After losing a 12-21, 21-19, 17-21 in a 70-minute battle in the Malaysia Open men’s singles semi-finals on Saturday (Jan 13) night, Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen said he accepted that his opponent Shi Yuqi of China was the better player of the day to win the match.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 [CROWD NOISE]
00:16 The most you can ask for a player is to do the best with what he has on the day.
00:19 I did everything I could. Mentally and physically I haven't been feeling the best this week.
00:23 I haven't been feeling that comfortable.
00:25 To play a semifinal and to play like I did today, I think if you look realistically on it,
00:31 even though I always want to win, but it was the rightful winner today and not much to say.
00:35 Full credit to Fiji. I think he was the better player.
00:38 Super Series 1000 semifinal to start the year with, 2024.
00:42 But I imagine a top player like you is not just happy with the semifinal.
00:46 No, of course not. I'm not happy with the semifinal since I've won multiple Super 1000s.
00:51 So I always want to win, obviously, but again, if you're not the best player, you don't win.
00:56 Today I was not the best player.
00:58 It was only a few weeks ago I won the World Tour Finals for the fifth time.
01:03 You know what? There's not much rest for a badminton player.
01:06 I could have used maybe one week extra to prepare myself,
01:10 but I'm going to try to take that in January and February to prepare myself physically and mentally,
01:14 because after my injury in the foot, I haven't been able to at all prepare the way I want to.
01:18 So there's still a long gap for me to be at my best.
01:21 Well, I've been injured in my foot since October.
01:23 So the only one week I've had without really, really limited practice was one week before coming here.
01:31 So, yeah, just looking realistically at everything, I'm far, far from my best.
01:36 So that's the goal for February, January, February, to get as strong as I can again.
01:43 I know it's premature to talk about the Olympics right now. It's just the first tournament of the year.
01:48 But it is the Olympic year and you know, you playing in the Malaysia Open,
01:52 comparing yourself to the rest of the field. What are your thoughts on it?
01:56 Well, I'm pretty, pretty, you know, I'm in a good place.
01:59 You know, I won the World Tour Finals just a few weeks ago.
02:04 Yeah, and I feel, you know, I feel good.
02:08 You know, I'm in the right place.
02:09 You know, give me, you know, a few months with, you know, proper practice.
02:13 And then I think I will be really scary for the Olympics.
02:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]