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Badminton’s Fab Four: The Women’s Singles Players Who Dominate the Sport

The crème de la crème of Women’s Singles was on the podium at the Badminton Asia Championships this year. TAI Tzu Ying, AN Se Young, Akane Yamaguchi and CHEN YuFei are four outstanding players who represent peak excellence.

It is no surprise that millions of fans worldwide tune in to their matches. While their formidable skills on court are a big factor in this, their heart-warming interactions in Dubai exemplified the best sporting behaviour. Let’s take a closer look at the individuals who make up the Fab Four.

TAI Tzu Ying

TTY is a true icon of the badminton world. Armed with a dangerous combination of unscripted brilliance and technical mastery, spontaneity and deception are part of her DNA. Her creative vision has elevated the sport to a new level. She won the Gold medal at what could be her final BAC. She is badminton’s Most Valuable Player.

CHEN YuFei

As the reigning Olympic champion CYF has nothing to prove. She has been quoted as saying that she no longer wishes to compete ‘ruthlessly’ however she approaches matches with great fighting spirit. Unyielding grit paired with patience and superb technical skills makes her an intimidating rival. After winning Bronze in Dubai she was obviously delighted to be sharing a podium with Akane. Previously, she has mused on Weibo how she would like the opportunity to be friends. Following the medal ceremony she posted memorable pictures of the four of them on her social media which immediately went viral. She couldn’t tag Akane at first, but the Japanese player eventually followed her account after she complained.

Akane Yamaguchi

Akane, the current two-time World Champion, is renowned for her pacey court coverage and relentless stamina making her a very hard player to beat. Despite her small stature, opponent’s shots are rarely out of her reach. She stays focused and never gives up. There are plenty of epic battles ahead between her and AN Se Young.

AN Se Young

The new kid on the block has been enjoying a stupendous 2023. Her challenge to the status quo shows no sign of slowing down; in fact she has all the confidence and determination of a champion who knows her moment has arrived.

I love the Fab Four

As the Paris Olympics loom, the sun is setting on what has been a truly magnificent era in Women’s Singles – a Golden Age that has enthralled fans across the globe. TAI Tzu Ying has confirmed that she wants to retire after the Games. The passion and dedication of these four brilliant players have elevated the sport to new heights, inspiring us with their unrivaled skills and determination. Let’s savour every chance we get to be dazzled by these superb players.

If you enjoyed this you may like my post about TAI Tzu Ying’s victory at BAC2023 https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2023/04/30/tai-tzu-ying-asian-champion-again/

I’m very grateful to one of TAI Tzu Ying’s biggest fans – Kelly Chen – who kindly allowed me to use her personal photos from Dubai to illustrate this article. She has an excellent YouTube channel (@KellyChenTW) if you would like to see more clips of TTY.

I would also like to mention that I used Shu translating’s account on Twitter (@shitouyuqi) to get a sense of what was said by CYF on Weibo. This is a great account to follow if you love badminton.

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TAI Tzu Ying: Asian Champion (Again!)

TAI Tzu Ying is the Champion of Asia, securing the title for a third time with an unyielding display of aggression and precision against AN Se Young in the final.

TTY’s dominance stunned her Korean rival. By refusing to be lured into long rallies; she seized the opportunity to be the aggressor and deployed smashes, drives and drops wherever possible. AN Se Young had taken to the court with a heavily strapped knee and as the match progressed, she struggled to disrupt Tzu Ying’s progress. Under enormous pressure she was misjudging length and line calls as the score kept ticking up.

TAI Tzu Ying kept control over the tempo of the encounter well. The courts in Dubai have helped athletes who kindle and harness speed; she showed no fear. Totally trusting her game plan – and instinct to attack – her hunger for points was unstoppable. Set one flew by in twelve minutes: 21-10. Set two followed a similar pattern and was closed out 21-14.

As TAI Tzu Ying contemplates the end of her career, I am sure she recognizes the preciousness of each moment on court. As fans we see an added depth and poignancy to every contest, relishing each hard-fought title. This latest win just serves to reinforce her place amongst the legends of the sport. The Queen is the Queen.

If you enjoyed this then take a look at this one from my archive that I wrote after TTY won the All England for the third time https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2020/03/23/tai-tzu-ying-the-triple-champion/ or this one about AN Se Young https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2023/03/03/an-se-young/

Autumn leaves falling

TAI Tzu Ying steps on the court

Still she bewitches

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AN Se Young

An Se Young blazed into January’s tournaments with the eagerness of an athlete who knows that their time to shine has arrived. Fans enjoyed 3 podiums, 2 Gold medals and a blossoming rivalry with Akane that hints at some colossal clashes in the future. I’m keen to watch her play at this year’s All England because the momentum around her is gathering pace. It would not be a surprise to see her step on court on finals day.

Although known as a retriever, this is too simplistic. She possesses a harmonious skill set so her game plans can be liberated from the necessity to compete in a particular way. Her ability to exert unremitting gnawing pressure is the bedrock of her style whilst her talent allows her to gauge when to be patient and when to be aggressive. A couple of years ago I was criticizing her for a lack of consistency. Back then she was often unseeded: she could conquer a top player in an opening round only to fall in the next match. Competing at the highest level exposed the challenge for her of winning four or five hard games in a row.

She has been an absolute menace to the WS status quo over the past twelve months. She has figured out how to stay mentally and physically fresh whilst progressing through a tournament. Resilience is at the core of everything she does. I adore her stubbornness in the face of challenges; the determination to never give up and the self-confidence that her exceptional balance of skills will get her past tough opponents – Olympic champions and world champions are some of her recent scalps. “Fear” has no home in her mental makeup. Even in the face of setbacks she drives herself onwards and it’s this attitude that has let her reach new levels of success.

She is the symbol of the new generation and will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come. At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 BANG Soo Hyun won gold for Korea in WS, could Paris 2024 see that title return to Korea?

If you enjoyed this take a look at one of my articles about her rival TAI Tzu Ying https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2022/03/02/tai-tzu-ying-at-the-all-england/

AN Se Young: Korea’s Rising Star

At 17 she burst onto the BWF world tour with a tremendous victory in the New Zealand Open final against Chinese legend LI Xue Rui. This was her breakthrough moment. As she despatched the Olympic Gold medalist there was a palpable feeling of a generational shift. Better was to follow, as she became the youngest ever winner of a Superseries 750 title – the Yonex French Open – she came out on top in three sensational sets against Marin. Along the way she also collected two Super 100 trophies: the Canada Open and the Akita Masters.

AN Se Young is not the finished article but she has the skills and power to ask serious questions of any women’s singles player in the Top 10. Other badminton nations are looking on with envy because her potential is unlimited.

Analysts and fans would put her firmly in the ‘retriever’ category of players. Retrievers force their opponents to work, and work hard. She is physically robust with a puppyish energy around the court. She isn’t one of the big beasts – like Marin – but her style is a sustained, nagging pressure. She will stifle her rival by defusing attacks and then feed off mistakes when they abandon percentage play and go for winners to force the issue. It is a very tricky style to counter.

At the start of 2019 she was ranked just inside to world top 100. At the moment, while positions are frozen owing to the C-19 crisis she is #9. Here is her view about what catapulted her to the top 10.

“I changed my play style this season. Last Year [2018] my playing style was more attacking, but it used to make me more tired and burnt out easily. I decided to evolve my playing style to defend more and make it more all round. I think that has helped me this year. Now I prefer playing defence rather than attack”
From an article by Jaideep Vaidya https://badmintonnation.in/features/an-se-young-interview/

This is such an interesting self-analysis because it contains at it’s heart a paradox. AN Se Young changed her style and the result was some good successes. However, if she continues to pursue these tactics she risks stagnation. There are retrievers galore in the Women’s Singles sector and some of them are better at these strategies than she is.

A good example to illustrate this is her recent R1 match at the All England against the top seed CHEN Yufei. Both of these players have excellent all-round skills, both like to sit and wait, but only one of them could triumph and it was CYF. The problem was that AN Se Young lacked a cutting edge. She was covering the court but not hitting enough winners. She could not/would not vary her pace and most of the time she seemed unable to force Yufei into errors. The Chinese star consistently found space cross-court to AN Se Young’s forehand and gained a lot of points down this route.

She is still at the stage in her development where she is learning to win. It could be that the postponement of the Olympics will allow her to explore the areas she should use when the match is not going her way. There are glimpses of her attacking ability in every game and more experience will mean her ability to analyse and neutralise her opponents’ threat will improve. At the moment she relies too heavily on the covert menace in her style; once she includes more attacking bravado – without running out of stamina – she will have the badminton world at her mercy.

If you enjoyed this then take a look at my recent article about TAI Tzu Ying https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2020/03/23/tai-tzu-ying-the-triple-champion/

Here is another article about AN Se Young from the website Everything Badminton https://everything-badminton.com/an-se-young-the-young-and-dangerous/

AN Se Young: Korea’s Sensational 17 Year Old.

AN Se Young’s victory in this years Yonex French Open – at 17 the youngest winner ever of any Superseries 750 event – confirms her status as one of the new stars of Women’s Singles. Her ability, skill and intelligence mark her out as a player who will shape the future of the game.

This young player has been under the spotlight since her Sudirman Cup triumph over world #1 Tai Tzu Ying.

Video courtesy BWF

She’s the spearhead of the new generation of players from Korea: other country’s fans look on jealously as her reputation grows after every tournament she competes in. Analysts and coaches have been enthusing about her potential for a while but it’s only recently that she has come to the attention of the wider badminton community. 2019 has been her breakout year.

First came the win against LI Xue Rui in the New Zealand Open Final. It was a ruthless operation that set down a marker to the rest of the players on the tour. Here was someone ranked at 89 in the world who could dispatch a far more experienced opponent in two games. Watch the highlights of the game below and you see a player who has speed, vision and touch.

Video courtesy BWF

Next came Korea’s Sudirman Cup campaign and that match against Tai Tzu Ying. Everyone knew that on paper TTY was going to win – except that is the Korean coaches – who planned the tactics for AN to implement

“My strategy was to defend in the beginning of each rally and then to take my opportunity…my coach advised me to pay attention to the front and keep the rally going”

Clearly part of the plan was to use AN’s youth and energy to keep the pressure on against Tai in the style that was so successful for CHEN Yufei in the All England Championships this year. It’s too simplistic to reduce the tactics to this though; especially as we all know how much time Tai spends in the gym. If you watch the BWF video at the start of this article you can spot how powerfully AN plays. Lightening reactions allied to some brutal mid-court kills show that merciless streak that every top player needs to win. In the post match interview Tai said

“She is tall, powerful and has very good footwork on the court”

Well, frankly, that isn’t telling us anything we didn’t know already, but in an oblique way it’s telling us a lot. Here is the player who no-one has quite worked out yet, someone with star quality and plenty of shots. Remember the following day? Ratchanok came along, she put up a great fight but the Thai player was just too much. There was mental strength and physical bravery but there was also a suggestion of a weakness on her deep backhand side that May didn’t hesitate to exploit.

And so we come to the recent Canadian Open: another opportunity to gain experience and Olympic qualification points. Again AN Se Young had a fairly low profile, again she progressed without much fuss, and again she won against decent opposition. She’s steadily climbing the rankings whilst getting to know how the superstars operate. We all have our views as to who will get Olympic Gold. Here is a player who has burst onto the scene, a tough rival but someone who isn’t quite the finished article. Is Tokyo2020 going to arrive a little too early on her path to greatness? There are going to be plenty of other medals along the way but I’m starting to wonder if she has her sights set on an OG medal since her triumph at the Yonex French Open. She need fear no-one; it’s for her to write the script. I can’t wait to watch her more and enjoy her achievements. Bravo AN Se Young.

Follow this link to my most recent piece about ASY https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2020/04/09/an-se-young:-korea’s-rising-star/

If you like AN Se Young follow the link to my article about Ratchanok May https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2019/06/26/ratchanok-can-thailands-sweetheart-get-gold/ and also one about CHEN Yufei https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2019/04/03/another-sensational-player-from-china-chen-yu-fei/

I recently read an excellent article about AN Se Young on Everything Badminton – follow the link here https://everything-badminton.com/an-se-young-the-young-and-dangerous/

TAI Tzu Ying

CHEN YuFei

Akane Yamaguchi

AN Se Young

I love the Fab Four

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