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Victor Lai has just made history again.
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As the first Canadian player to medal at
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a badminton world championship, he is
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now also the first Canadian in the open
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era to reach a semi-final at the All
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>> To much of the world,
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Victor Lai's sudden rise was unexpected.
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Some might even say lucky.
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But to those of us who watch his games
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and study how he plays,
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will say that he firmly belongs among
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the top players in the world and may
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even be better in many senses.
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Today we'll show you why Victor Lai has
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done so well at the 2026 All England
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Open and his play that allows him to not
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If you guys watched our video on Chinese
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badminton principles,
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you'll know about a concept known as
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jieli, or in English, the concept of
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Victor Lai is a master of this concept.
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He might even be the best at it on the
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You can immediately tell by how he
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Victor Lai's strategy is principled in
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He has a defensive mode
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that sucks the speed out of his
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And an attacking mode
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that uses his opponent's speed against
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Let's talk about his defense.
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Victor is one of the few men's singles
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players willing to play high lifts and
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many of us have the idea that we should
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play a box style game
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where we use faster and flatter shots to
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prevent our opponents from [music]
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getting fully behind the bird and
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unleashing a deadly jump smash.
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But here's the other part people don't
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The extremely high shots give you time
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And when played well, is actually very
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difficult and energy consuming for your
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opponents to get behind and attack.
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There's no existing momentum on a high
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lift that players can feed off. Instead,
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they have to produce almost all of the
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power and speed themselves.
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This high lift is also a rhythm breaker.
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Many of Viktor Axelsen's opponents are
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often in a situation where they're
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standing at the back waiting for the
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>> And anyone who has done interval sprints
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before will know just how much more
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tiring it is to constantly stop and
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accelerate versus maintaining one pace
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Combine this with how the playing
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conditions at the All England have been
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and you get a scenario where Viktor
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Axelsen's defense drains out his
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opponents and leads to a number of
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With this understanding you'll see why
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Viktor almost never aggressively gambles
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for drives and flat pushes.
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If he is even just slightly late
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he will opt to block towards the middle
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On late backhand shots, he will mostly
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opt for drops and clears.
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Viktor does this because if he goes for
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a drive or flatter push
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and his opponent is ready
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there's a high chance that he will be
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unable to cover the quick return back.
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The block towards the middle allows
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Viktor to play more cautiously and
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It also builds up what he does on the
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attack to win points.
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Because Viktor understands the concept
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of borrowing force so well
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you'll see that his attacking gameplay
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revolves around this concept, too.
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Viktor's defense aims to take speed out
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and force his opponents to create speed
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while his attack aims to use his
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opponent's speed and power against them.
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As we mentioned before
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most men's singles players try to play
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box in a flatter faster game.
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Viktor's game centers around punishing
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Every time you see Viktor's opponent go
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you'll see Viktor take a lot of
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initiative to cut off the shot early
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and redirect the shuttle back at his
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opponents with even more speed.
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Of course, you won't be able to two-feet
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jump and full swing on these flatter
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pushes, but you don't need to.
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Instead, you can just feed on the
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existing shuttle momentum and your
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to quickly flick the shuttle back.
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This is why a player like Viktor
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who is not as physically strong as some
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can still generate shots that are just
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as fast or sometimes even faster.
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Playing fast and explosive shots
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is often more about the fluidity of your
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power and weight transfer, rather than
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actual strength levels.
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And that's what Viktor Axelsen good at.
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You'll notice that his movements to
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rarely get stuck at any point.
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So, there is minimal power loss
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And when he doesn't have the
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opportunities to feed off of his
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Viktor will be patient.
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If his opponent opts for the same high
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lift that Viktor often uses,
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Viktor's play is to often drop or clear
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and play to be ready for the next shot.
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We can take this idea of leveraging
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force to a deeper level with Viktor
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by looking at his shot choice.
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You'll notice that one of Viktor's
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favorite and most effective shots is the
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While it does often lead to a winner,
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the reason for aiming at the body so
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often is to make the follow-up safer.
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Many players play these flat attacking
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pushes as a part of shot combos where
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they push and then look to counter on
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if you push fast to someone's around the
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and they decide to quickly attack it,
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a follow-up cross court
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is generally a very tiring movement.
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many players like to push to ones around
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the head and then cross block the
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and be ready to cut off their opponent's
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Smashing at the body, however, reduces
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the angles available to defend from.
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There isn't as much room to play a cross
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and it's generally more difficult to do
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Especially with how fast the shuttle is
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the return will just be an instinctive
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and it makes it much easier for Victor
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Especially if his attacking smash had
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Similarly, Victor will also lift a lot
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of shots toward his opponent's forehand.
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are not particularly practiced in
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getting behind the bird and two-feet
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jump smashing from the forehand side.
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Most are used to China jumping
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or taking a late forehand.
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a very high lift toward the forehand can
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and make it very difficult for his
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opponents to attack [music] and smoothly
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Another example we can talk about is his
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He rarely starts the drives
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but that doesn't mean he's not good at
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His focus is on being ready.
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If his opponents ever come in and drive
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that's often an opportunity [music] to
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at even greater speeds
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and force his opponents out of position.
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Of course, all of the above are
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You'll likely see Viktor Axelsen do the
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And that leads well into our final point
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Viktor Axelsen is an expert at building
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rallies and using variation.
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He builds rallies from the start of the
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match, conditioning his opponents to
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certain movements and shots.
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one of Viktor Axelsen's most used shots
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is his re-net deception on his forehand
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By constantly playing this shot,
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opponents are forced to watch for it
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whenever the shuttle is in his forehand
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by staying up at the net.
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And what this does for Victor
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is that it allows him to open up the
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Even if Victor lifts very high
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his ability to threaten the net with a
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makes it so his opponent does not have
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the first step on the shuttle.
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Which means they're reacting to his lift
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and not actively ready for it.
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And as we mentioned earlier in the
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video, this high lift is energy sapping.
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But if Victor's opponents give up the
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front court to focus on the back
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they lose the first step on the net back
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and produce a flat lift because they're
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late to the shuttle, which is usually
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when you will see Victor attack.
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And so Victor's opponents are left with
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Do they watch the front to cover
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Or should they anticipate the back to
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another example of how Victor conditions
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his opponents to certain tendencies
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and disrupts this rhythm with variation
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are his pace changes.
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Oftentimes Victor would opt to play the
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smash on his opponent's flat pushes, but
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sometimes he would change pace with a
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This is just another way of conditioning
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your opponents to certain shots and
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and then suddenly disrupting that
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familiarity to keep them on their toes
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and constantly guessing the next shot.
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Ultimately, it just boils down to this.
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How efficient can he be when he scores
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versus how inefficient can he make his
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opponent at scoring their points?
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By applying the concept of borrowing
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force from his opponent and changing
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pace when he's in position to do so,
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Victor can make his game much more
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And by giving these big high lifts and
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clears to his opponent,
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he essentially drains the momentum from
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his opponent because they have to stand
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and wait for the shuttle to drop, making
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their attack much more inefficient.
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Finally, through conditioning his
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opponents through certain shots and
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tendencies that Victor might play,
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and then suddenly switching up on them
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with a variety of shots,
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he not only makes them physically tired,
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but more importantly,
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Victor makes his opponents constantly
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adapt and think about his shots,
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draining their mental energy,
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resulting in more unforced errors from
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due to a dip in focus.
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And what do you guys think about
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Is it fun or boring to watch as the
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Let us know in the comments below.
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And as always, thanks for watching.
