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The girl who grew up with VICTOR rackets (3)
2011 US OPEN GRAND PRIX GOLD RUNNER-UP : Cheng Wen Hsing
Q.
What differences are there in role and playing style when you play women’s doubles and mixed doubles?
A:
My best position is at the front so it doesn’t matter much if I play women’s doubles or mixed.
The difference is the partner because every player has their own style and I have to adjust to match the playing style of each partner.
Doubles play is a kind of art, the art of bringing your own characteristics as a player into play and also allowing those of your partner to be brought into play.
Taking Chien Yu Chin for example, she is quite strong attacking-wise and my job is to organize and create attacking opportunities for her;Chen Hung Lin and I play in a similar way so we overlap quite a lot in terms of division of later, so I leave some shots to him.
Q.
Do you believe winning or losing a game depends on you?
A:
The two players in a doubles pair are, of course, both are responsible for winning or losing. If both are playing well results will usually be good.
If one plays well but the other bad then it depends on whether the one playing well can carry the other player. When I play in a doubles game, people usually think winning or losing depends on me because I am the one responsible for organizing and controlling the game.
Q.
You have had a long career. How is your style different now to when you were younger?
A:
When I was younger I was quite impetuous and wasn’t so good at controlling a match.From 2004 I matured and am now able to control the tempo of the game according to how I feel physically and the game situation on the day.
I also think carefully about the tactics I should use for each different opponent.
Q.
Do you care about winning and losing?
A:
No one wants to lose! A sportsman or woman has to want to win because if you don’t care about winning or losing you won’t try hard.
When I was young I thought that losing showed that I had a lot of room for improvement and the direction I needed to improve in but these days I think of losing differently.
2011 JAPAN SUPER SERIES WINNER：Cheng Wen Hsing
Q.
How do you cope with tournament pressure?
A:
There are two main factors that allow an athlete to keep improving;one is pressure, the other is nerves.
At one time I felt that I wasn’t making any progress because I didn’t feel any pressure when I was on court. I cope with pre-match pressure by talking to myself.
A particular characteristic of mine is that I actually feel less nervous as soon as I go on court. My coach says when I practice I only deserve a grade of 70% but when I play tournament matches I deserve 110% (laughs)
Q.
What were your badminton career plans ?
A:
I originally planned to play until I graduated from university, retiring after the 2004 Olympics, going back to school and then doing something different.
However, our doubles pair almost made it to the quarter final stage and my father thought I could still improve; I was only 22 years old at the time, much younger than when most athletes retire.
I also felt a responsibility to society as it wouldn’t be easy for Taiwan to nurture another Top 10 female player if I left the stage….. So I didn’t retire in 2004 and what followed was chaos, now I just take one step at a time (laughs).
Q.
You considered quitting the sport in 2006. How did you get over that rough patch?
A:
I daren’t just give up so I thought I’d take a rest for three months and see what happened. I even stopped training.
But, I began to feel that my life lacked focus, that there was something I needed to do….. I couldn’t give up the game and was also unwilling to walk away.
I wanted to prove “I can get better” and worked hard to adjust mentally for the challenges when I went into battle on court again.
Q.
How do you stay in the best condition ?
A:
Everyone ages, we all fall victim to the law of nature, I hope the marks etched on me by time can be converted into wisdom.
Even when I retire I can still play in the Social Section, then Senior Section. Being on court makes me happy.
I’m not the kind of player who trains a lot, my training is aimed at maintaining my current condition and this is why I have lasted so long.
The next article “The girl who grew up with VICTOR rackets (4)” will introduce more about Cheng Wen Hsing in detail.
( Edit by VICTOR Badminton )
