Viktor Axelsen: Mr. Perfect of World Badminton
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Viktor Axelsen
In August, Viktor Axelsen scripted history for his homeland, Denmark. The world No. 2 Dane won his country’s first Olympic gold in badminton since 1996 with a 21-15, 21-15 clean sweep against Chen Long of China.
Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen, the sitting president of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), was the last shuttler from Denmark to win the gold, in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
In fact, Axelsen was the only third non-Asian badminton player after Poul-Erik Hoyer in 1996 and Carolina Marin in 2016 to win the gold medal.
On Sunday, at the Odense Sports Park, Axelsen, carrying on his Tokyo form, achieved another incredible feat. In a fiercely fought contest, he won the Denmark Open 2021 men’s singles title against world No. 1 Kento Momota. The reigning Olympic champion bounced back from a game down to win 20-22, 21-18, 21-12.
Breaking the Jinx
Before this, Axelsen had won only once against Momota who has staggering 14 wins against the former. In 2014, at the German Open Grand Prix Gold, in a third-round match at the Innogy Sporthalle, Axelsen defeated Momota in straight games with a score of 21-17, 21-12.
After that, Momota, a two-time world champion, managed a record 11 consecutive wins against the 2017 World Championships gold medallist. It took seven years for Axelsen to finally break the jinx, and when he eventually turned the tables, he won his country’s most prestigious badminton title, Denmark Open, a BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament, for the first time in the city he grew up in.
Attaining Perfection
On his way to defeating Kento Momota, Axelsen played an unbelievable shot – behind the back backhand – which not only took the Japanese shuttler by surprise but also left the commentator stunned. This shot denoted Axelsen’s current gutsy form and fitness, and his body reflexes.
The plan was executed to perfection, and there was an unruffled certainty with which Axelsen made the play – a finely-calibrated pace, sure touch at the net, crosscourt pushes, patient wait for the narrow windows of opportunity, and sudden explosions of power. A typical Axelsen style of play!
Axelsen is the epitome of perfection. He is one shuttler who does not give up without attaining perfection in every single thing that he does. Even if he has to lose, he will continue to play a stroke until achieving the desired craft. Because of this headstrong approach towards his game, he had lost his first six Superseries finals. But because of this same attitude, now, the Dane is in the dream form of his career, sweeping one after another tournament, mowing down one opponent after another this year with his bludgeoning smash and considerable all-round abilities.
Maiden Denmark Open Title
Momota, a master tactician, fresh from his silver medal win with Japan in Thomas Cup and Sudirman Cup, won the tightly contested first game 22-20 against Axelsen. After which, Momota, who was playing his first final on the BWF World Tour 20 months after a car accident that nearly ruined his badminton career, was a game up and 17-14 in the second. Momota looked set to continue his reign over Axelsen.
At this point, the match turned. Momota’s judgment on the lifts to his backhand corner went awry; the shuttle fell on the line a couple of times, and suddenly Axelsen was back in the match that lasted for one hour and 33 minutes. Axelsen won the next two games 21-18, 21-12 to seal the contest without conceding a match point.
As Momota lost the tempo, the 27-year-old Dane raised both arms in to celebrate another first of his career. “It was a crazy mental game, quite demanding. It goes up and down in a match like this when you play such a great player,” Axelsen said after the final.
Momota’s Trouble, Axelsen’s Gain
Coming into the 69th Denmark Open final, as a two-time champion, Momota recalled his troubles with confidence since the car crash which might have eventually helped Axelsen get better of his fierce rival.
“The past is the past and our head-to-head record is the past and I don’t think it is relevant for tomorrow. If I don’t play 100 percent or 120 percent I will easily lose. So now I make my feelings strong and determination within myself will be the key for tomorrow,” said Momota before the final.
In the annals of world badminton, this win of Viktor Axelsen at the Denmark Open could have a significant upshot going forward. Momota, who dominated the previous Olympic cycle winning three World Championship medals, two Asian Championship gold, and an equal number of Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup medals, might not get back to his old ballistic form anytime soon in the fast-changing scene of the world badminton.
The freakish car accident that he suffered in Malaysia had also cost him an Olympic medal. The form he was in, he could have certainly fetched Japan its first men’s singles badminton medal from the Olympic Games. Instead, he made a humiliating first-round exit, losing to unseeded South Korean Heo Kwang-hee in straight games (21-15, 21-19).
New Era in Men’s Singles
In contrast, Viktor Axelsen, who had a bumpy dash in the last Olympic cycle, has come a long way from the frailties of the finals. Prior to his Tokyo feat, he had won the Rio Olympics bronze medal in 2016 and World Championships gold in 2017 which as compared to Momota’s achievement in the same period was little.
But, on August 2, at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, in Tokyo, Axelsen rose beyond the doubts cast on him. He stepped into a new chapter; perhaps the golden phase of his career. He won the Swiss Open and played the All England Open final in March and then followed it with the Olympic gold. Since January this year, he played 53 matches and lost only three matches.
Momota’s recent results, however, have been a mixed bag. Since his return to the court in March at the All England Open, where he exited from the quarterfinal, he had been patchy in Thomas Cup, Uber Cup and Sudirman Cup. In eight matches, he won five and 11 games out of 19.
In that sense, Axelsen’s Denmark Open win following the Olympic gold in Tokyo could prove to be a watershed moment for world badminton, as it marked the beginning of his good time in the ongoing Olympic cycle. Axelsen, who won five titles this season, will be aiming for supreme domination in absence of Momota of pre-2020 form, with the French Open title his next target.
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Sudipta Biswas
(18 Articles Published)