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A couple of days ago we made a video
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talking about the strategy that many
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Chinese players follow to become the
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best in the world. It was one that
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stemmed primarily from our time training
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in China and working with various
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Where a three-layer system of
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controlling your opponents with
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high-quality pushes using catching the
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opportunity concepts and leveraging
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deceptions proved to be an extremely
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effective way to win efficiently.
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there are exceptions and not all Chinese
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players will do the exact same. The 2024
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World Junior Champion, Hu Je'an, is a
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We've previously made videos on his
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gameplay and discussed how he had been
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beating his opponents by blocking toward
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the middle and winning through superior
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But as some commenters on our videos
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have pointed out though,
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Hu Je'an has not delivered the results
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that many were expecting of him. From
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2025 to now, Hu Je'an has yet to win a
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senior-level tournament. Not to mention
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his multiple first-round exits.
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And even what seems to be a struggle to
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get out of qualifiers.
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Was Hu Je'an's World Junior Championship
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win just a one-time thing?
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Let's take a deeper look.
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What made Hu Je'an a World Junior
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Champion was his net play. He had elite
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spin net skills that he could build his
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First you add good backcourt skills like
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a fast and accurate smash because you'll
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Then you add in deceptive pushes and
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so that your opponent can't just focus
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Finally, you build speed and fluidity in
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your movements to pretty much always be
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in position to take the net early
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And while doing so, play everything more
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to minimize mistakes.
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This strategy worked great at the junior
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where you could frequently meet
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lower-level players that may make many
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errors themselves and or not have good
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enough shot quality to seriously punish
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Hu Je'an was a world junior champion
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because he both made less mistakes than
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and had a definitive way to score.
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On the senior stage, however, things are
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The problem with Hu Qian's style
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is that it's extremely tiring and gets
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more tiring the more consistent your
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The nature of playing a game that
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revolves around out-skilling your
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is that you have to take the net early.
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At the junior level, this is fine.
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You'll play against players, especially
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in the early rounds, where there is a
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big enough skill gap to take it easy.
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At the senior level, however,
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it doesn't work as well because everyone
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You can just look at some of the players
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Hu Qian had to play in the qualifying
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stages and first rounds.
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Names like Su Li Yang, Takuma Obayashi,
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and Julian Caraggi are players that have
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demonstrated gameplay that's competitive
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among the top 25 players in the world
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despite their lower ranking.
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A player like Hu Qian will likely have
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to play near 100% speeds from the get-go
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And to maintain that speed
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not just across one match,
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but repeatedly over the next couple of
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days of the tournament
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In other words, it was enough to just
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win at the junior level. At the senior
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level, however, you must win
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Now, because Hu Qian no longer has the
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luxury of taking it easy against certain
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opponents, there are a few fatal flaws
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that are exposed. What caught our eye
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was Hu Qian's shot quality in his late
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where late forehands, backhands, and
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around-the-head drops could frequently
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seem to be too high and easy for pro
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And when analyzing deeper,
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you will have to credit some of that
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weaker shot quality in the late back
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court to Hu Qian's movements,
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where his focus on the front court has
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often led to slower reactions on pushes
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This is a major weakness when you
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consider that Hu Zi An's defensive play
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is not his strength either. Playing a
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clear in the back court is not something
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that he'll generally prefer.
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Thus, pro players have been countering
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by playing a game of pushing Hu Zi An
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into the back court and then focusing on
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the front court return.
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By constantly taking the shuttle earlier
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at the net compared to Hu Zi An, the
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idea is you constantly put pressure on
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to take the shuttle late until he
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eventually plays a short lift or clear
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The other thing is that playing to the
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middle is good for alleviating pressure
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But it is also easy for your opponent to
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Hu Zi An's strategy was heavily reliant
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on his spin nets being better than his
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opponent's, but what if it wasn't?
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The reality at the senior level is that
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there are a number of players whose net
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game is on par, if not better. A lot of
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his opponents are simply lifting his
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nets with good speed and quality. That
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makes it really difficult to win with
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most of your shots going toward the
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middle. You can't easily smash through a
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especially when they play to lift with
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And if they don't have to move on
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they'll always have the priority on the
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This only increases the need for Hu Zi
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An to play at unsustainable speeds
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and puts him in situations where despite
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being the one attacking,
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he's the one out of position.
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We should note that experience in
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general plays a major role as well. At
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the time of writing this script, Hu Zi
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An has just won against Jonathan
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and already taken down Alex Lanier prior
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at the 2026 Malaysia Masters. So,
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clearly the wins in his junior days were
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not one-time occurrences.
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One thing that changes a lot is the
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consideration of who Hu Zi An has
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actually played on the world stage.
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Chinese junior players rarely ever play
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international tournaments when they are
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at the junior level. You can just take a
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look at world junior rankings right now
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and see that the two top Chinese players
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have only played three tournaments when
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others have often played more than 10.
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This is because it's typically not worth
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that much for Chinese players to play
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junior international tournaments given
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how strong domestic competition is, and
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senior tournaments are typically
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reserved for the senior national team
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What that means is that prior to 2024,
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Hu Zi An has never actually competed in
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a senior-level BWF tournament. You can
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argue that domestic Chinese competition
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can often be at a higher level than
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international tournaments themselves,
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but it's not all about the level.
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Chinese players tend to be methodical in
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their coaching and gameplay. So, most
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players ultimately end up with similar
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techniques and forms.
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On the international stage, however,
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>> you could face players that play very
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and that in itself can be enough to
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throw you off and lose you the game.
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Both Wang Hong Yang's loss against Yan
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Lyuda and Li Shifeng's loss against
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Misha Zilberman are prime examples.
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Additionally, limited international
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tournament experience also meant that Hu
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Zi An was not particularly experienced
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in adapting to the environment. A
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challenge that few people ever talk
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is how pros need to play in one playing
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condition one day and then suddenly
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switch to a new one the next week.
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and even food and time zone adjustments
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will make huge impacts.
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Thus, Hu Zi An undoubtedly needs time to
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adjust, while a player like Alex Lanier
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can see immediate success in transition
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to senior because, well, Lanier has been
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playing senior BWF international
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tournaments since 2021. And perhaps we
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are already seeing those adjustments
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come in. You can already see that quite
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a few adjustments have been made where
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his gameplay is now revolving less
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around purely out-spinning his
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opponents. The gameplay is now more
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patient. And interestingly enough,
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moving towards the Chinese style of play
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that we talked about in our last video.
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You can see this when we compare Hu
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Jian's shot choices from when he played
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Cho Hyun-woo in his junior days and when
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he played Alex Lanier at the 2026
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The story of Hu Jian's gameplay at the
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Dutch Junior International reflected
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that of a player who often took control
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of the net and looked to score points
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from attacking in the back court.
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Against Lanier, however,
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that net usage has been toned down and
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you can see more of a defensive control
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game happening rather than one centered
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around setting up for back court
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attacking opportunities.
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What do you guys think though?
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Will Hu Jian become a top player? Let us
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know in the comments below.
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If you like the video, make sure to hit
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the like and subscribe button so you
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don't miss out on future content.
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As always, thanks for watching.
