The New Rivalry: Lee Chong Wei vs Chen Long

Just two months ago, we saw the struggles of Lee Chong Wei. A lost to Lin Dan in the second round at Japan, followed by a lost to a Korean qualifier in the qualifying rounds in Korea. But of course, all these struggles are quickly forgotten, thanks to this great run of form he had in recent tournaments. Chong Wei has won three straight Super Series titles in France, China, and Hong Kong. These victories were even sweeter the fact that he beat both Lin Dan and Chen Long at the same tournament, the first time he has ever done that en route to win his first ever China Super Series title. 5 days after beating Chen Long in the final of the China Super Series event, he continued on his fine form by beating the World number one player once again in Hong Kong.

So far this year, Chen Long is the guy to beat in men’s singles. Much like Novak Djokovic in men’s tennis, Chen Long has won 5 super series titles and successfully defended his World Championship title in August. For anybody to win that elusive gold medal in Rio next year, Chen Long will definitely be the biggest hurdle everybody need to face. Nonetheless, it will be the case for Lee Chong Wei. Here we take a look at five key points of this rivalry between both these two men:

1. Head to Head Record

This year, Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long have played four times with each other, and the record is even at two a piece. Here’s the results of their head-to-head record this year:

Date:	Tournament:	Winner:	Loser:	Score:
July 17th	Yonex Open Chinese Taipei	Chen Long	Lee Chong Wei	17-21, 22-20, 21-13
Aug 16th	TOTAL BWF World Championships 2015	Chen Long	Lee Chong Wei	21-14, 21-17
Nov 15th	Thaihot China Open	Lee Chong Wei	Chen Long	21-15, 21-11
Nov 20th	Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open	Lee Chong Wei	Chen Long	13-21, 21-19, 21-15

Both these two men have played each other on 23 occasions throughout their career, with Chen Long having the upper hand, winning 12 of those 23 matches.

Player:	Win in 2 Sets:	Win in 3 Sets:	Total Wins:
Lee Chong Wei	8	3	11
Chen Long	7	5	12

To add to the statistics above, the winner of the first set has won 20 out of the 23 encounters. For Lee Chong Wei, it is more important for him to win the first set in order to secure the victory given the fact that he has only beaten Chen Long three times when the match goes full distance. Up until that quarterfinal match up with Chen Long in Hong Kong last week, Lee Chong Wei has never won a match against him when he dropped the first set. Although it is hard to judge whether physical capability does play a role in it, Chen Long undeniably has an advantage physically because of his younger age.

2. Rallies

Every single point won by either player are all hard-earned points. It takes more than a jumping smash or a trick play to outmaneuver your opponent to win a point. Here we take a look at the recent three meetings, and breakdown the type of rallies each player is winning:

2015 Hong Kong Open - Quarterfinals

Number of Shots Per Rally	SET 1		SET 2		SET 3
	LCW	CL	LCW	CL	LCW	CL
Less than 10 shots	6	10	7	8	13	7
10-20 shots	4	8	12	6	7	6
More than 20 shots	3	3	2	5	1	2
TOTAL:	13	21	21	19	21	15

2015 China Open - Final

Number of Shots Per Rally	SET 1		SET 2
	LCW	CL	LCW	CL
Less than 10 shots	8	5	8	8
10-20 shots	9	6	12	3
More than 20 shots	4	4	1	0
TOTAL:	21	15	21	11

2015 World Championship - Final

Number of Shots Per Rally	SET 1		SET 2
	LCW	CL	LCW	CL
Less than 10 shots	10	11	5	6
10-20 shots	3	7	9	10
More than 20 shots	1	3	3	5
TOTAL:	14	21	17	21

Although these numbers doesn’t take into account whether these points are won by an opponent’s errors or a winner, the point of showing these numbers is to show that certain player has its strength depending on how the rally develops.

It is worth pointing out that in every set won against Chen Long, Lee Chong Wei has always won more rallies that lasted 10-20 shots compared to Chen Long. A sign that he might want to take the initiative to attack slightly early in the rally. While for Chen Long, he has the advantage when the rally is more than 20 shots. In these three matches, there are a total of 37 rallies that went beyond 20 shots, and Chen Long won 22 of them.    

3. Attacking Shots

2015 Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open - Quarterfinals

		SET 1		SET 2		SET 3
		LCW	CL	LCW	CL	LCW	CL
Smash Direction:	Backhand	7	10	7	12	3	7
	Center	1	1	6	1	2	2
	Forehand	9	7	11	8	9	11
	TOTAL:	17	19	24	21	14	20
Smash Winners:	Backhand	3	3	2	4	1	1
	Center	0	1	0	0	1	1
	Forehand	3	1	3	1	2	2
	TOTAL:	6	5	5	5	4	4

2015 China Open - Final

		SET 1		SET 2
		LCW	CL	LCW	CL
Smash Direction:	Backhand	13	14	7	6
	Center	1	2	2	1
	Forehand	9	9	5	10
	TOTAL:	23	25	14	17
Smash Winners:	Backhand	4	5	3	4
	Center	0	0	0	0
	Forehand	4	3	0	1
	TOTAL:	8	8	3	5

2015 World Championship - Final

		SET 1		SET 2
		LCW	CL	LCW	CL
Smash Direction:	Backhand	4	9	10	13
	Center	1	3	2	1
	Forehand	4	10	8	12
	TOTAL:	9	22	20	26
Smash Winners:	Backhand	0	4	1	1
	Center	0	0	0	0
	Forehand	1	2	1	1
	TOTAL:	1	6	2	2

In almost all occasions, Chen Long has fired more smashes than Lee Chong Wei. But with amazing defensive skills displayed by both men, the number of smashes doesn’t equal to the number of points won. It is more important to fire your smashes at the right time and at the right place. Amazingly, in the second set of the China Open Final, Chen Long fired more smashes and had more smash winners than his opponent, but he ended up losing 11-21. This shows that being an aggressive hitter from the back of the court alone is definitely not enough in winning games.

Interestingly, you can see a change of tactics from Lee Chong Wei when he played Chen Long twice in a week. He directed most of his smashes to the backhand side of Chen Long in China, but in Hong Kong, he concentrated his attack on the forehand side of Chen Long. Compared to that World Championship (WC) final, he did a better job mixing up his attacking shots, with full smashes, half smashes, and sharp drops when he was playing in China and Hong Kong. A crucial part of his tactics against Chen Long. Also, Chong Wei can’t afford to be too “soft”. In that first set at the WC final, he only fired 9 smashes in the entire set. Perhaps he has his own reasoning of doing that, but he will need to pile more pressure on Chen Long. Sometimes, it is not about making the winning shot out from a smash. It is more about forcing an error from your opponent after the smash was executed.

While for Chen Long, he does a great job mixing up his smash directions, placing almost equal number of smashes to both the backhand side and the forehand side. He had more success when he directed his smashes to Lee Chong Wei’s backhand side in all occasions. Perhaps a note to Chong Wei to improve his defense on his backhand side of his court.

4. Front Court/Net Play

Although there are no numbers to show who is the better one when it comes to net play, net play is a crucial part in any discipline in badminton. Whoever dominates the net play will most likely win the match. The same goes to the matches between these two men. Taking the shuttle high on top of the net gives you options of hitting a variety of shots depending on your opponent's movement. In the World Championship final, Chen Long committed much more to the front of the court, a key element in his victory which includes 3 decisive kills at the front of the court after a series of net exchanges.

Chong Wei has a habit of hitting his cross court shot low of the net especially on that backhand of his. The point of hitting these shots is to trick his opponent in going to the wrong direction. But as opponents studied his game well before playing him, this specific shot of him has slowly become a liability for him, playing himself out of position to play the next shot. He also has the habit of making deceptive shots at the front of the court. Sometimes, he just overdone these shots and instead of outmaneuver his opponent, these shots backfired against him.

5. The Flat Game

In recent years, men singles players have started playing the flat game, hitting the shuttle flat across the net, something similar to the playing style of doubles players. Chen Long, who has a bigger arm length and size, is a much better player than Chong Wei when it comes to the flat game. He punished Chong Wei heavily during the World Championships final in most flat fast exchanges.

In their recent matches in China and Hong Kong, part of the key for Chong Wei’s victory was to explore the full width and length of the court rather than getting involved in the flat game. Chen Long seems to have some trouble retrieving shots at his front right corner as that part of the court was frequently targeted by Chong Wei in the recent two encounters.


Conclusion

Even though many people think that Lee Chong Wei has passed his prime, he still has something to prove his doubters wrong with such excellent displays in recent tournaments. As for Chen Long, he will still remain as the man to beat. For those who had Chen Long miles ahead of the rest of the field, perhaps a time to reconsider your pick again. The battle of these two men is much closer than most people think it is.