Having maintained a 100 percent record in the competition with straight-game wins en route to final, world champion Viktor Axelsen has become the man to beat.
When Viktor Axelsen became the first Danish men’s singles player in 20 years to lift the coveted World Championships title, it was apparent how all hopes were pinned on him to revive the Danish legacy after a barren run. Since the turn of the century, only Jan O Jorgensen had been able to garner accolades for the tiny Scandinavian country.
Meanwhile, the Chinese – Lin Dan and Chen Long – and Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei were busy collecting the medals.
In what can be described as a tough phase for the Danes in men’s singles, Axelsen’s rise is like a breath of fresh air. With the elusive gold in Glasgow, Axelsen added his name to the other great Danish men’s singles champions like Flemming Delfs, Peter Gade and Peter Rasmussen.
While many crumble under pressure, Axelsen acts like the master of the court.
He is Danish, a world champion and into the final of a Superseries tournament. Well, this feels like the 90s all over again, but, it isn’t.
At the ongoing Japan Open Superseries in Tokyo, the World No 2 has ruffled a few feathers quite convincingly en route to the final. There were glimpses of Gade’s sheer tenacity on the court in the way Axelsen executed most of his shots against India’s high-flying Kidambi Srikanth, a player for whom he has utmost respect. That same sturdiness was visible in his defensive side that Gade once had in his heydays.
Not only that, in the semi-finals on Saturday, his king-like demeanour on the court against World No 1 Son Wan Ho was worth watching. A lot has been said about the Korean’s ability to snatch the game under the noses of his opponents, but against Axelsen, he was beaten to the dust in straight games.
The Dane was in total command of the proceedings against Son, the same way he has been against every opponent that he has faced in the tournament so far. Ahead of the semi-final match against Son, everyone believed it to be a three-game thriller. The defensive game of Son is just like a mouse-trap. The net shots will tempt his opponents, but they won’t realise how the Korean takes advantage of their on-court position to find an angle for a deep crosscourt drop shot.
