The capability crowd alternates between ‘Let’s go, Viktor’ and the rhythmic replication of the ‘Sachin, Sachin’ chant. Viktor Axelsen acknowledges them with a wave of his racquet, a beneficiant nod and a compulsory point out within the media. The scene performed out on a loop all 5 days of the India Open that Axelsen took the courtroom, its depth multiplying every day. To name him a crowd favorite could be lazy. To say he was the beating coronary heart of the pulsating environment will not be an exaggeration.
The explanations for his fandom transcend the well-known shirtless act that made him an instantaneous hit at this venue 4 years again. His aggressive strokeplay, for one, is a crowd-puller. Every time Axelsen formed for a smash, the gang waited in hushed anticipation. His leap smash, maybe essentially the most deadly on tour at the moment, would invariably ship followers into delirium and the opponent flailing.
In a two-year-old video posted on his YouTube channel, Axelsen breaks down the execution of an ideal smash. “Think about your physique as a bow,” he says, arching his again. The left arm goes as much as measurement up the trajectory of the incoming shuttle, the best elbow is sort of stage along with his face, and the best hip rotates to the left, ensuring the facility flows into the shot. “Hip, elbow, arm,” Axelsen says repeatedly.
Now, rewind to the second recreation of his India Open semi-final towards Jonatan Christie. Main 5-2, Axelsen rips a brute of a smash that hits Christie on his chest. The courtside display reads 383 kph. “Hip, elbow, arm.” Then at 11-9 in the identical recreation, he fires a 387 kph smash to Christie’s backhand. The Indonesian dives in useless because the shuttle whizzes previous. It was an ideal execution by Axelsen, coiling his physique as a bow earlier than uncoiling, not not like versatile javelin throwers Thomas Rohler and Neeraj Chopra.
The method helps Axelsen put the whole lot of his tall body, and never simply his arms and shoulder, into the shot whereas his flexibility ensures he’s again in energy place the very subsequent instantaneous to defend. It is a side he has particularly labored on since Tokyo Olympics the place he took the lads’s singles gold.
“After the Tokyo Video games, he has intensified his technical coaching. We follow for 4-6 hours day-after-day. Now we have labored lots on his attacking recreation. He likes his smashes lots however cross courtroom forehand is his favorite shot,” stated his coach and father-in-law, Henrik PK Rohde.
It is no con-incidence that his renewed deal with assault overlaps with Axelsen’s undisputed reign. Because the Tokyo Video games, Axelsen has featured in 23 worldwide tournaments, making the ultimate 13 instances. He has received 12 of these; the lone loss coming towards Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn right here on Sunday. The win-loss document for the reason that Olympics reads 84-9. That is a mean of 1 loss each two months.
So, does that translate into invincibility? “I do not assume he’s unbeatable. It is simply that he’s enjoying at an excellent stage lately,” world No 12 Lakshya Sen stated final week. Sen stays one of many 4 gamers who’ve overwhelmed Axelsen since Tokyo; compatriot HS Prannoy, Loh Kean Yew and Vitidsarn are the others.
Vitidsarn was extra lifelike in his evaluation of the world No 1. “I’m trying to study from him as a lot as potential,” the Thai stated forward of the India Open closing. Two days later, coming into the match with a 0-6 head-to-head document, he beat Axelsen in three video games.
The techniques have been easy. Denying Axelsen the time and size to line up smashes. Vitidsarn not often performed from the backcourt, trusting his defence to return highly effective forehands or smashes from the centre of the courtroom. “I attempted to maintain the rallies brief and assault extra,” he stated.
The one-off loss in addition to the late pull-out from this week’s Indonesia Masters are unlikely to maneuver Axelsen from his world No 1 rating, which he has held since December 2021. With 114006 rating factors, he has no challenger on the horizon. World No 2 Lee Zii Jia is 37,418 factors behind.
To place that gulf in perspective, a mere 299 factors separate No 2 and No 3. The 9 gamers between No 2 and No 10 are separated by 18,358 factors. His rivals may very well be excused for mistaking Axelsen’s match day tweets — he merely posts an image of his morning espresso with the caption ‘recreation day’ — for a dying knell to their probabilities.
“He’s certainly a minimize above the remainder. On present type, Axelsen is method forward of the pack whereas there’s little to decide on between No 2 to No 10,” Danish veteran Hans-Kristian Vittinghus stated of his compatriot.
“He was at all times pushed, however over the previous 12-18 months, he has merely taken off. At this stage, abilities are just about the identical throughout the circuit. What differentiates him is his psychological power and bodily presence. He has developed into this monster with an imposing physique. Then, there’s an aura round him that comes with profitable usually.”
Axelsen’s 6’3″ body is put to punishment by US-based health knowledgeable Sean Casey who has been coaching the Dane for seven years now. “In fact, Viktor’s coaching strategies have modified through the years and even after the Olympics. Casey has had an enormous rule to play in his success,” stated Rohde.
“Viktor does not assume he cannot be overwhelmed, and that is what pushes him. Additionally, he’s very near his household and performs every recreation for them,” the coach added. The Viktor juggernaut and the Viktor mania look unlikely to cease anytime quickly.