences of this, Mimoda is
1:10
generally keeping the shuttle on
1:11
Kadambi's forehand side until Mimoda
1:14
decides to play the shot, which pushes
1:16
Kadombi to his backhand.
1:18
You can see how Kadami isn't able to
1:20
react right away to Mamo's direction
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change. He was more or less conditioned
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into playing the shot on his forehand
1:26
side. As a result of this, Kadami makes
1:29
a correctional split step and is forced
1:32
to take the late backhand. Now, watch
1:34
how Mimoto reacts to this.
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In these few frames, you can see Mimoto
1:41
move up ever so slightly to punish
1:42
Kadambi's late backhand.
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But here, Kadami chooses to play the
1:46
clear. In this split second,
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Mamoto reacts and aims to change the
1:52
pace of the rally because Kadami has
1:55
given him an opportunity by taking the
1:59
However, it's too risky to change pace
2:03
with a full smash because Mimoto already
2:06
got caught a little by Kadombi's clear
2:09
and will get heavily punished if Kadami
2:11
gets it back. as the full smash requires
2:14
full body commitment.
2:16
So, Mimoda opts to change pace with a
2:21
You can see he has the idea in his mind
2:23
as he instantly rushes forward, fully
2:26
recovering his balance even before
2:28
Kadami has even hit his shot. And Mimoda
2:32
predicted right, thus giving him an
2:34
early contact point at the net.
2:37
However, instead of pushing the pace
2:38
like he was doing earlier in the rally
2:40
and hitting right away, he opts to do a
2:42
little deception and simply block the
2:44
shuttle tight to the net. Kadami is late
2:47
to this one and is forced to play a very
2:50
tough technical cross.
2:52
He plays it exceptionally well, which is
2:55
why Mimoda cannot kill the rally right
2:57
here. So, Mimoda is patient and pushes
3:01
Kadami to the back yet again.
3:05
This shot choice is because he likely
3:06
also sees Kadami in his peripheral
3:08
vision moving toward the net.
3:12
Thus, Kadami is forced to take another
3:14
late backhand. And his late backhand
3:16
here has an even lower contact point
3:19
than the one where he played the clear.
3:21
So, you can visibly see Mimoda standing
3:23
at the net, ready to punish the drop.
3:27
And that's what he does.
3:30
Konami plays the straight drop
3:32
and Mamota chooses to play a straight
3:36
Even though the cross net would have
3:38
likely won Mamotto the rally here,
3:40
Mimoda chooses to play the straight net.
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Why? Because the cross net's volatility
3:45
is too high. Kadami's backand drop was
3:48
by no means bad. It had shot speed and
3:49
was generally tight to the net.
3:52
So playing the cross net would likely be
3:56
So he played the less volatile shot, the
3:58
straight net. Kadami takes it low and
4:02
once again plays the technical cross
4:03
net, but this time Mamo is ready and
4:07
already standing at the front.
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Because not only did Kadami already play
4:12
this once in the rally, but also because
4:15
Mamoto understands that the only way for
4:17
Kadami to come back in this rally is if
4:20
he somehow plays a good quality net shot
4:26
These two ideas make Mamoto wait at the
4:28
front, allowing him to kill.
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Now, it's quite literally impossible to
4:35
be thinking about all of this stuff in a
4:36
fast-paced rally like this one. These
4:39
ideas have to be trained until they
4:40
become second nature.
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Mamot's tactical awareness isn't
4:45
something that he has to think about all
4:46
the time simply because he has already
4:49
played the game so much and understands
4:52
what the most likely shot might be from
4:56
He's just playing the game intuitively.
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So when you train or play, it's best to
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keep things simple and focus on one
5:04
thing at a time. Once it becomes second
5:07
nature, you can begin to add more
5:11
If you guys liked this video, make sure
5:13
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5:15
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5:17
Leave a comment below on what videos you
5:20
would like to see next. And as always,
