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After Victor Axelson won his second
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Olympic gold in Paris 2024,
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people began to put him into the GOAT
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debate and compare him to Lin Dan as
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Axelson was the second ever men's
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singles player to win two gold medals at
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These two players were from different
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eras in bad mitten and never had the
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chance to play each other in their
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primes. But that can't stop people from
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In a hypothetical matchup, who would
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Prime Axelson or Prime Lindan?
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Our answer to that is it might be closer
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For simplicity, we will compare 2008
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Beijing Lindan when many believed he was
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in his greatest form to the 2021 to 2022
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season of Victor Axelson.
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In 2008, Lindan was known for his
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attacking play style. He was extremely
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fast and his most commonly used shots
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were fast-paced shots such as spin nets,
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smashes, and fast pushes. His most
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common shot combo was smash and follow
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up fast for the kill.
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He also had an extremely good ability to
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cut off pushes or fast clears and clip
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On the contrary, Prime Victor Axelson is
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more known for his stable defense and
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his ability to retrieve any shot under
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He generally plays a more patient game,
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playing high clears, high lifts, and
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giving himself a lot of time to
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establish his defensive position.
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But another strong suit of Axelson is
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his attack. Standing at 6'4,
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he is able to create extremely steep
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angled smashes and slices that put an
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enormous amount of pressure on his
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A little different from 2008 Lindan
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though is that Victor Axelson generally
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uses his smashes in a counterattack
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style, waiting deeper into the rally for
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an opportunity to attack rather than
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attacking players such as 2008 Lindan
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are more prone to making mistakes than
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This is because of the high pace they
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play at, which increases the fitness
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demands they need for each rally, as
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they have to speed up much faster to
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take it early and be faster than their
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Speeding up also makes it more difficult
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for them to control their shot as you
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must slow down and stabilize your body
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before hitting your shot. That's why the
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fastest players on the circuit tend to
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play shots that are easier to control
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like drives and smashes.
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But this is where the problem for Prim
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Dan begins. Axelson who has one of the
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strongest defenses in men's singles is
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able to reach most smashes or drops
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He has also been known for doing
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flexibility training in order to improve
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his mobility and turning on the court.
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So he can twist and turn unbelievably
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fast for someone of his height.
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The disadvantages that most tall players
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face, Axelson has mitigated.
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So to keep using your speed to attack
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what essentially is a brick wall would
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be a waste of energy. The reason prime
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Axelson can perform well in this
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>> is that he is very good at playing slow
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and high defensive shots. You can often
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see him playing very high lifts and
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clears which gives him time to come back
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to the middle and prepare for defense.
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And one thing that made 2008 Lindan so
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good in the final was his ability to cut
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off pump clears or fast pushes allowing
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him to get into an attacking position.
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Fast players like Lindan love fast-paced
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rallies and fast shots because they are
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able to feed off the pace of the shot
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and rhythm of the rally
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where they can cut the shot off earlier
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and inject pace into the rally.
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This means Lindan would not be able to
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cut off the bird early or use his speed
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as he would be forced to wait for the
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shuttle to drop at the back.
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Even for a player like Lind Dan, lifts
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and clears all the way to the back of
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the line are very difficult to play a
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winning smash off of. And Axelson has
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great shot quality, especially the
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length in his clears and lifts.
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In this hypothetical matchup, if Axelson
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is able to force Lindan into a rhythm
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that Axelson is comfortable with, it
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becomes virtually impossible to break
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through Axelson's defense. then.
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However, this isn't to say that Lindaman
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would simply follow Axelson's rhythm.
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He is the greatest of all time for a
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one crucial caveat is that if Lindan can
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force Axelson into a faster, more
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scrambly rhythm, it then becomes much
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easier to score and break through his
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He would do this by changing pace in the
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rally with attacking shot combos like
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smash into drives, by applying more
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pressure in his own defense, playing
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faster blocks and drives, or by simply
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speeding up his footwork to intercept
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the next shot earlier to force
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injections of pace into the rallies. And
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of course, we've seen this in more
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recent years, like when Loin Yu played
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against Axelson in the 2021 World
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Championships or when Choen Chen played
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against him in the 2024 Sudterman Cup.
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However, if everything falls into place
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for Axelson, it would be a tough game
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This is because Axelson would be able to
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slow down the rally and get Lindan into
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a rhythm that Axelson would be
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comfortable rallying with, then forcing
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Lindan to either make a mistake or
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eventually hit a loose shot that Axelson
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can counterattack with.
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While it's not exactly the same, Axelson
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has played against similar attacking
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players such as Anthony Ginting. You can
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see that Axelson slows down the overall
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pace of the rally, making it very
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difficult for Ginting to inject pace
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Every time Ginting tries to speed up,
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Axelson takes the pace out and
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neutralizes the rally, getting back to
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his slower rallying style where he is
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tells me he doesn't believe.
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In conclusion, if the conditions are
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right for Axelen and he neutralizes the
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rally's pace to a rhythm more
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comfortable for the Dame, he would
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likely have a good chance of beating
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It is an interesting debate to compare
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these two legends. While the community
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likely heavily favors Prime Lindan in
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this matchup, no one will know the
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actual answer. Both players are absolute
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legends in the sport.
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This video is just our way of saying
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that it may not be as one-sided as some
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might think. What do you guys think
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though? Do you guys have Lindan or
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Axison in this matchup? Let us know in
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>> If you guys like this video, don't
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forget to like and subscribe so you
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don't miss out on future videos.
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And as always, thank you for watching.
