That doesn’t really help him, he lost to Pucar in the third round. He did well in doubles but a left handed and right handed pair is generally better like Franziska and Timo in Tokyo or could be Dang and Timo this year
Timo managed to change his style and won an event beating Harimoto a couple months ago. Will Dima be able to do that in 2 months? I doubt and would not bet on it.
He keeps losing to non Chinese players recently. His years to date winning rate is 15% less than Franziska’s and 10% less than Qiu’s. Also, these 2 sometimes beat Chinese elites. The last time Dima beat an elite Chinese was FZD in 2022, way off how. The pressures lies in that he’s getting older...
I don’t think anybody would want to replace Timo with Franziska. But Dima should be replaced by either Franziska or Qiu Dang because he’s been performing awfully for months now.
I’m pretty sure ML knew beforehand that he wouldn't get the chance to participate but still wanted to go for the teams so he wanted to focus on MD instead of MS during Saudi Smash. He clearly didn’t try after the 1st game yesterday against Jang
it’s like Ma Long is not trying at WTT events. He started varying way to late at 9-4 in the third set. Maybe he lost motivation because apparently the Olympics singles spots have already been decided
Good fight by pavade, WYD really did not want to become the next choker of China. Tho, Pavade’s shouts between points must be very annoying to the opponents