Maybe he did, maybe not. In any case I think FZD didn't care about winning at all costs, was tired, or both.
FZD can beat almost anybody in the world at any given time, has done so repeatedly and will keep doing so in the immediate future. I don't think he is worried about Harimoto at all.
However he has lost to ML at the last truly big event, and has lost to / been given trouble by 1 or 2 other players on occasions (like LGY). He must also be aware that the game that brought him to the top-level is a bit one-dimensional, despite the fact that he is amazingly good at it. This is not sound if you want to stack the odds overwhelmingly in your favour for big titles.
I have no doubt than FZD wants to become the very best and to get the big titles, and is determined to change his game if he has to. He's been working on his push receive (rather than banana flick) a lot, and on playing a more balanced FH/BH game. Can you think of a single instance of FZD covering the middle with his FH or even willingly stepping around a year ago?
He is doing that quite often in this game against Harimoto, and you can still see that this goes against his instincts. It is quite courageous because he has to rework all of his fundamental game schemes to get his FH more into play and to find the right balance with his BH (and he might genuinely become worse). In that game, when he goes back to doing what he does best or when everything falls into place you can get a glimpse of the difference of level with Harimoto.
Nowadays when watching FZD, I look at how much he opens up with an aggressive banana flick vs. a short push. If he touches short a lot on the receive, I assume he is practicing under real conditions (remember, he used to seemingly BH flick anything). Same if he doesn't pound every other ball with his BH. That doesn't mean he wants to lose or doesn't care, just that he is determined to make true progress towards being the absolute best in the world, vs. winning his 389685th match of the year 4 sets to 0, 10-2 -5 -4 -1.
Of course, it won't be long until his short touch becomes equal to his BH flick and his FH/BH merges into one big ruthless ass-kicking automated pain distributor. O well.
FZD can beat almost anybody in the world at any given time, has done so repeatedly and will keep doing so in the immediate future. I don't think he is worried about Harimoto at all.
However he has lost to ML at the last truly big event, and has lost to / been given trouble by 1 or 2 other players on occasions (like LGY). He must also be aware that the game that brought him to the top-level is a bit one-dimensional, despite the fact that he is amazingly good at it. This is not sound if you want to stack the odds overwhelmingly in your favour for big titles.
I have no doubt than FZD wants to become the very best and to get the big titles, and is determined to change his game if he has to. He's been working on his push receive (rather than banana flick) a lot, and on playing a more balanced FH/BH game. Can you think of a single instance of FZD covering the middle with his FH or even willingly stepping around a year ago?
He is doing that quite often in this game against Harimoto, and you can still see that this goes against his instincts. It is quite courageous because he has to rework all of his fundamental game schemes to get his FH more into play and to find the right balance with his BH (and he might genuinely become worse). In that game, when he goes back to doing what he does best or when everything falls into place you can get a glimpse of the difference of level with Harimoto.
Nowadays when watching FZD, I look at how much he opens up with an aggressive banana flick vs. a short push. If he touches short a lot on the receive, I assume he is practicing under real conditions (remember, he used to seemingly BH flick anything). Same if he doesn't pound every other ball with his BH. That doesn't mean he wants to lose or doesn't care, just that he is determined to make true progress towards being the absolute best in the world, vs. winning his 389685th match of the year 4 sets to 0, 10-2 -5 -4 -1.
Of course, it won't be long until his short touch becomes equal to his BH flick and his FH/BH merges into one big ruthless ass-kicking automated pain distributor. O well.
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