In the 2025 Sudterman Cup, Alwi Farhan
put up an incredibly impressive
performance against Denmark's Anders
Antinson, beating him in a close three-
set match. In this video, we want to
take a closer look at Alwi Farhan and
exactly what enables him to play at such
a high level. Let's start with Ali
Farhan's playing position.
An aspect of Alwi's game that is quite
unique to him is his stance when he's
playing. You can see how he stands very
wide which ultimately results in a lower
center of gravity and almost looks as if
he is trying to do the maboo stance from
kung fu.
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Historically, this stance is trained to
improve balance, endurance, and strength
in the legs, which makes a lot of sense
when you watch Ali play to stay in
midcourt.
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His low center of gravity helps him
tremendously in his defense. Despite
being so young, Ali Farhan's defense is
one of the best among the juniors and
rivals the top senior players in the
World Tour as
well. Notice when he is on defense, his
torso doesn't move too much and his
chest stays relatively
upright. A large problem for many bad
mitten players is too much movement in
their torso on defense, which is more
draining and reduces their recovery
time.
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Ali Farhan's body control is comparable
to some of the best players of all time
like Chenl Long and Kento Mamamo. And
furthermore, both Chenl Long and Kento
Mamamot had some of the best defense and
retrieval skills of all
time. However, Awi Farhan's body
position isn't exactly the same as
Mimoto or Chenl Long. While all three
players keep a low center of gravity,
Alwi Farhan has a low center of gravity
through a greater angle of knee
bend. This is in contrast to Mimoda and
Chenlong who lean more forward in their
torso. Both positions have their upsides
and downsides. For example, an upside of
Ali Farhan's position is that it makes
it easier for him to move towards the
back court because his torso is not
leaning forward. When Chenlong or Kentto
get pushed towards the back court, their
chest must come up first, which takes a
little more time. However, a downside to
Ali Farhan's body position is how
physically taxing it is to maintain that
position for an entire rally, let alone
an entire match. So, if you want to
mimic these players, you should copy the
position that is most comfortable for
you. Now, if you've watched Ali play,
you would have noticed that his style is
not defensive at all. Even though his
defense is very good, his style is not
based around it. He plays more of an
attacking style where he aims to take
the shuttle as early as possible. His
focus is more on putting pressure on the
opponents by constantly pushing the
speed of the game, taking the shuttle
very early at the net and playing hard
smashes in the back. Want to be dueling
with him at 18 all or 19
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all. You can see how he jumps out a lot
in the midc court intercepting shots to
keep applying the pressure on his
opponent. Lift.
This style, however, requires a lot more
physicality because of the amount of
jumping and attacking that is involved,
which is a major downside.
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And as a result, you can see Ali Farhan
becoming tired and ultimately losing
focus leading to a lot of unforced
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errors. Good switch of direction from
Farhan Anderson battling hard.
There is a large contrast between his
style and a style from a player like
Shiuchi. For example, Shiuchi is more of
a controlling player and not
exceptionally fast on the court. So, he
aims to disrupt his opponent by playing
deceptions and unexpected change of
shots that will hinder his opponent's
rhythm.
What? However, this isn't to say that
Ali Farhan doesn't have any changes in
his shots or deceptions. One of his
biggest attacking attributes is his stop
drop. This shot is extremely effective
for Ali Farhan because it's a change of
pace from fast to slow. For example, in
these three clips, you can see how Ali
Farhan moves quickly to his around the
headside but plays a slow shot. That is
why it is difficult for Antinson and
Axelson to retrieve these shots.
On the topic of slowing down the pace,
when Ali Farhan is being pressured by
his opponent, he will generally play a
high clear to slow down the pace. And
because his defense is so good, he can
often counterattack. Let's take a look
at some rallies where he counterattacks
Antonson's attack. You can see in these
rallies, Awi Farhan pushes or drives
Antonson's attack, putting Antonson in a
weak and late position, giving Awi
Farhan the
attack. Beautiful touch from
Farhan. Farhan's game,
but high quality from both players.
I'm taking no chances that time.
However, to counterattack, an aggressive
shot is not a necessity to gain the edge
in the rally. You just need to
anticipate and plan out your next few
shots accordingly.
For example, in these clips, focus on
Ali Farhan's footwork. Notice how he
plays a simple straight block on his
backhand side and switches his feet
position. This is in anticipation of a
cross push to his late forehand corner.
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From this position, the most dangerous
shot would be the cross push for Ali. If
Antonson is able to get Alowi to his
late forehand corner, then it is very
likely for Anders to win the rally. That
is why Ali will switch his leg position
to be in a better position to catch this
forehand push.
We've talked about having a fast racket
setup before, so here is a little recap.
A fast racket setup lets you cut off and
attack the faster pushes to your back
court and midcourt because it
essentially cuts down the amount of time
it takes to bring up your racket. Fast
racket setup allows Ali to hold before
playing the shot. What really stood out
to us was how fast Ali Faren was with
his racket in the midcourt and front
court. Take this clip for example.
N is still so close to the net. In this
flat exchange with Antonson, you can see
how close Ali is standing to the net,
which means he has very little time to
react, but he is still able to keep
driving and putting the pressure on
Antonson simply because his racket setup
is quick. The fast racket setup
attributes to Owie's attacking style and
allows him to play very fast in the midc
court as
well. In summary, some things we can
learn from Ali Farhan is to take a
stance that lowers our center of gravity
to improve our defense. That however
doesn't necessarily mean you play a more
defensive style. If you play an
attacking style, Ali Farhan is a good
player to study to learn from his
various fast to slow pace changes as
well as things like his quick racket
setup that allows you to play a faster
game.
What did you guys think of Ali's
performance in the 2025 Cedarman Cup?
And do you guys think he will be next
face of Indonesia men's singles? Let us
know in the comments below. If you like
this video, make sure to like and
subscribe. And as always, thanks for
watching.
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