Tai Tzu-ying

Tai Tzu-ying 戴資穎
Tai Tzu-ying at the 2018 Chinese Taipei Open
Personal information
Country	Republic of China
Born	(1994-06-20) 20 June 1994 (age 27) Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	57 kg (126 lb; 9.0 st)
Years active	2009–present
Handedness	Right
Coach	Lai Chien-cheng (賴建誠)
Women's singles
Career record	411 wins, 153 losses
Highest ranking	1 (1 December 2016)
Current ranking	1 (4 January 2022)
Medal record Women's badminton Representing  Chinese Taipei Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Women's singles World Championships 2021 Huelva Women's singles Asian Games 2018 Jakarta–Palembang Women's singles 2014 Incheon Women's singles Asian Championships 2017 Wuhan Women's singles 2018 Wuhan Women's singles 2015 Wuhan Women's singles East Asian Games 2009 Hong Kong Women's team 2013 Tianjin Women's team 2009 Hong Kong Women's singles Summer Universiade 2017 Taipei Women's singles 2017 Taipei Mixed team 2013 Kazan Women's singles 2013 Kazan Mixed team 2015 Gwangju Women's singles Asian Junior Championships 2009 Kuala Lumpur Girls' singles
BWF profile

Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese: 戴資穎; pinyin: Dài Zīyǐng; Wade–Giles: Tai Tzu-ying; born 20 June 1994) is a Taiwanese badminton player.^[1] At the age of 22, she became world No. 1 in the women's singles on December 2016, and holds the record for being only women's singles player ranked at the top in BWF history with 185 weeks (as of 12 October 2021).^{[note 1]}

Tai was the women's singles silver medalist in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the gold medalist in 2017 Summer Universiade and at the 2018 Asian Games.^[2] She has won the year-end tournament BWF Superseries/World Tour Finals three times,^[3] and the All England Open thrice as of 2020.^[2][4] She has also won back-to-back Asian Championships titles.^[5]

Career[]

Tai's career began when she was in elementary school, influenced by her father who was a firefighter and the director of Kaohsiung city's badminton committee. Tai started playing badminton at the fourth or fifth grade in elementary school, and at the sixth grade, she played at the National ranking tournament, won the title in the second division, earning the right to participate in the first division games. She was the youngest player to compete in the first division.^[6]

2007–2010: Early international career[]

Tai made her debut in the international tournament in 2007 Vietnam International.^[7] In 2009, she won the silver medal at the Asian Junior Championships, but lost the final match to Chen Xiaojia in straight games. She represented Kaohsiung City in the National Games and went into the quarter-finals.^[8] Young Tai began to show her potential when she was 15 years old, able to compete at the senior level and becoming runner-up at the Vietnam Open a Grand Prix tournament. In December, Tai competed at the East Asian Games for Chinese Taipei, won a bronze medal in the women's singles and helped the team reach the final, settling for a silver.^[7]

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.^[7] 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 in straight games.^[9]

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 Australian Open, Wang Xin in the first round of Indonesia Open, and in July, she beat former world champion Lu Lan in the quarter-finals of U.S. Open 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.^[7][10] She also reached the semi-finals of Canada, Vietnam, and French Open, where in France, she defeated China's number 1 Wang Shixian in the quarter-finals.^[11]

In the early half of 2012 season, her best achievements was the semi-finalists in All England Open, and was ranked as world number 16.^[12] Tai represented her country as the second women's singles behind Cheng Shao-chieh at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The 18-year-old, currently 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 medalists from China Li Xuerui in the round of 16.^[13] In September, she claimed her first Superseries title in the Japan Open and made history as the youngest player to win the Superseries title (currently the third youngest player, after Ratchanok Intanon won the India Open in 2013, and Akane Yamaguchi won the Japan Open 2013). She was expected may be nearing 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.^[9] In October, she won the Chinese Taipei Open against Lindaweni Fanetri in a close rubber games 21–19, 20–22, 22–20.^[14] 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.^[15]

In August 2013, she was recruited by the team Banga Beats to play for them in the Indian Badminton League. In the 2013 BWF Super Series Masters Finals, she defeated Sung Ji-hyun and Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 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 bronzes and Superseries Finals title[]

Tai represented her country at the 2014 Asian Games and won Taiwan's first badminton medal by placing third.^[16] She won the Hong Kong Open in 2014 after beating Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in straight sets, 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 Sung Ji-hyun in straight sets.

In 2015, she was beaten by Sun Yu in the Singapore Open. She did not win any title 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).^{[3][note 2]} 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,^[17] Tai announced that she would skip that year's World Championships in Glasgow. Tai decided to attend the 2017 Summer Universiade not only out of a desire to earn a title^[18] for her home country but also for the bigger picture.^[19] 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.^[20] She won the Special Contribution Award in 2017 Sports Elite Awards.

Tai won her first All England Open 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 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 Akane Yamaguchi 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 in the 2017 Sudirman Cup, Tai had extended her winning streak to 27 matches, before losing to Nitchaon Jindapol in the quarterfinals.

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

Tai at the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open 2018

In 2018, Tai started the season participating in the Malaysian Master in which she defeated Chen Yufei in the quarter final and Carolina Marín in a thrilling semi-final, coming from a game down, but lost to Ratchanok Intanon in the final. A week later, at the Indonesian Master, she won the title after defeating Saina Nehwal 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 Akane Yamaguchi. But in her next tournament, the Asian Championships, she won the title after defeating Chen Yufei 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 (Indonesia Masters, All England Open, Asian Championships,^[5] Uber Cup, Malaysia Open, Indonesia Open, BWF World Championships), while the former record of 30 wins was held by Li Xuerui from China. However, she then lost in the next round to China's He Bingjiao 18–21, 21–7, 13–21.

In the 2018 Asian Games, held in Jakarta, she won the gold medal by beating P. V. Sindhu in a straight set in the final, became her first big title in her career.^[21] After crowning the women's singles' title of 2018 Denmark Open, her ranking points will coming to 101,517. She becomes the second player in the women's singles category to break 100,000 points, whose the first is Li Xuerui from China, led the points by 101,644. Although she lost the final game of 2018 French Open, she still won 9,350 points, by deleted the 2017 French Open 9,200 points, her points comes to 101,667 eventually, becomes the highest points holder in the women's singles category history. Tai qualified to compete at the World Tour Finals and placed as the top seeds. In the group stage, she was placed in Group A along with Akane Yamaguchi, P. V. Sindhu and Beiwen Zhang. In her first match, she defeated Zhang 21–15, 21–17; lost to Sindhu 21–14, 16–21, 18–21.^[22] 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.^[23]

In 2019, she reached the quarterfinal stage of Malaysia Masters, losing to the same opponent of last year and arch-rival Ratchanok Intanon in straight games.^[24] In March, she advanced to the final of All England Open for the third straight time, however she unexpectedly lost to the Chinese Chen Yufei, after 11 straight victories over her.^[25] She came back and claimed back to back titles at Malaysia Open and Singapore Open; beating Japanese Akane Yamaguchi and Nozomi Okuhara respectively in finals in two straight games.^[26][27] In July, she was unable to defend her title at the Indonesia Open, after losing in the semi-finals to Akane Yamaguchi.^[28] Her Jinx at World Championships continued further after she lost to P. V. Sindhu of India in the quarter-finals in 3 games 21–12, 21–23, 19–21.^[29] This was her 5th Straight quarterfinal loss at the World Championships.

She reached the final of the China Open, where she lost to insurgent Carolina Marín in three games.^[30] 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 Nozomi Okuhara 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 Ratchanok Intanon^[31] and Busanan Ongbamrungphan, and assured herself of a semi-final spot. She avenged her loss in Group Stage to Nozomi Okuhara in semi-final^[32] and reached the finals after 3 years. Despite a good performance, she couldn't stand right against Chen Yufei and lost the Final with 21-12, 12-21, 17-21 scoreline.^[33]

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

Tai commenced the year by competing at the Malaysia Masters as the first seed. She finished as runner-up after losing to Chen Yufei in two straight games.^[34] In her fourth straight All England Open finals this year, she won the coveted title for the third time, thereby becoming only the second female player after Ye Zhaoying (1996–99) to clinch three titles by contesting 4 consecutive finals in this tournament. In the final, she beat Chen Yufei with the score of 21–19, 21–15, with this, she avenged her last year defeat to Chen at this stage.^[2][35] She had to settle for second best at the two consecutive Thailand Open super 1000 events in January, 2021 after losing to Carolina Marín in both the occasions in straight games.^[36] She finally defeated Marín at the BWF World Tour Finals in contesting her 5th end of season championships final, and winning it for 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.^[37]

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 quarterfinals,^[38] 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

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2020	Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo, Japan	Chen Yufei	18–21, 21–19, 18–21	Silver

World Championships[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2021	Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín, Huelva, Spain	Akane Yamaguchi	14–21, 11–21	Silver

Asian Games[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Gyeyang Gymnasium, Incheon, South Korea	Li Xuerui	16–21, 26–24, 8–21	Bronze
2018	Istora Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta, Indonesia	P. V. Sindhu	21–13, 21–16	Gold

Asian Championships[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2015	Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China	Ratchanok Intanon	22–20, 9–21, 12–21	Bronze
2017	Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China	Akane Yamaguchi	18–21, 21–11, 21–18	Gold
2018	Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China	Chen Yufei	21–19, 22–20	Gold

East Asian Games[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2009	Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Hong Kong	Yip Pui Yin	17–21, 21–17, 19–21	Bronze

Summer Universiade[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Tennis Academy, Kazan, Russia	Sung Ji-hyun	16–21, 27–29	Silver
2015	Hwasun Hanium Culture Sports Center, Hwasun, South Korea	Porntip Buranaprasertsuk	12–21, 14–21	Bronze
2017	Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Taiwan	Lee Jang-mi	21–9, 21–13	Gold

World University Championships[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2012	Yeomju Gymnasium, Gwangju, South Korea	Pai Hsiao-ma	21–13 retired	Gold

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2012	Yeomju Gymnasium, Gwangju, South Korea	Pai Hsiao-ma	Shiho Tanaka	20–22, 11–21	Silver

Asian Junior Championships[]

Girls' singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2009	Stadium Juara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Chen Xiaojia	13–21, 13–21	Silver

BWF World Tour (11 titles, 8 runners-up)[]

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[39] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.^[40]

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Malaysia Masters	Super 500	Ratchanok Intanon	16–21, 21–14, 22–24	Runner-up
2018	Indonesia Masters	Super 500	Saina Nehwal	21–9, 21–13	Winner
2018	All England Open	Super 1000	Akane Yamaguchi	22–20, 21–13	Winner
2018	Malaysia Open	Super 750	He Bingjiao	22–20, 21–11	Winner
2018	Indonesia Open	Super 1000	Chen Yufei	21–23, 21–15, 21–9	Winner
2018	Chinese Taipei Open	Super 300	Line Kjærsfeldt	17–21, 21–10, 21–13	Winner
2018	Denmark Open	Super 750	Saina Nehwal	21–13, 13–21, 21–6	Winner
2018	French Open	Super 750	Akane Yamaguchi	20–22, 21–17, 13–21	Runner-up
2019	All England Open	Super 1000	Chen Yufei	17–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2019	Malaysia Open	Super 750	Akane Yamaguchi	21–16, 21–19	Winner
2019	Singapore Open	Super 500	Nozomi Okuhara	21–19, 21–15	Winner
2019	China Open	Super 1000	Carolina Marín	21–14, 17–21, 18–21	Runner-up
2019	Denmark Open	Super 750	Nozomi Okuhara	21–17, 21–14	Winner
2019	BWF World Tour Finals	World Tour Finals	Chen Yufei	21–12, 12–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2020	Malaysia Masters	Super 500	Chen Yufei	17–21, 10–21	Runner-up
2020	All England Open	Super 1000	Chen Yufei	21–19, 21–15	Winner
2020 (I)	Thailand Open	Super 1000	Carolina Marín	9–21, 16–21	Runner-up
2020 (II)	Thailand Open	Super 1000	Carolina Marín	19–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2020	BWF World Tour Finals	World Tour Finals	Carolina Marín	14–21, 21–8, 21–19	Winner

BWF Superseries (12 titles, 6 runners-up)[]

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007,^[41] was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (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.^[42] Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Singapore Open	Saina Nehwal	18–21, 15–21	Runner-up
2012	Japan Open	Eriko Hirose	9–21, 21–9, 21–14	Winner
2013	Malaysia Open	Yao Xue	21–17, 21–14	Winner
2013	World Superseries Finals	Li Xuerui	8–21, 14–21	Runner-up
2014	Japan Open	Li Xuerui	16–21, 6–21	Runner-up
2014	Hong Kong Open	Nozomi Okuhara	21–19, 21–11	Winner
2014	Dubai World Superseries Finals	Sung Ji-hyun	21–17, 21–12	Winner
2015	Singapore Open	Sun Yu	13–21, 21–19, 20–22	Runner-up
2016	Malaysia Open	Ratchanok Intanon	14–21, 15–21	Runner-up
2016	Indonesia Open	Wang Yihan	21–17, 21–8	Winner
2016	Denmark Open	Akane Yamaguchi	21–19, 14–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2016	Hong Kong Open	P. V. Sindhu	21–15, 21–17	Winner
2016	Dubai World Superseries Finals	Sung Ji-hyun	21–14, 21–13	Winner
2017	All England Open	Ratchanok Intanon	21–16, 22–20	Winner
2017	Malaysia Open	Carolina Marín	23–25, 22–20, 21–13	Winner
2017	Singapore Open	Carolina Marín	21–15, 21–15	Winner
2017	French Open	Akane Yamaguchi	21–4, 21–16	Winner
2017	Hong Kong Open	P. V. Sindhu	21–18, 21–18	Winner

  BWF Superseries Finals tournament

  BWF Superseries Premier tournament

  BWF Superseries 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 Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
	Vietnam Open	Fransisca Ratnasari	19–21, 21–15, 13–21	Runner-up
	U.S. Open	Sayaka Sato	21–16, 19–21, 21–6	Winner
2012	Chinese Taipei Open	Lindaweni Fanetri	21–19, 20–22, 22–20	Winner
2013	Chinese Taipei Open	Sung Ji-hyun	16–21, 9–21	Runner-up
2016	Chinese Taipei Open	Wang Shixian	23–21, 21–6	Winner

  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

  BWF Grand Prix tournament

Invitation tournament[]

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2017	Jeunesse Cup International All Star	Wang Tzu-wei	Mads Conrad-Petersen Line Kjærsfeldt	18–21, 20–22	Runner-up

Performance timeline[]

Key

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 19 December 2021.^[43]

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Chen Yufei 19 15 4 +11 He Bingjiao 11 9 2 +7 Li Xuerui 14 3 11 –8 Lu Lan 2 2 0 +2 Wang Shixian 12 5 7 –2 Wang Xin 3 2 1 +1 Wang Yihan 9 5 4 +1 Zhang Yiman 1 1 0 +1 Zhu Lin 2 1 1 0 Cheng Shao-chieh 1 0 1 –1 Tine Baun 2 1 1 0 Pi Hongyan 2 0 2 –2 Juliane Schenk 4 1 3 –2

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Yip Pui Yin 9 9 0 +9 Zhou Mi 1 0 1 –1 Saina Nehwal 20 15 5 +10 P. V. Sindhu 20 15 5 +10 Lindaweni Fanetri 3 1 2 –1 Nozomi Okuhara 13 7 6 +1 Akane Yamaguchi 19 10 9 +1 An Se-young 2 1 1 0 Bae Yeon-ju 4 3 1 +2 Sung Ji-hyun 28 19 9 +10 Carolina Marín 18 10 8 +2 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 9 5 4 +1 Ratchanok Intanon 30 16 14 +2

Sponsorships[]

Yonex controversy[]

During the period of 2016 Summer Olympics, Yonex provided unfit shoes to non-contract Tai. This forced Tai to wear other shoes made by her personal sponsor brand, Victor, without any logo. This event caused a controversy with the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association.^[44][45]

Note[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tai Tzu-ying.

• Tai Tzu-ying at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Tai Tzu-ying". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
• Tai Tzu-ying on Facebook (in Chinese)
• Tai Tzu-Ying on Instagram