The defeat of world number one men’s singles, Viktor Axelsen in the crucial match at the 2024 Thomas Cup, leaves a question mark about his physical fitness.
We have entered the fifth month of 2024 and Viktor Axelsen still hasn’t won a single title.
The world badminton king from Denmark actually showed a slightly lower performance compared to his performance last year.
Axelsen experienced his latest defeat when he played for Denmark in the match against Taiwan in the quarter-finals of the 2024 Thomas Cup.
The two-time World Champion conceded when he faced Chou Tien Chen (ranked 14th) in the opening match.
Even though on paper, the match should have belonged to Denmark. However, Axelsen stumbled after taking the lead.
The player who is familiarly called Viggo finally lost with a tight score of 19-21, 21-14, 19-21. Denmark was then defeated by Taiwan with a score of 1-3.
In the 2024 Thomas Cup , Axelsen’s suboptimal performance was actually noticed when Denmark met Hong Kong in the group phase.
Axelsen was immediately forced to play a rubber game when he met another men’s singles ranking outside the top 10, namely Lee Cheuk Yi with a score of 21-14, 18-21, 21-19
Seeing Axelsen’s recent trend of frequently losing rubber games with tight scores, question marks arise about his physical fitness.
Apart from that, the father of two also often shows frustration when he has difficulty finding solutions when pressured by opponents.
“I’m really very annoyed,” said Axelsen after being defeated by Chou, quoted by BolaSport.com from TV2 Sport Denmark .
“Of course the biggest reason was because I lost the match. But what was no less annoying was the way I lost.”
“Sad, sad, sad.”
“It felt like I wanted to destroy something there. Maybe this is not a good sign,” he said.
Axelsen gave a brief description of his recent defeat which was caused by physical factors.
Since winning the 2023 BWF World Tour Finals, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold winner has not shown his usual fierce game.
In fact, these months are a crucial period towards the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“And unfortunately, I don’t excel either in terms of mindset or physicality. It’s more about physical issues. This is the thing that frustrates me the most,” said Axelsen.
“I thought I could play well, but it turned out badly. But yeah, I did what I could,” he said.
This year, Axelsen has suffered defeats from various players from rally to attacking types, both in the top 10 and outside the top 10.
Axelsen has lost to 5 different players.
Before losing to Chou Tien Chen in the 2024 Thomas Cup , he had already lost to Shi Yu Qi (China) in the semifinals of the 2024 Malaysia Open.
Axelsen then lost to Wang Tzu Wei (Taiwan) in the second round of the 2024 French Open and to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the quarter-finals of the 2024 All England Open.
Even at the 2024 European Championship, Axelsen also failed to defend his gold medal after being eliminated by Toma Junior Popov (France) in the semifinals.
This is the first time Axelsen has failed to win a single title in the first five months of a year since 2015.