With All England looming, can Lee Zii Jia return to lofty heights?

It was the same story again for Lee Zii Jia and his fans at this week's German Open.

The Malaysian's rocky, inconsistent season continued with a second-round elimination by Chinese Taipei's Lee Chia-Hao in three games, a third consecutive round-of-16 exit for Lee, who appears to have forgotten how to win.

With badminton's prestigious All England Open next, Lee Zii Jia has a real opportunity to reset his season. The Malaysian was the 2021 winner of the Super 1000 event, arguably one of the sport's most important titles outside of the World Championships and Olympic Games.

A return to the top step of the podium in Birmingham would go some way to showing his rivals he is still a force to be reckoned with.

But is he?

Lee Zii Jia's off-court distractions

Is it possible that Zii Jia's off-court issues are making their way onto court when he plays?

Lee's poor form goes back to last year, reaching just one BWF World Tour final (the 2022 Denmark Open, which he lost to Shi Yuqi) since he won the Badminton Asia Championships and 2022 Thailand Open last May.

During that period, Lee has said he was struggling with injuries which caused him to withdraw from the Commonwealth Games, for a start. But some of his other issues have come from his own decisions.

His unexpected split from coach Indra Wijaya, which occurred last November, has turned ugly, with Indra seeking compensation for an "unfair dismissal" and with the case potentially going to Malaysia's Industrial Court unless both sides reach a settlement.

While Lee's decline in form began before the split, it seems very unlikely that the ongoing dispute has not impacted Lee in any way since.

Of course, all this has also happened in the year after Zii Jia left the Badminton Association of Malaysia's training set-up to turn professional and play as an independent.

While that began well (Semi-final appearances in Germany and the All England, wins at the continental championships and Thailand Open) things have clearly been on a downward spiral since.

So perhaps the experiment hasn't quite worked out as Lee would have liked.

Can All England jump-start Lee Zii Jia?

As already mentioned, Lee has history in Birmingham, having sealed an unlikely triumph in 2021.

That year, he beat Viktor Axelsen in a final for the ages, winning 30–29 20–22 21–9. It was a win that kick-started what had, until then, been an underwhelming season for Lee.

The parallels have led to questions, even in Malaysia, whether there could be a repeat performance this year to turn Lee's season around.

One person who has been keen to play down expectations is Lee's sister and manager, Lee Zii Yii.

According to Malaysia's New Straits Times, she pointed out: "That was 2021 and we're already in 2023, a lot of things are different now.

"What we can do now is to try our best to help get him in the best possible shape and see how well he can perform there. We can't turn back the clock. We have to try to make things better by learning from the past and improve."

With the draw already having been made, Lee at least knows what his path to the final would look like.

The fourth seed has to come through Sitthikom Thammasin in the opening round – and Lee holds a career 4–0 record against the Thai.

That would be followed by a second-round clash against either Canada's Brian Yang or Japan's Nishimoto Kenta, against both of whom Lee also holds winning records (3–0 and 4–1 respectively).

Naraoka Kodai of Japan is the other seed in his quarter, and would certainly represent a stiff test in the last eight if both make it that far.

Get past him, and second seed Jonatan Christie is the likely semi-final opponent.

And if Lee gets to the final, then the troubles will seem to be in the past – with a perfect springboard for Zii Jia to build on for the tournaments that follow.

Any exit before the last eight, however, and the cycle of disappointment and weight of the pressure will begin once more.