Viktor Axelsen: How having second daughter changed my outlook
In the midst of one of his best seasons, Olympic champ Viktor Axelsen has won a second world title and welcomed his second child. He shares with Olympics.com how his family remains his primary motivation.
Badminton
Viktor Axelsen's life changed again this year. Already a badminton Olympic and world champion and a father, the Dane won his second world title and welcomed his second child this summer.
Now back home with his two daughters and wife, the 28-year-old is preparing for the 2022 Denmark Open (18–23 October) with a new outlook. With two young children in tow, Axelsen admits that he now plays all his tournaments with his daughters Vega and Aya in mind.
"When you don't have kids, you feel like you play a little bit for yourself," he told Olympics.com's Shintaro Kano at the World Championships in Tokyo in August.
"But having kids is something else. Now I know that years from now when they grow up and get a little bit older, they can look at the matches and they get to understand what I'm doing.
"I'm trying to do everything I can to be a good role model for them, and it gives me a lot of motivation."
READ MORE: Lee Zii Jia has Axelsen training camp plans
Viktor Axelsen on not looking back
Axelsen went into August's World Championships as the Olympic champion and world number one, but he had crashed out of the 2021 tournament last December to eventual champion Loh Kean Yew.
However, he continued a fine 2022 season by clinching the win, not dropping a single game along the way to his first world title since 2017.
But Axelsen doesn't spend time looking back at previous tournaments – both successes and failures. "I don't really think about it in seasons, really, and I think that's a pretty good strength for me. It's not like I look back in December and I say to myself, 'Oh, what a year I've had'.
"Obviously I try to enjoy it and enjoy all the wins after I've accomplished something great. But I try to just learn every time, win or lose, and try to work hard every single day. And then hopefully I can reach an even higher level of playing."
With the Dane preferring to look forward one tournament at a time, his young family provides the bulk of what keeps him going.
"It's a big, big motivation to me through my hard work and and also the teamwork my wife Natalia is showing them, how to succeed in whatever you're doing by working together. And I think that's good lessons for the kids.
"No matter if it's the World Champs or it's the Indonesia Open, Japan Open, Denmark Open, I'm always motivated to win."
Hard work and pressure for Axelsen
Axelsen may be at the top of his game, which brings with it all the pressures you would expect.
The Dane freely admits that winning Olympic gold in Tokyo in the summer of 2021 left him mentally empty, having given his all.
"Physically I actually felt really good afterwards, but mentally it's really draining to win an Olympic gold medal. There's obviously a lot of media, a lot of attention which which follows afterwards."
Having subsequently suffered the surprise defeat to Loh at the 2021 World Championships, questions were asked about Axelsen. "Obviously, I'm human as well and sometimes you're under pressure; I think with experience you get better at handling that," the Dane expresses.
"Sometimes you're able to handle the stress better than at other times and I just try to navigate through it in the best possible way."
How did he overcome the post-Olympic Games comedown and subsequent World Championships disappointment? Nothing short of hard work and resolve to keep his world number one ranking, the Dane insists.
"I like the word grit a lot," Axelsen states. "You have to have grit in order to succeed and you have to be able to put into every session all the hours and stuff like that. Obviously, you also have to have talent and the right circumstances, the right environment and everything.
"I'm at the right place at the right time and everything's coming together for me, but I don't take it for granted. I try to do whatever I can to give myself opportunities to really succeed in every competition and every challenge I face."
Destination Paris, but first…
As the reigning Olympic champion, it's no surprise that Axelsen fully intends to defend his title at the next Olympic Games Paris 2024.
"I think when you try to win an Olympic gold medal once, you also want to win it twice," he says, straightforwardly. "However, I know that if you think about Paris now, then you're going to be mentally drained when Paris comes."
So yes, Paris is in the Dane's plans – but in his own words, he's going to "take it easy" over the next two years.
Qualification for Paris involves earning ranking points at BWF tournaments from 1 May 2023 through 28 April 2024, and it's likely that – barring what would be an incredible and unforeseen drop-off – the world number one will be in the French capital.
For now, he has more important things to do.
"I have a lot on my plate with the second child and a lot of tournaments, a lot of travelling back and forth. So time flies and I'm just trying to stay in the moment and enjoy what I'm doing.
"One practice at a time, one show at a time, and things will be good."