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Discover why Victor Lai's movement looks so effortless compared to Jonatan Christie at the 2026 Indonesia Open. In this badminton analysis, we break down the science of tendons vs muscles, tendon repulsion, movement efficiency, agility training, plyometrics, and why some players seem lighter and faster on court. We explore whether Jonatan Christie is actually too strong for his own good, how playstyle and physical attributes must work together, and what badminton players can learn from Victor Lai, Lee Chong Wei, Viktor Axelsen, Lin Dan, Shi Yu Qi, and Chen Long. Improve your footwork, speed, endurance, and badminton strategy with these insights.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Viktor Lai has recently made history
0:01
once again at the 2026 Indonesia Open by
0:05
becoming not just the first Canadian,
0:07
but the first in all of Pan America to
0:10
win a Super 1000 title. With this win,
0:13
he is also the first Canadian men's
0:15
singles player to rank top 10 in the
0:17
world. But this video isn't focused on
0:19
Viktor Lai.
0:20
We have made a bunch in the past talking
0:23
about how Viktor plays and things you
0:24
can learn from him. Of course, we would
0:26
love to make more, but it is actually
0:28
Viktor's finals opponent, Jonatan
0:30
Christie, that piqued our interest.
0:33
What we couldn't help but notice in this
0:34
match was the contrast in movement
0:36
between Viktor Lai and Jonatan Christie.
0:38
Viktor has a feeling of being
0:39
astoundingly quick and light, while
0:41
Christie gives more of a strong type of
0:43
feeling.
0:45
And upon seeing the difference,
0:48
it made us completely reconsider how we
0:50
train and play.
0:52
Viktor Lai moves lightly while Jonatan
0:53
Christie moves strongly.
0:55
But what does that actually mean?
0:57
To understand, we must first take a
0:59
brief look at tendons versus muscles.
1:01
Muscles are responsible for producing
1:03
force. When a muscle contracts, it uses
1:06
energy to pull on the tendon, which
1:07
pulls on the skeleton, creating
1:09
movement. Tendons serve a bit of a
1:11
different purpose.
1:12
>> [music]
1:12
>> Rather than generating force themselves,
1:15
tendons act more like biological
1:16
springs.
1:17
When a tendon is stretched, it can
1:20
temporarily store elastic energy and
1:23
then release that energy during the next
1:24
movement.
1:26
You can think of the difference like
1:27
compressing a spring versus pushing a
1:30
sled. The spring stores energy and gives
1:32
some of it back. The sled only moves
1:35
because you continue applying force.
1:37
Of course, no athlete is purely tendon
1:39
driven or purely muscle driven. Every
1:41
movement requires both force production
1:43
from the muscles and energy storage from
1:45
the tendons. The difference is often one
1:47
of emphasis.
1:49
Some athletes appear to move by
1:51
constantly bouncing off the floor,
1:52
taking advantage of elastic recoil and
1:54
quick energy return. Others appear to
1:57
generate movement through greater
1:58
muscular force,
1:59
>> [music]
2:00
>> using stronger pushes to drive
2:01
themselves around the court.
2:05
And this is where the contrast between
2:07
Viktor Axelsen and Jonathan Christie
2:08
becomes interesting. Christie gives the
2:10
impression that his movements are more
2:12
dependent on active force production.
2:14
While Axelsen's movements seem to
2:16
revolve around tendon repulsion. When
2:18
you directly compare the two's
2:19
movements, pay particular attention to
2:22
how Axelsen recovers when playing fast
2:24
shots like smashes compared to Christie.
2:27
You'll see that Axelsen recovers much
2:28
like he's skipping around the court
2:30
compared to Christie, whose follow-up
2:32
might feel like a max power sprint.
2:50
And that's one of the main reasons why
2:52
Viktor Axelsen has been so successful.
2:54
His general movements on court just
2:56
don't require as much energy compared to
2:57
his opponents.
2:59
So in general, he's going to last longer
3:01
and make less errors.
3:16
For us as viewers and in a sports
3:18
science training perspective,
3:20
the idea is to use these heavyweight
3:21
lifting exercises with a goal of
3:24
strengthening tendons to prevent
3:26
injuries.
3:27
Don't expect that these exercises will
3:29
necessarily speed up your on-court
3:31
movement. And instead,
3:33
that will come from mastering how your
3:35
muscles leverage your tendons.
3:37
Generally, mastering moving quick and
3:39
light is about mastering the timing that
3:41
your muscles activate,
3:43
rather than the raw physical force it
3:45
produces.
3:46
Think activities like skipping and fast
3:49
plyometrics that are focused around how
3:52
quick you can rebound off of the ground,
3:54
rather than how high you can jump. On
3:56
court, the idea is the same.
3:58
Don't emphasize pushing off the ground
4:00
very hard.
4:01
And instead, focus on how quick and
4:03
lightly you can move. It shouldn't feel
4:05
like you have to use a ton of energy in
4:07
your muscles to push in and out of
4:08
corners. This is important because
4:10
tendons don't fatigue like muscles do.
4:13
You can overuse them and get
4:14
tendinopathy issues, but you don't
4:16
really lose motor control the way you
4:18
might when your muscles get tired.
4:20
In long matches or rallies, you probably
4:23
experienced your muscles becoming
4:24
cramped up and feeling like they're on
4:25
fire. You might get massages or do a ton
4:27
of stretching, but you end up becoming
4:29
the same right after.
4:31
Many pro players look very relaxed on
4:33
court
4:34
because their technique often maximizes
4:35
tendon repulsion
4:37
while minimizing muscle output.
4:40
The muscles only need to activate for an
4:41
instant to transfer power through the
4:43
tendons.
4:45
The more energy transferred that the
4:46
tendons can retain,
4:48
the less muscle activation you'll need
4:50
to use,
4:52
and vice versa.
5:00
Studies support this, too.
5:02
Measurements of the Achilles put its
5:03
energy return at as much as 35% of every
5:05
stride in running.
5:07
Speed up the activity to things like
5:09
sprinting and similar movements as ones
5:10
we'll see on court,
5:11
>> [music]
5:12
>> the tendon is shown to recover
5:13
approximately 60% of total mechanical
5:15
energy.
5:16
In other words,
5:18
more than half the movement can be done
5:19
through tendon repulsion rather than
5:21
muscular push-offs.
5:23
So, for the part about Jonathan Christie
5:25
being too strong for his own good, we
5:27
should establish that all pro players do
5:29
a lot of [music] agility
5:31
and are great at moving quickly. They
5:32
wouldn't be pros otherwise. And the
5:34
difference is really among themselves.
5:36
That difference can't really be closed
5:38
just through modifying training.
5:40
There are factors like genetics, which
5:42
are not easily adjusted. Our own general
5:45
philosophy when it comes to badminton is
5:47
that there are four different pillars
5:49
supporting your game.
5:50
Mental, physical, technique, and
5:52
strategy.
5:54
Your goal is to adjust your personal
5:55
strengths and weaknesses within each
5:57
pillar to make all four complement each
5:59
other.
6:00
Jonatan Christie is very strong, but his
6:02
strategic gameplay revolves around
6:04
changing speed and playing aggressive
6:06
shots at the net like top crosses, spin
6:08
nets, flat pushes, and drives. [music]
6:11
There's nothing wrong with playing this
6:13
way,
6:14
but you may want to consider whether it
6:15
makes sense to do so based on your own
6:17
strengths and weaknesses.
6:21
Players on the heavier and stronger side
6:22
of the spectrum
6:23
will typically find it more difficult to
6:25
change directions fast.
6:27
That's why when you look at the most
6:29
successful players who move more
6:30
strongly rather than lightly,
6:33
such as Lin Dan, Viktor Axelsen, Shi
6:35
Yuqi, and Chen Long, you'll see that
6:38
their gameplay typically revolves more
6:40
around controlling their opponents with
6:42
high-quality pushes and choosing the
6:45
right timing to change pace.
6:50
>> [cheering]
6:54
>> Meanwhile, the players who were most
6:55
successful playing a similar style as
6:57
Jonatan Christie were players like Lee
6:59
Chong Wei and Anthony Ginting.
7:02
Both these players during their prime
7:04
had some of the lightest movements and
7:06
could play the way they did because
7:08
rebounding from the back court was
7:10
pretty much like how a bouncy ball
7:11
bounces.
7:20
If you move more strongly, however,
7:23
you'll find that this style of moving
7:25
quickly to the back and then
7:27
following up just as quickly extremely
7:28
straining.
7:30
Strong movements are less like ball
7:31
bounces
7:32
and become more like sprint start-ups.
7:43
And just like how it's easier to stop
7:44
your jump rope activities in one landing
7:46
than it is to stop your sprint mid-run,
7:49
strong players will lose their ability
7:51
to control the shuttle the faster and
7:53
more often they have to push at max
7:55
speeds.
7:56
This may be the real reason why people
7:57
view Jonathan Christie as inconsistent.
8:02
The way that Christie plays combined
8:03
with how he moves requires a lot of
8:05
things to go right.
8:07
Christie no doubt has the skills to win,
8:09
but because he is someone who moves more
8:10
strongly rather than lightly relative to
8:13
other pros, he needs to be able to win
8:15
rallies quickly. And unfortunately for
8:17
Christie, his finals opponent was Viktor
8:19
Axelsen.
8:20
As we have discussed in previous videos,
8:22
Viktor Axelsen is a player that loves
8:23
using high lifts to drain his opponents
8:26
and feeds off his opponent's fast shots
8:27
to win. Stylistically,
8:30
he's pretty much the direct counter to
8:32
Christie and Christie can't do much
8:34
because he's not as well practiced in
8:35
the style that is needed to win against
8:37
Viktor.
8:38
What Christie needed to win against
8:39
Viktor is the same thing successful
8:41
strong players have.
8:43
When you look at the strong players
8:44
we've mentioned as well as some of those
8:45
who have beaten Viktor Axelsen,
8:47
you'll see that their games have both a
8:48
good push in the front court and good
8:51
back [music] court shots they can play
8:52
without committing too much energy.
8:54
Axelsen's game for example is pretty
8:56
much push and block with a very steep
8:58
half smash coming [music] in every time
8:59
someone lifts.
9:01
Players like Shi Yuqi and Lin Dan, who
9:03
don't necessarily have the same height
9:04
as Axelsen, will like to go for slices.
9:07
These shots are great for the stronger
9:09
players
9:10
because they keep you in rhythm
9:12
and can often be played without exerting
9:14
max energy to get fully behind the
9:16
shuttle.
9:17
The rhythm is very important because
9:19
that's where Christie seems to struggle
9:20
a little.
9:22
When Christie is not full smashing,
9:24
there's a tendency to lose his footwork
9:26
rhythm when he pauses before hitting a
9:28
clear or drop.
9:29
So the issue was never that Christie is
9:31
too strong in some absolute sense.
9:35
It's that how he moves
9:37
and how he plays don't fully line up. He
9:39
moves strongly, which works best when he
9:41
can win quickly, but the aggressive
9:43
style he likes drags him into long
9:45
rallies
9:46
where his rhythm breaks down.
9:48
And against Victor Lai,
9:50
who's built to stretch rallies out,
9:53
that's pretty much the worst possible
9:54
match-up.
9:56
Coming back to what we said at the
9:58
start, the match between Jonathan
10:00
Christie and Victor Lai had two key
10:02
elements that made us reconsider how we
10:05
train and play.
10:06
The first is about how you move. Moving
10:08
lightly isn't about pushing off the
10:09
ground harder, it's about maximizing
10:11
tendon repulsion. The more you can let
10:13
your tendons do the work, the less
10:15
energy you spend, the longer you last,
10:18
and the fewer errors you make late in
10:19
matches. That's something you can
10:21
actually train through things like
10:23
skipping and fast plyometrics that focus
10:26
on how quickly you rebound off the
10:28
ground
10:29
rather than how hard you push.
10:31
The second is about how you play.
10:33
Even at the pro level, not everyone
10:35
moves the same way, and a lot of that
10:36
comes down to things like genetics that
10:38
you can't really train your way around.
10:40
So, instead of forcing a style that
10:42
fights your body,
10:43
the goal is to adjust your play style to
10:45
your physical attributes.
10:46
Remember the four pillars: mental,
10:49
physical, technique, and strategy.
10:52
The strong players who stay at the top,
10:54
like Axelsen, Lin Dan, and Chen Long,
10:57
are good not just because of their raw
10:59
skill, strategy, or physical, but rather
11:03
how everything works together.
11:05
Christie's situation is a good reminder
11:07
of what happens when those two things
11:09
don't line up. He's no doubt a great
11:11
player who is capable of winning, but
11:13
sometimes his style clashes with his
11:15
physical and can be a hidden reason to
11:17
why he's not as consistent as many would
11:19
want him to be.
11:20
And that's the part any of us can
11:22
actually work on. Train so that your
11:23
physical, technique, strategy, and
11:27
mental all complement each other. If you
11:29
like this video, make sure to hit the
11:31
like and subscribe button so you don't
11:33
miss out on future content. Let us know
11:35
what you would like to see next in the
11:37
comments below. And as always,
11:39
thanks for watching.
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