KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian fans will have to get used to Lee Zii Jia losing, at least for now, and be patient.
The world No 4 is still trying to adapt to life without a coach as he wants to be his own man.
Zii Jia, 24, has said it, that he needs time to find the "right strategy" for him to be great again. And this could take the former All England champion up to two years to forge a powerful game.
Yesterday, Zii Jia suffered his third straight early loss this year, going down to Hong Kong's Angus Ng 21-16, 20-22, 13-21 in the second round of the Indonesia Masters.
Amid the setback, there were glimpses of brilliance from Zii Jia who has remained coachless since parting company with Indra Wijaya in November.
Zii Jia has said that he is in the process of reinventing his game and looking for a strategy maximises his potential.
"I need to try to find a strategy that suits me. You can see (Viktor) Axelsen has already found his. That's why he has such a stable performance all the way," said Zii Jia in a recent interview with BWF.
As he faces a steep learning curve, it's becoming a case of getting worse before it gets better for Zii Jia.
That means the professional shuttler is bound to stumble and pick up losses in the international arena before his game gets better.
Already Zii Jia has dropped two rungs down to world No 4 after his loss in the India Open. But that is to be expected as he "experiments" with his solo approach.
Zii Jia, who has not said much publicly since his first round exit at the Malaysia Open, has been working with his support team that consist of sparring partner Liew Daren, physical trainer Lim Joe Heang and physiotherapist Sandra Fiedler.
His fans hope he will find a winning formula in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics.