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