Remarkable, relentless and ready for more — An Se Young takes over badminton like never seen before

A few minutes after she’d won her quarterfinal match at the India Open, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon was asked about how she’d be preparing for a potential semifinal match against South Korea’s An Se Young.

What kind of homework and research would Intanon, considered one of the most graceful women’s singles players of all time, be doing against a player she’d played fourteen times since their first encounter in 2019? What sort of weakness would she be looking to exploit?

Intanon burst out giggling as she registered the question. “Weakness? I don’t know what her weakness is right now!”

There have been more stylish players. There have been players with more varied strokes, who thrive on the excitement of attack.

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None have been as dominant as the 23-year-old Korean. Last year, Young, the reigning Olympic champion, entered 15 tournaments on the World Tour, reached the final in 12 and won 11. Only 18 singles players have earned over a million Dollars in prize money in their career. Young earned that in a single season. She recorded only four losses over the course of the year. She won 94.8 percent of the matches she played, exceeding the win rates of both the legendary Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan at the peak of their careers.

In 2026, she picked up right where she left off, winning the season opener in Malaysia. At the India Open, she stormed to the final. Former World champion Nozomi Okuhara, Chinese Taipei’s Huang Hu Tsun and 2025 World bronze medallist Putri Kusuma Wardini were ousted in straight games – none of them even making it to double digits in the second set. In none of these matches did it even seem as if Young needed to move beyond the third gear, and that was how it was against Intanon in the semifinals. She lost 21-11, 21-7 in 32 minutes. It’s the 13th straight time that Intanon has lost to Young.

It was all very matter of fact. Throughout the display, there was never a moment where emotion seemed to cross Young’s face. A cross-court smash on match point left a despairing Intanon hunched over. Young bowed to her vanquished opponent, then pointed to the cameras and then to herself.

It wasn’t ruthless as much as it was relentless. When she hit a smash a few inches wide early in the second game, Young chided herself angrily. Then she hit two smash winners to either side of Intanon in compensation.

There wasn’t any respite for the Thai even on the side of the court where the drift – which has bothered every other player in the tournament – was working in her favour by pushing the Korean’s shuttles beyond where it normally would have flown. Young made it look easy even though it was anything but.

“Even on the deep side she could control every shuttle. I felt as if she was a step faster than me. I couldn’t keep up with her,” Intanon said after the match with a smile that only someone completely out of ideas could muster.

Not many seem to.

Speak to players who have competed against her and there’s a mix of awe and exasperation as they try to explain why it’s so hard to get the better of the Korean.

“She’s unbelievable. She’s just one of those once in a generation players,” says Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, who is on the wrong end of a 7-0 record against Young. “Sometimes you’re worried about, you think, where can I win just one point? Because in so many ways, she is just a machine. She’s a robot. She just is. She finds a way to win and she just goes hard at that. I think she should be studied for generations to come,” says Gilmour.

Canada’s Michelle Li, who trails Young 0-9, can vouch for the Korean’s tenacity and unwillingness to lose. In two of the last three encounters between the pair, the Canadian has won the opening game before Young took control. “There’s that mental aspect of it too (to beat her). I came close last week (at the Malaysia Open) but even though I was leading, you still can’t take your foot off the gas against her. That’s what makes her so good,” says Li.

It’s hard to say just where Young stands in the pantheon of greats. Her record certainly puts her in the very rarest air. As someone who’s being playing on the international circuit for a decade and a half, Intanon says it’s not easy to compare the Korean with the other greats of women’s badminton. “Tai Tzu Ying (3-12 against Young) and Carolina Marin (4-6 against Young) both have different styles. Young has a different style,” she says. Intanon doesn’t have to think too hard when comparing her against players from the current generation. “She’s a bit above this generation of players,” Intanon says.

High praise

Indeed the only players who have met Young on somewhat level terms are the best of the previous generation. But even Tokyo Olympic Chen Yufei, who inflicted two of the four defeats Young suffered last season (the other two were against Yue Han and Akane Yamaguchi, who has a 15-17 record against Young) and an overall 14-14 in head-to-head encounters admits just how good she is. “Young is a very comprehensive player. She is very talented and strong. Every time I play her, I learn something from her,” Yufei says.

Comprehensive is what sums up Young’s game. Although she has a lot of variations, she won’t wow you with brilliance the way Ying would. She doesn’t show the emotion that a Marin would. She doesn’t hit with the most power – her hardest smash against Intanon clocked 330kmph (for contrast PV Sindhu smashed a couple of clicks short of 400kmph at her peak). She’s just extremely precise and it’s rare that opponents can count on too much margin of error.

What nearly every player also acknowledges is that she brings a physicality that’s setting the benchmark for where the women’s game is right now. “I think her style is very strong. It’s very physical. If you don’t have that baseline physicality, you’re not going to beat her. And that’s where she’s kind of put that standard,” says Li.

Even as her opponents are trying to catch up, Young is pulling further away. “I think she’s working on more variety in her game. So I think she’s added the power aspect along with the cardio. It’s interesting to see her development too, from when she first started to now,” says Li.

Still improving

Indeed, as if she wasn’t scary enough already, the Korean says she’s looking to get even better. “I am still very far from my best. I am very young and I still have many things to show. It’s my aim to reach the level of perfection. I am trying daily to reach there,” she says.

Just because she wins a lot doesn’t mean Young stops striving. “I feel pressure (that I win so much). I don’t think that it makes it easy for me. I have to get better and do my best on the day. It is not difficult to get motivation. I always want to win,” she told reporters after her semifinal win.

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One area where Young has improved, which was visible when she flexed a bicep after beating Intanon, is in the muscle mass she’s gained in the past year. “I work out three times a week. I’ve been weight lifting so that I am not left behind because of my power. That is my goal for this year. I have worked a lot. It has helped in developing my strength and making me more confident and powerful,” she told reporters.

In improving her physicality, Young is probably trying to iron out one of the few challenges she has faced – which come from her own body.

Full court movement and tenacious retrieving defines Young’s defensive approach. This and the fact that her dominance on court means she plays so many more matches than nearly every other player (she competed in 77 official matches last year). It leads to higher physical exhaustion and a greater risk of injury. Indeed, the Korean’s dealt with chronic knee problems since the Asian Games in 2023. Last year, she withdrew in the middle of her semifinal match at the China Open.

“When I come to these tournaments, I play one, two, maybe three matches if I’ve played amazing, but she’s playing five every single time. So, yeah, I think it’s a line between being light enough to be agile and strong enough to be robust and not get injured. And she’s had her injuries, but she’s pretty strong in her joints and her muscles,” says Gilmour.

As long as she is on court though, opponents are aware they are in for a hard time. China’s Wang Zhi Yi who trails the Korean 4-17 in head-to-head encounters knows as much. The Chinese World No. 2 has lost the last eight finals she’s played against Young, going back to the 2024 Denmark Open – in a match where Young was uncharacteristically error prone.

Wang’s had her chances in the last two encounters too. She lost the second game of the Malaysia Open final last Sunday 22-24 while pushing Young to a third game at the World Tour Finals.

Yufei, who Wang beat in the semifinal in Delhi, says her Chinese teammate’s best chances will be to find a way to believe. “She has had two close matches but lost both of them. When you play against Young, you need to have a lot of confidence,” she says.

That though, is easier said than done and Wang will admit it. “She’s just very strong,” she tells Sportstar.

Young, though, says she is going to have her foot on the pedal all the way until she holds the winners trophy in her hand. For all the titles she’s won, Young wants another. “Wang is a very good, very attacking opponent. It doesn’t matter that I’ve beaten her many times before. Every match is a new feeling. I’m looking to do my best,” she says.

If she does anything close to that, expect another page in the story of Young’s domination.

Published on Jan 17, 2026