Shane was great the first four and a half days. Then he lost focus later on Friday thru Saturday and Sunday. He lost two matches in which he was up 4-2 and made a handful of poor safeties that cost him a few other matches.
I started to wonder if his age or, more likely, his constant practice was wearing him down. He was practicing almost the whole time he wasn't playing.
On the weekend, he seemed to dial back practice a bit. He also went easy his last match when he knew his spot in the final four. He didn't waste energy in a final round-robin loss to Ko Ping Chung.
But it really took a mistake or two by Chung to give SVB an edge - what I saw as mental exhaustion on Ko's part.
At that point, I wondered if Shane's excessive practice was what allowed him to power thru the mental fatigue, oddly enough. He suddenly seemed energized and refocused, as if he smelled blood.
Then his killer instinct took over. He went for a 2-9 combo that at first neither he nor the commentators spotted (even though it was obvious). That took down Ko.
He took an even more aggressive rip at a 9 combo to put him on the hill against Ko Ping Yi.
On the flip side, Joshua Filler. Hard to say this. He is the best player alive. But he still falters a little too much in big matches.
Filler still needs to develop a tougher mental edge or the stamina to see him thru an event like this, IMO, to be the best player ever.
He still has plenty of time since he is so young, and I think he has what it takes.
One thing he really needs to do is embrace fitness in the same way as SVB, Niels Feijin and Albin Ouschan, among others.
