VETERAN VIKTOR IN BID TO BE COMEBACK KID

In this series, The Straits Times highlights the players or teams to watch in the world of sport.

- Dilenjit Singh

Today, we focus on Danish badminton great Viktor Axelsen, who is fighting to get back to the top after a difficult spell on and off the court.

Last week, Viktor Axelsen suggested that his badminton career felt like it had come down to a single match.

It was not an Olympic, All England or world championships final, but rather a seemingly routine Badminton World Federation (BWF) Super 750 tournament quarterfinal.

He said after coming from a set down to triumph in that Denmark Open tie against Kunlavut Vitidsarn: “My career didn’t depend on this match, but it somehow does.

“This has given me the belief I can still play with the best. It’s hard to describe how much I needed this.”

It is a telling revelation from a player whose 1.94m frame has towered over the sport for years, becoming its most decorated singles player in Olympic history, while also having a stranglehold on the world No. 1 perch. His 132-week consecutive spell at the summit is bettered only by Lee Chong Wei.

Yet Axelsen’s teary comments following his first meeting with the Thai former world champion since the Dane retained his Olympic crown at Paris 2024 shed light on how much things have changed for him since.

The last eight months have been tough for the 31-year-old on and off the court.