Which says to me that Zelda's landing options aren't as bad as they're being made out to be.
Errr, I'm not entirely sure about this.
I mean, let's look at what exactly she has:
Fair/Bair is pretty risky, even riskier if you don't sweetspot (which while trying to land on the ground might be pretty rough). Not to mention the horrendous landing lag.
Nair is definitely not safe on shield, nor has any good coverage below her.
Dair could be okay, but again is not safe on shield and if trading with someone (if at all), you're still kinda stuck in the same situation as before.
Din's is out of the question.
Farore's to the ground or to a ledge can be okay! Though against faster / ranged characters this won't really fly so well. Teleporting into them can be a surprise attack once or twice, but they probably won't fall for it much more after that.
Phantom's can be circumvented by running behind her, or just being directly below her. Or I mean, you could just hit her too since she'd be a complete sitting duck while charging...
Nayru's can be okay, and at least you have a little invul? But there's no vertical range to hit people below her, and if you get shielded/use it too early, it's gonna hurt. It's risky!
I almost feel like it's best for Zelda to not try and retaliate and just get back her footing asap in this situation. Either that or try and get to the ledge so at the very least your opponent has to guess your get up option which is less risky than her options while airborne and trying to land.
She just doesn't have any really good solid answers for people attacking her from below. At best they're a bit of a crapshoot/require you to pray that it works and hope your opponent reacted badly, which is... not good for you!
That's all just off the top of my head of course.