Jayce
In the first round of the 2024 China Badminton Open men’s singles yesterday, Viktor Axelsen faced Lei Lanxi. Right at the start, Axelsen showcased his signature swaying serve. However, the referee wasn’t lenient this time and immediately penalized him a point.
It’s well known that Axelsen often sways side to side during his serve, something that has irritated many players.
Last week, during the quarterfinals of the 2024 Hong Kong Badminton Open, Axelsen played against Chou Tien Chen. At 11-13 in the second game, Chou mimicked Axelsen’s serve by dramatically swaying side to side and pausing for two seconds before serving, showing his discontent.
Although the Badminton World Federation (BWF) doesn’t have specific rules about serve duration, referees have discretionary power. In this match, Irish referee Mois Halpin clearly didn’t want to indulge Axelsen. According to Danish media reports, this is the first time Axelsen’s signature serve has been penalized.
Axelsen immediately approached the referee to argue, to which Halpin responded, “Your serve took too long!”
Axelsen’s serve this time took 4 seconds, which led to the penalty. In the past, his serves had sometimes taken even longer without penalties. This time, even Danish media outlet TV2 didn’t side with Axelsen, with a badminton commentator pointing out that Axelsen had been pushing the limits of the rules for a long time. The BWF seems keen to crack down on such serving behaviors, and the referee’s decision serves as a warning to Axelsen that this issue is now on their radar.
After losing the point due to his serve at the beginning, Axelsen noticeably sped up his serves for the rest of the match.
