Tai Tzu-ying (; born 20 June 1994) is a Taiwanese

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

player. At the age of 22, she became world No. 1 in the women's singles in December 2016, and she is the women's singles player who has held that title for the longest in BWF history, with 213 weeks (as of 2 May 2022).See also: Number one ranked players timeline. Tai was the women's singles silver medalist in the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

and the gold medalist in

2017 Summer Universiade The 2017 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXIX Summer Universiade ( zh, t=第二十九屆夏季世界大學運動會, p=Dì èrshíjiǔ jiè xiàjì shìjiè dàxué yùndònghuì) and commonly called Taipei 2017 ( zh, t=台北2 ...

and at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 Augus ...

. She has won the year-end tournament

BWF Superseries The BWF Super Series was a series of Grade 2 badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007. Since 2011, the Super Series includes two levels of tournament, ...

/ World Tour Finals three times, and the

All England Open The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premi ...

thrice as of 2020. She has also won back-to-back Asian Championships titles.

Career

Tai's career began when she was in elementary school, as she was influenced by her father who was a firefighter and the director of Kaohsiung city's badminton committee. Tai started playing badminton in the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school, and in the sixth grade, she played at the National ranking tournament, won the title in the second division, and earning the right to participate in the first division games. She was the youngest player to compete in the first division.

2007–2010: Early international career

Tai made her debut in an international tournament in 2007

Vietnam International The Vietnam International or Vietnam Satellite or Hanoi International in badminton is an international tournament held in Vietnam. This tournament has been an BWF International Challenge, International Challenge level since 2008. Another tournament ...

. In 2009, she won the silver medal at the Asian Junior Championships, losing the final match to Chen Xiaojia in straight games. She represented Kaohsiung City in the National Games and went into the quarter-finals. Young Tai began to show her potential when she was 15 years old, as she was able to compete at the senior level and become runner-up at the Vietnam Open a Grand Prix tournament. In December, Tai competed at the

East Asian Games The East Asian Games was a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association (EAGA) and held every four years from 1993 to 2013. Among those who competed included athletes from East Asian countries and territories of the Olympic ...

for Chinese Taipei, won a bronze medal in the women's singles and helped the team reach the final, settling for a silver medal. In 2010, she entered the big stage by competing in the Superseries event in Korea Open. In April, she participated at the World Junior Championships in Mexico, but had to retire in the quarter-finals of 9–16 places due to injury. In June, she experienced the most memorable thing during her career as a badminton player, when she reached her first Superseries final on her birthday in Singapore Open. She started in the qualifying draw and went on to reach the final, which she lost to

Saina Nehwal Saina Nehwal (; born 17 March 1990) is an Indian professional badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 ...

in straight games.

2011–2013: First Grand Prix and Superseries title

In 2011, Tai made good progress by defeating the top ranked player. She defeated Zhu Lin in the first round of the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...

, Wang Xin in the first round of Indonesia Open, and in July, she beat the former world champion

Lu Lan Lu Lan (born 2 May 1987) is a badminton player from China. Career In 2004, she won the Polish Open (badminton), Polish Open. In 2006, she won the 2006 Korea Open, Korea Open and finished the year in the 5th position in the BWF World Ranking. In ...

in the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open which was a Grand Prix Gold tournament, and beat World Junior silver medalists Sayaka Sato in the final, which became the first international title she won at the age of 17. She also reached the semi-finals of the

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

, and

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

, where in France, she defeated China's number 1

Wang Shixian Wang Shixian (; ; born 13 February 1990) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player. She is a former World No. 1 in women's singles. Career Wang Shixian was admitted into Chinese Junior National Team in 2005 and was soon promoted t ...

in the quarter-finals. In the early half of 2012 season, her best achievements were the reaching the semi-finals in the

, and ranked as world number 16. Tai represented her

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

as the second women's singles behind

Cheng Shao-chieh Cheng Shao-chieh (; born 4 January 1986) is a badminton player from Taiwan. Cheng played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics for the Republic of China as Chinese Taipei. In women's singles, she defeated Ling Wan Ting of Hong Kong and Jun Jae- ...

at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

in London. The 18-year-old, ranked 13th in the world and seeded 10th won all matches in the group stage defeating Anu Nieminen of Finland and Victoria Montero of Mexico. Her pace at the Olympics was stopped by the eventual gold medalist from China Li Xuerui in the round of 16. In September, she claimed her first Superseries title in the Japan Open and made history as the youngest player to win a Superseries title (currently the third youngest player, after

Ratchanok Intanon Ratchanok Intanon ( th, รัชนก อินทนนท์, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, w ...

who won the India Open in 2013, and

Akane Yamaguchi is a Japanese badminton player who is the reigning two-time World Champion, winning gold in the women's singles at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships. She was on the winning Japanese team at the Asian Junior Championships in 2012 and won var ...

who won the Japan Open in 2013). She was expected to near the upper echelons and future of the women's game by her victory in Japan and increasingly impressive performances by significant wins over some of the top players. In October, she won the

Chinese Taipei Open The Taipei Open, formerly named the Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold (2007–2017) and Chinese Taipei Open (2018–2019), is an open badminton international championships held in Taiwan since the 1970s, but they took place only in irregular p ...

against Lindaweni Fanetri in a close rubber games 21–19, 20–22, 22–20. In November, she competed as the top-seeded player at the World Junior Championships in Chiba, Japan, but fell in the quarter-finals to Sun Yu. In August 2013, she was recruited by the team Banga Beats to play for them in the

Indian Badminton League Premier Badminton League (PBL) is a team badminton league operating in India. Sportz & Live Private Limited (Sportzlive) has the rights to operate and execute the Premier Badminton League. The inaugural season of PBL was held from 2 to 17 Janu ...

. In the 2013 BWF Super Series Masters Finals, she defeated Sung Ji-hyun and

Porntip Buranaprasertsuk Porntip Buranaprasertsuk ( th, พรทิพย์ บูรณะประเสริฐสุข; born 24 October 1991) is a Thai badminton player. Buranaprasertsuk won her first Superseries title in 2011 India Open on 1 May 2011, becoming ...

but lost to Wang Shixian. She made it to the semifinals and successfully avenged her loss, beating Wang Shixian. She ended second after losing the final to Li Xuerui.

2014–2015: Asian bronze and Superseries Finals title

Tai represented her country at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

and won Taiwan's first badminton medal by finishing as the third place. She won the Hong Kong Open in 2014 after beating

Nozomi Okuhara is a Japanese badminton player. A former World's number 1 in the BWF rankings for the women's singles, she is well known for her speed, agility and endurance. She won a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and gold medal at the 2017 World Cham ...

of Japan in straight games, 21–19, 21–11. She extended her winning streak to the Superseries Finals in Dubai and won the first title for Taiwan in the Superseries finals by beating Korea's Sung Ji-hyun in straight games. In 2015, she was beaten by Sun Yu in the Singapore Open. She did not win any titles that year.

2016: World #1

In 2016, Tai won the Indonesia Open and the Hong Kong Open to reach World No. 1 for the first time in her career. She won the Superseries Finals in Dubai for the second time, becoming the second women's singles player to do so (after Li Xuerui in 2012 and 2013).See also: List of Superseries Finals winner. She also made history by becoming the first women's singles player to reach the finals in the Superseries Finals three times.

2017: Asian champion and fifth straight Superseries title

Before the 2017 season started, Tai announced that she would skip that year's World Championships in Glasgow. Tai decided to attend the

not only out of a desire to earn a title for her home country but also for the bigger picture. Since the Summer Universiade was by far the biggest sporting event held in her home country, only second to the Olympic Games, Tai wanted to welcome the world to see Taiwan. President Tsai commended Tai's decision. She won the Special Contribution Award in 2017 Sports Elite Awards. Tai won her first

title in March 2017, beating Ratchanok Intanon in the finals. In April, Tai won the Malaysia Open as well as the Singapore Open beating

Carolina Marín Carolina María Marín Martín (born 15 June 1993) is a Spanish professional badminton player. She is an Olympic Champion, three-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, and the former World's No. 1 in BWF rankings for the women's si ...

in the finals two times in two weeks. Her titles in Malaysia and Singapore were her fourth and fifth consecutive ones. Later in April, she won another title against

in the Asian Championships held in Wuhan, China, marking a sixth consecutive title. It was also the first gold medal for Taiwan in this competition. After winning 3 matches for her country in the

2017 Sudirman Cup The 2017 Sudirman Cup (officially known as the 2017 Total BWF Sudirman Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the Sudirman Cup, the biennial international badminton championship contested by the mixed national teams of the member ...

, Tai extended her winning streak to 27 matches, before losing to Thailand's

Nitchaon Jindapol Nitchaon Jindapol ( th, ณิชชาอร จินดาพล; born 31 March 1991) is a Thai badminton singles player. She was a member of the national women's team which finished as runners-up at the 2010 Asian Games. She graduated at the ...

in the quarter-finals.

2018–2019: Asian Games gold, second All England and Asian Champions

Yonex Chinese Taipei Open 2018 - Quarter Final - Tai Tzu-ying vs Sung Shuo Yun 01

In 2018, Tai started the season by participating in the Malaysian Master in which she defeated

Chen Yufei Chen Yufei (; born 1 March 1998) is a Chinese badminton player. She is the reigning Olympic champion. She won the girls' singles junior titles at the 2016 Asian and the World Junior Championships. At the same year, Chen clinched her first s ...

in the quarter-final and

in a thrilling semi-final, coming from a game down, but lost to

in the final. A week later, at the

Indonesia Masters The Indonesia Masters is an international badminton tournament in BWF World Tour Super 500 (Super 750 in 2021). Formerly known as the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, it was first held in 2010 in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, and change its venue i ...

, she won the title after defeating

of India. Due to tournament rescheduling, Tai could not defend her 2017 Singapore Open title and lost the world number 1 ranking to Japan's

. But in her next tournament, the Asian Championships, she won the title after defeating

in the final in Wuhan and regained her world no 1 ranking. In the 2018 BWF World Championship's third round, she defeated Beiwen Zhang from the United States in straight games (21–19, 21–14) and broke the record of the longest winning streak with 31 consecutive matches won (

, Asian Championships,

Uber Cup The Uber Cup, sometimes called the World Women's Team Championships, is a major international badminton competition contested by women's national badminton teams. First held in 1956–1957 and contested at three year intervals, it has been contes ...

, Malaysia Open, Indonesia Open, BWF World Championships), while the former record of 30 wins was held by Li Xuerui from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. However, she then lost in the next round to China's He Bingjiao 18–21, 21–7, 13–21. In the

, held in Jakarta, she won the gold medal by beating

P. V. Sindhu Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (born 5 July 1995) is an Indian badminton player. Considered one of India's most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at th ...

in straight games in the final, which became her first big title in her career. After crowning the women's singles' title of 2018 Denmark Open, her ranking points reached 101,517. She became the second player in the women's singles category to break 100,000 points, while the first was Li Xuerui from China, who led the points by 101,644. Although she lost the final game of the

2018 French Open The 2018 French Open was a major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 27 May to 10 June and consisted of events for players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. J ...

, she still won 9,350 points, by deleting her

2017 French Open The 2017 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 121st edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 28 May to 11 June and consisted of ...

9,200 points, her points came to 101,667 eventually, becoming the highest points holder in the women's singles category history. Tai qualified to compete at the World Tour Finals and was placed as the top seed. In the group stage, she was placed in Group A along with

and Beiwen Zhang. In her first match, she defeated Zhang 21–15, 21–17; lost to Sindhu 21–14, 16–21, 18–21. However, she retired with an injury in her third group stage match against Yamaguchi after losing the first game 17–21 and trailing 12–11 in the second game. Tai did not reveal the nature of the injury or how it occurred. In 2019, she reached the quarter-final stage of the Malaysia Masters, losing to the same opponent of last year and arch-rival

in straight games. In March, she advanced to the final of the

for the third straight time, however she unexpectedly lost to the Chinese

, after 11 straight victories over her. She came back and claimed back to back titles at the Malaysia Open and Singapore Open; beating the Japanese

and

respectively in the finals in straight games. In July, she was unable to defend her title at the Indonesia Open, after losing in the semi-finals to

. Her jinx at the World Championships continued further after she lost to

of India in the quarter-finals in 3 games 21–12, 21–23, 19–21. This was her 5th straight quarter-final loss at the World Championships. She reached the final of the China Open, where she lost to insurgent

in three games. She reached the semi-finals of the Korea Open. She claimed her third title of the year at the Denmark Open further defending her title there. She beat

in straight games. She continued her good form and reached the semi-finals of the French Open and Fuzhou China Open. She competed at the World Tour Finals. In the group stage, she beat

and Busanan Ongbamrungphan, and assured herself of a semi-final spot. She avenged her loss in the Group Stage to

in the semi-final and reached the final again after three years. Despite a good performance, she couldn't stand right against

and lost the final with 21–12, 12–21, 17–21 scoreline.

2020–2021: Third All England title and BWF Female Player of the Year

Tai commenced the year by competing at the

Malaysia Masters The Malaysia Masters, began in 2009, is a badminton tournament at the Super 500 grade, formerly a Grand Prix Gold. The total prize money is now US$350,000, having previously been US$120,000. BWF categorised Malaysia Masters as one of the seven ...

as the first seed. She finished as runner-up after losing to

in straight games. In her fourth straight

final this year, she won the coveted title for the third time, thereby becoming only the second female player after

Ye Zhaoying Ye Zhaoying (; born 7 May 1974) is a retired badminton player from Hangzhou, China. Officially ranked as the number one women's singles player in the world for the first time in December 1995, she lost and regained that ranking several times dur ...

(1996–99) to clinch three titles by contesting 4 consecutive finals in this tournament. In the final, she beat

with the score of 21–19, 21–15, with this, she avenged her last year's defeat to Chen at this stage. She had to settle for the second best at the two consecutive Thailand Open super 1000 events in January, 2021 after losing to

in both occasions in straight games. She finally defeated Marín at the BWF World Tour Finals while contesting her 5th end-of-season championships final, and winning it for the third time. She claimed victory over her opponent in three games. Tai has been named the BWF Female Player of the Year 2020–2021. Tai Tzu Ying won the All England 2020 and then struck a rich vein of form at the three-tournament Asian Leg in January 2021, making all three finals, and clinching the BWF World Tour Finals 2020. Tai then made the final of the Tokyo Olympics, and won a silver medal after being defeated by the top seed

in an intense match, 18–21, 21–19, 18–21.

Playing style

Tai plays an offensive game, with many calling her style unpredictable and often spontaneous. She is a very adventurous player with a disguised nature of shots, seemingly able to hit the shuttle from just about anywhere with a great range of shots and angles. Also remarkable is her very relaxed hitting action. She has a strong backhand and good net-play, while her biggest fault is being inconsistent at times. Tai also has strong stamina and is very athletic. Tai herself said that she does not follow a certain play or style, and focuses on herself rather than her opponent or any strategies. Tai has clocked fast smashes, with one of the fastest recorded being 360 km/h at the 2016 All England Open quarter-finals, despite her preference of playing slowly to set up shots. Tai's prodigious talent and deceptive shot-making has earned compliments of many, including BWF commentator Gillian Clark, who often compliments her talented shot-making and has said that Tai is one of the best players to watch in women's singles.

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Women's singles''

BWF World Championships

''Women's singles''

Asian Games

''Women's singles''

Asian Championships

''Women's singles''

East Asian Games

''Women's singles''

Summer Universiade

''Women's singles''

World University Championships

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles''

Asian Junior Championships

''Girls' singles''

BWF World Tour (14 titles, 9 runners-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine membe ...

(BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100. ''Women's singles''

BWF Superseries (12 titles, 6 runners-up)

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the

(BWF). BWF Superseries levels were Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011. Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year. ''Women's singles'' :

BWF Superseries Finals The BWF Super Series Finals (named as BWF Super Series Masters Finals until 2009) was an annual badminton tournament held at the end of the year where the players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of the BWF Super Series c ...

tournament : BWF Superseries Premier tournament :

tournament

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

(BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. ''Women's singles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF Grand Prix tournament

Invitation tournament

''Mixed doubles''

Performance timeline

Women's singles

¹ Doesn't count in official record.

Women's doubles

Mixed doubles

Record against selected opponents

Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 30 October 2022.

Sponsorships

Yonex controversy

During the period of the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

Yonex () is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, and running. Its range of products manufactured and commercialised includes equipment for badminton and tennis (rackets, ...

provided unfit shoes to non-contract Tai. This forced Tai to wear other shoes made by her personal sponsor brand, Victor, without any logos. This event caused a controversy with the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association.Top badminton player Tai Tzu-ying stands by her actions in shoe row
''chinapost.com.tw (archived)''.

Note

References

External links

* * *
Tai Tzu-Ying
on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tai, Tzu-Ying 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Kaohsiung Taiwanese female badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of Taiwan Badminton players at the 2014 Asian Games Badminton players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Chinese Taipei Asian Games bronze medalists for Chinese Taipei Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Universiade gold medalists for Chinese Taipei Universiade silver medalists for Chinese Taipei Universiade bronze medalists for Chinese Taipei Universiade medalists in badminton World No. 1 badminton players Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade Badminton players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Taiwan Olympic medalists in badminton 21st-century Taiwanese women