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Victor Lai has made history at the 2026 All England Open, becoming the first Canadian in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals. In this badminton analysis, we break down the tactics behind Lai’s rise in men’s singles badminton. Learn how he uses high lifts, defensive clears, body smashes, interception attacks, drives, net shots, and pace variation to control rallies and defeat top opponents. This video covers badminton tactics, rally construction, shot selection, footwork, singles strategy, smash defense, deception, and elite match analysis. If you want to improve your badminton skills, strategy, and understanding of professional badminton, this breakdown will help.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Victor Lai has just made history again.
0:02
As the first Canadian player to medal at
0:04
a badminton world championship, he is
0:06
now also the first Canadian in the open
0:08
era to reach a semi-final at the All
0:10
England Open.
0:11
>> [cheering]
0:12
>> To much of the world,
0:14
Victor Lai's sudden rise was unexpected.
0:17
Some might even say lucky.
0:19
But to those of us who watch his games
0:21
and study how he plays,
0:23
will say that he firmly belongs among
0:25
the top players in the world and may
0:27
even be better in many senses.
0:29
Today we'll show you why Victor Lai has
0:31
done so well at the 2026 All England
0:33
Open and his play that allows him to not
0:36
just compete,
0:37
>> [music]
0:37
>> but win.
0:41
If you guys watched our video on Chinese
0:43
badminton principles,
0:45
you'll know about a concept known as
0:46
jieli, or in English, the concept of
0:49
borrowing force.
0:52
Victor Lai is a master of this concept.
0:54
He might even be the best at it on the
0:55
circuit.
0:56
You can immediately tell by how he
0:58
plays.
0:59
Victor Lai's strategy is principled in
1:01
two modes, really.
1:02
He has a defensive mode
1:04
that sucks the speed out of his
1:05
opponent's attack.
1:07
And an attacking mode
1:09
that uses his opponent's speed against
1:11
them.
1:12
Let's talk about his defense.
1:15
Victor is one of the few men's singles
1:16
players willing to play high lifts and
1:18
clears.
1:20
Nowadays,
1:22
many of us have the idea that we should
1:23
play a box style game
1:25
where we use faster and flatter shots to
1:27
prevent our opponents from [music]
1:29
getting fully behind the bird and
1:31
unleashing a deadly jump smash.
1:35
But here's the other part people don't
1:36
think about.
1:38
The extremely high shots give you time
1:40
to recover.
1:41
And when played well, is actually very
1:44
difficult and energy consuming for your
1:46
opponents to get behind and attack.
1:50
There's no existing momentum on a high
1:52
lift that players can feed off. Instead,
1:54
they have to produce almost all of the
1:55
power and speed themselves.
1:58
This high lift is also a rhythm breaker.
2:01
Many of Viktor Axelsen's opponents are
2:02
often in a situation where they're
2:04
standing at the back waiting for the
2:05
shuttle to drop.
2:07
>> [music]
2:07
>> And anyone who has done interval sprints
2:09
before will know just how much more
2:11
tiring it is to constantly stop and
2:13
accelerate versus maintaining one pace
2:16
the whole time.
2:18
Combine this with how the playing
2:20
conditions at the All England have been
2:21
rather slow
2:23
and you get a scenario where Viktor
2:24
Axelsen's defense drains out his
2:26
opponents and leads to a number of
2:27
errors.
2:34
With this understanding you'll see why
2:36
Viktor almost never aggressively gambles
2:37
for drives and flat pushes.
2:40
If he is even just slightly late
2:42
he will opt to block towards the middle
2:44
or lift high.
2:45
On late backhand shots, he will mostly
2:47
opt for drops and clears.
2:50
Viktor does this because if he goes for
2:51
a drive or flatter push
2:53
and his opponent is ready
2:55
there's a high chance that he will be
2:57
unable to cover the quick return back.
2:59
The block towards the middle allows
3:01
Viktor to play more cautiously and
3:03
conserve energy.
3:04
It also builds up what he does on the
3:06
attack to win points.
3:08
Because Viktor understands the concept
3:10
of borrowing force so well
3:12
you'll see that his attacking gameplay
3:14
revolves around this concept, too.
3:17
Viktor's defense aims to take speed out
3:19
of the game
3:20
and force his opponents to create speed
3:22
and power themselves
3:24
while his attack aims to use his
3:26
opponent's speed and power against them.
3:29
As we mentioned before
3:30
most men's singles players try to play
3:32
box in a flatter faster game.
3:35
Viktor's game centers around punishing
3:36
that.
3:38
Every time you see Viktor's opponent go
3:39
for a flatter push
3:42
or punch clear
3:44
you'll see Viktor take a lot of
3:45
initiative to cut off the shot early
3:48
and redirect the shuttle back at his
3:49
opponents with even more speed.
3:52
Of course, you won't be able to two-feet
3:53
jump and full swing on these flatter
3:55
pushes, but you don't need to.
3:57
Instead, you can just feed on the
3:58
existing shuttle momentum and your
4:00
footwork speed
4:02
to quickly flick the shuttle back.
4:05
This is why a player like Viktor
4:07
Axelsen,
4:08
who is not as physically strong as some
4:10
other players,
4:12
can still generate shots that are just
4:13
as fast or sometimes even faster.
4:18
Playing fast and explosive shots
4:21
is often more about the fluidity of your
4:23
power and weight transfer, rather than
4:25
actual strength levels.
4:26
And that's what Viktor Axelsen good at.
4:29
You'll notice that his movements to
4:31
these flatter shots
4:32
rarely get stuck at any point.
4:35
So, there is minimal power loss
4:37
>> [music]
4:37
>> when he swings.
4:39
And when he doesn't have the
4:40
opportunities to feed off of his
4:41
opponent's shots,
4:43
Viktor will be patient.
4:45
If his opponent opts for the same high
4:47
lift that Viktor often uses,
4:49
Viktor's play is to often drop or clear
4:51
and play to be ready for the next shot.
4:54
We can take this idea of leveraging
4:55
force to a deeper level with Viktor
4:59
by looking at his shot choice.
5:00
You'll notice that one of Viktor's
5:02
favorite and most effective shots is the
5:04
body smash.
5:05
While it does often lead to a winner,
5:07
the reason for aiming at the body so
5:08
often is to make the follow-up safer.
5:12
Many players play these flat attacking
5:14
pushes as a part of shot combos where
5:17
they push and then look to counter on
5:18
defense.
5:20
For example,
5:22
if you push fast to someone's around the
5:24
head
5:25
and they decide to quickly attack it,
5:27
a follow-up cross court
5:29
is generally a very tiring movement.
5:32
As a result,
5:34
many players like to push to ones around
5:36
the head and then cross block the
5:38
straight
5:39
and be ready to cut off their opponent's
5:41
cross shot.
5:42
Smashing at the body, however, reduces
5:45
the angles available to defend from.
5:48
There isn't as much room to play a cross
5:50
block
5:51
and it's generally more difficult to do
5:53
so.
5:54
Especially with how fast the shuttle is
5:56
moving.
5:57
Most of the time
5:59
the return will just be an instinctive
6:01
straight block back
6:03
and it makes it much easier for Victor
6:04
to move.
6:06
Especially if his attacking smash had
6:08
him out of position.
6:10
Similarly, Victor will also lift a lot
6:12
of shots toward his opponent's forehand.
6:15
Many players
6:16
are not particularly practiced in
6:17
getting behind the bird and two-feet
6:19
jump smashing from the forehand side.
6:22
Most are used to China jumping
6:24
or taking a late forehand.
6:27
Thus,
6:29
a very high lift toward the forehand can
6:31
often feel awkward
6:33
and make it very difficult for his
6:34
opponents to attack [music] and smoothly
6:36
follow up.
6:38
Another example we can talk about is his
6:39
drives.
6:41
He rarely starts the drives
6:43
but that doesn't mean he's not good at
6:44
them.
6:46
His focus is on being ready.
6:48
If his opponents ever come in and drive
6:50
at him,
6:52
that's often an opportunity [music] to
6:53
hit a drive back
6:55
at even greater speeds
6:57
and force his opponents out of position.
7:05
Of course, all of the above are
7:06
tendencies.
7:08
You'll likely see Viktor Axelsen do the
7:09
things above
7:11
but not always.
7:12
And that leads well into our final point
7:13
of this video.
7:15
Viktor Axelsen is an expert at building
7:17
rallies and using variation.
7:22
He builds rallies from the start of the
7:24
match, conditioning his opponents to
7:26
certain movements and shots.
7:28
For example,
7:30
one of Viktor Axelsen's most used shots
7:32
is his re-net deception on his forehand
7:34
side.
7:36
By constantly playing this shot,
7:38
opponents are forced to watch for it
7:40
whenever the shuttle is in his forehand
7:41
net area
7:43
by staying up at the net.
7:50
And what this does for Victor
7:52
is that it allows him to open up the
7:53
back court.
7:55
Even if Victor lifts very high
7:58
his ability to threaten the net with a
7:59
deception
8:01
makes it so his opponent does not have
8:02
the first step on the shuttle.
8:04
Which means they're reacting to his lift
8:07
and not actively ready for it.
8:09
And as we mentioned earlier in the
8:11
video, this high lift is energy sapping.
8:14
But if Victor's opponents give up the
8:17
front court to focus on the back
8:20
they lose the first step on the net back
8:23
from Victor
8:24
and produce a flat lift because they're
8:26
late to the shuttle, which is usually
8:28
when you will see Victor attack.
8:31
And so Victor's opponents are left with
8:34
a dilemma.
8:35
Do they watch the front to cover
8:37
Victor's deception?
8:39
Or should they anticipate the back to
8:40
get the attack?
8:43
Now
8:45
another example of how Victor conditions
8:47
his opponents to certain tendencies
8:49
and disrupts this rhythm with variation
8:52
are his pace changes.
8:56
Oftentimes Victor would opt to play the
8:57
smash on his opponent's flat pushes, but
9:00
sometimes he would change pace with a
9:01
stop drop.
9:14
This is just another way of conditioning
9:15
your opponents to certain shots and
9:16
tendencies
9:18
and then suddenly disrupting that
9:20
familiarity to keep them on their toes
9:23
and constantly guessing the next shot.
9:26
Ultimately, it just boils down to this.
9:29
How efficient can he be when he scores
9:30
his point
9:32
versus how inefficient can he make his
9:33
opponent at scoring their points?
9:37
By applying the concept of borrowing
9:38
force from his opponent and changing
9:40
pace when he's in position to do so,
9:43
Victor can make his game much more
9:44
efficient.
9:46
And by giving these big high lifts and
9:48
clears to his opponent,
9:49
he essentially drains the momentum from
9:51
his opponent because they have to stand
9:53
and wait for the shuttle to drop, making
9:55
their attack much more inefficient.
9:58
Finally, through conditioning his
9:59
opponents through certain shots and
10:01
tendencies that Victor might play,
10:03
and then suddenly switching up on them
10:05
with a variety of shots,
10:07
he not only makes them physically tired,
10:10
but more importantly,
10:12
mentally tired.
10:16
Victor makes his opponents constantly
10:17
adapt and think about his shots,
10:19
draining their mental energy,
10:21
resulting in more unforced errors from
10:23
his opponents
10:25
due to a dip in focus.
10:29
If you guys like this video, make sure
10:31
to hit the like and subscribe button so
10:32
you don't miss out on future content.
10:35
And what do you guys think about
10:37
Victor's game?
10:38
Is it fun or boring to watch as the
10:40
audience?
10:41
Let us know in the comments below.
10:44
And as always, thanks for watching.
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