年終賽男單前瞻：桃田手握王牌 - 羽球

MOMOTA HOLDS THE ACES – MEN’S SINGLES: PREVIEW
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019
TEXT BY DEV SUKUMAR | BADMINTONPHOTO


年終賽男單前瞻：桃田手握王牌

The season finale is set to begin, and most of the attention in men’s singles i
s likely to be focussed on Kento Momota.


年終賽即將開幕，男單大部分的焦點可能都放在桃田身上。


The world No.1 swept nearly everything in his wake, and will head in to the HSBC
BWF World Tour Finals 2019 as the runaway favourite.


這位世界第一幾乎橫掃一切之後，以大獲成功的熱門奪冠者前進年終賽。


There are few titles left for Momota to conquer. The season finale is not one of
those, for he has won this event previously – in its avatar as the Dubai World
Superseries Finals in 2015. Yet, the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals does hold a spe
cial challenge for him, for it was at this event last year, at the end of a seas
on which he dominated, that he was ruthlessly cut down by Shi Yu Qi.


桃田今年尚未征服的頭銜只有少許。年終賽冠軍並非其中一個，他之前就已經拿過了。2015
年他以天降神兵之姿拿了杜拜年終賽冠軍。不過，廣州年終賽對他而言肯定是個特別的挑戰
，因為去年他以宰制賽季的成績參賽，卻遭石宇奇狠狠地擊敗。


In an extraordinary display, Shi blitzed Momota 21-12 21-11 in the final, handin
g him his worst defeat all year. It is an anomaly he will look to redeem, even t
hough Shi himself has not qualified to the Finals.


在這場非凡的比賽中，石宇奇在決賽以大比分21-12、21-11擊潰桃田，使他獲得少有的慘敗
。即便今年石宇奇未能獲得資格參賽，他仍尋求補救。


“I really want to win this year. I want to be the champion and I’ll do my best
,” said Momota.


「我今年真的很想奪冠。我會為了奪冠盡我所能。」桃田說。


“Last year I was lucky to be drawn in an easy group and that helped me reach th
e final. I’m not sure what is going to happen this year, but I’m looking forwa
rd to it. The HSBC BWF World Tour Finals has a different feel from other tournam
ents.”


「去年我比較幸運，被分到比較輕鬆好打的組別助我進了決賽。我不知道今年是不是能這麼
走運，但我還是期待著。年終賽跟其他比賽相比，有種不同的感受。」


While it was Momota’s year without a doubt, there were other players who shone
from time to time. Chou Tien Chen picked up the only Super 1000 that didn’t go
Momota’s way, when he prevailed in a marathon final over Anders Antonsen at the
Indonesia Open.


雖然今年無疑是屬於桃田的賽季，但還有其他球員不時發光發熱。周天成拿了桃田唯一沒拿
到的1000賽冠軍，他在印尼公開賽決賽以馬拉松的打法拖垮安東森。


Two weeks later, he was on top of the podium at the Thailand Open, after yet ano
ther thrilling final.


兩週後，他再一次在泰國公開賽站上頒獎台，這又是一次激勵人心的決賽。


Chou acknowledged the peculiar challenges of playing the year-end tournament:


周認為打年終賽是個特別的挑戰：


“It’s the end of the season so we’ll all be quite tired. Only the elite eight
can participate in the season-ending championships. Every opponent will be stro
ng and I’ll have to be fully focused. Regardless of the outcome, I’ll have upc
oming group matches. This is something that I have to be mentally prepared for.
”


「季末大家都相當累了。只有最菁英的八位才能參加年終賽。每個對手都很強而我必須全神
貫注。無論結果如何，我都要先打小組賽。我必須對此做好心理準備。」


Talking about his victory in Indonesia, Chou recalled that the key was his menta
l approach.


談到印尼賽的勝利，周回憶那場比賽的關鍵是他的思考方式。


“I didn’t expect to reach the final let alone win the title. I had the right m
entality then, I was unaffected by whether I was winning or losing. It wasn’t a
bout boosting my confidence from winning the title. I was just glad that I had t
he right mentality and could adapt to any circumstances. This was something I ne
eded to mature in my game, so the win definitely helped me a lot.”


「我其實沒想過進決賽，更不用說奪冠了。我有正確的心態，故能不被輸贏所動。奪冠並不
是讓我的自信膨脹。我很高興我擁有正確的心態，故能適應場上任何情況。這是我在比賽中
需要培養成熟的東西，勝利對我來說當然幫助很大。」


If he gets into his groove, the Chinese Taipei star has the weapons to go all th
e way.


這果這位球星陷入困境，他應會有一套應付所有狀況的武器。


There are two Danes among the qualifiers – Viktor Axelsen and Anders Antonsen.
Axelsen had a season affected by allergies and a back injury that kept him out o
f several big tournaments including the World Championships, but he did make a p
romising return with semifinals in Denmark and France.


另外還有兩位丹麥球員符合參賽資格，是安賽龍與安東森。安賽龍被過敏跟背傷困擾了整個
賽季，連數個大賽跟世錦賽都未能參加。不過他在丹麥法國進入四強，可望回復一些狀態。


Antonsen had his breakthrough year, winning the Indonesia Masters and making the
final of the World Championships. The big-match player will sense his chance in
Guangzhou.


今年是安東森突破性的一年，他拿了印尼公開賽而且進入世錦決賽。這位大賽選手感到他在
廣州有機會。


Both Indonesians – Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting – had a fairly encoura
ging season. Ginting was in four finals but without a title, while Christie pick
ed up titles in Australia and New Zealand before falling short in finals in Japa
n and France.


兩位印尼男單喬納坦、金廷，也有一個令人鼓舞的賽季。金廷四進決賽但未獲一冠；喬納坦
則在紐澳兩站奪冠，但在法國日本兩站決賽卻未能如願。


Meanwhile, Chen Long, twice winner of the season-ending tournament (2012 and 201
4), will count on his experience and his recent form – he won the French Open a
nd was runner-up in Denmark the previous week – to pose questions of his younge
r rivals.


同時，諶龍這位曾二獲年終賽冠軍的球員，將倚仗自己的經驗與近期狀態參賽（前幾週拿了
法國冠軍與丹麥亞軍），將為年輕的對手們造成障礙。


Of the eight qualifiers, the underdog will be Wang Tzu Wei. Interestingly, he wo
n his first World Tour title at his last event – the Syed Modi Championships –
and will hope to spring a surprise or two against the bigger names.


在這八位參賽者中，王子維是最不被看好的一位。有意思的是，他最近剛得巡迴賽的第一個
冠軍，或許會對這些大球星造成驚奇。




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the-aces-mens-singles-preview/

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