Players that are good in both singles and doubles?

Discussion in 'Professional Players' started by dominikk1985, Oct 18, 2013.

  1. dominikk1985

    dominikk1985 Regular Member

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    I wonder why there are so many doubles specialists in badminton. in tennis and table tennis there are some "specialists" too but most top tennis dubs players have been top50 singles players at some point or at least top100 (which is probably like top30 in badminton given the higher "professionalisation" level -i.e more players making money).

    however in badminton most players seem to be specialists. why is that?

    are there any players who are world class (say top50 at least) in singles and doubles? or have there been such players in the past?
     
  2. dominikk1985

    dominikk1985 Regular Member

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    to illustrate my point:

    roger federer has won olympic medals in singles and doubles. To my knowledge there has never been a badminton player who won medals in singles and doubles.
     
  3. R20190

    R20190 Regular Member

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    Rashid Sidek?

    More recent players that have played both singles and doubles (I believe) is Lee Yong Dae - although I don't think he was that good as singles.

    I think of the current top MS players I think Lee Chong Wei would make a good MD player or even MX.
     
  4. **KZ**

    **KZ** Regular Member

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    different tactics in singles and doubles and different styles of play to suit both categories...it's not as simple as in tennis
     
  5. Giga01

    Giga01 Regular Member

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    Doesn't some countries,perhaps Korea, try to make players play more than 2 discipline for as long as possible? Nevertheless, nowadays players can't really play singles and doubles, they physique of the players seem different and the tactics etc, I don't know if it's "possible" anymore to play "both". I think that the game of singles is a bit more demanding than doubles in general, and also that playing both disciplines on, perhaps GP level and above, simply puts the body at too much risk.

    There have been some junior players who won doubles and singles in recent days though I think. guess if you have enough raw talent perhaps you can play both up to a certain level. And of course, some players switch disciplines. The "lower" the level of play the more a good player can play both disciplines I think. But, of course Lee Chong Wei played XD with Tine Baun in IBL. So perhaps it's possible, don't know much about the players they were facing though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7KblikNbrw

    Peter Gade was World Junior Champion in doubles.
    Kenichi Tago might have been high school doubles champion or something like that in Japan.
    Joachim Fischer Nielsen switched from MS to XD. So I think it's possible to change MD-MS etc.
     
  6. demolidor

    demolidor Regular Member

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    In badminton, unlike in tennis, the doubles is not an afterthought played on the outer courts (so a far higher degree of specialisation). The prize money in singles for tennis is so much higher as well, 'nobody' starts off hoping to become the #1 doubles player :D .

    Peter Gade becoming wj champion had nothing to do with doubles specific skills though ;).

    But as usual, I am fairly sure there is an exact topic like this one around already.
     
    #6 demolidor, Oct 18, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2013
  7. **KZ**

    **KZ** Regular Member

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    wong choong hann played doubles sometimes late in his career...most notably in one of the thomas cup ties. he was quite good. so did LCW, partnered some young player and went on to win one of the XD event of a national tournament in malaysia.
     
  8. dominikk1985

    dominikk1985 Regular Member

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    Is the "backcourt" player generally a better singles player compared to the net player?
     
  9. **KZ**

    **KZ** Regular Member

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    i don't think you can relate that to singles play. a bit of an irrelevant question.
     
  10. dominikk1985

    dominikk1985 Regular Member

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    OK. I read somewhere that the "smasher" is the more important player in doubles because he has to cover more ground and play powerfull shots while the net players stands at the net and waits for an opportunity to kill.
     
  11. SibugiChai

    SibugiChai Regular Member

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    In social level rear court players should be a better single players but international level, it's the reverse.

    In social level, the better players will always try to get to the backcourt so to cover the weaker players.

    But in top level, the better player has to be super quick to the front to create oppurtunity for the smasher to do his smash. Yes, in top level u can end up losing without able to smash once because they don't let u

    And more so ever, at top level, the front players are very good at intercepting smash return, thus most of the low return will be intercepted and the smasher does not really need to cover a lot of ground with quick footsteps.

    Cai yun use to play single for china before playing doubles, if not mistaken he is top 6 china single players.

    Even at very advance social level, you can see the front players are quicker and more skillful.
     
    #11 SibugiChai, Oct 21, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2013
  12. R20190

    R20190 Regular Member

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    Never heard that before or seen him play singles before. But I doubt he is a top 6 Singles Player in China now.
     
  13. **KZ**

    **KZ** Regular Member

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    what he meant was he used to be a top singles player in china in his junior days. gillian clark mentioned it countless times that he was just not fit enough to be a top singles player because he had heart surgery etc. so he switched to doubles.
     
  14. dominikk1985

    dominikk1985 Regular Member

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    who do you think would win if cai yun played singles against fu haifeng?:)
     
  15. **KZ**

    **KZ** Regular Member

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    cai yun most probably...FHF is just a smashing machine
     
  16. speedyJT

    speedyJT Regular Member

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    I would say Vladimir Ivanov from Russia.

    His current World Ranking:
    [TABLE]
    [TR]
    [TD="class: caption, align: left"]Men's singles:[/TD]
    [TD="align: left"]37 (Best: 28)[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD="class: caption, align: left"]Men's doubles:[/TD]
    [TD="align: left"]14 (Best: 11)[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]
     
  17. laonong

    laonong Regular Member

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    Li linwei won both sigle and double WC in 1980s
     
  18. Qidong

    Qidong Regular Member

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    Just watched on youtube LD and LXR playing XD in CSBL. They played terribly - just total out of sync. So 2 Olympics Gold single players playing XD doesn't mean they will dominate. :)
     
  19. wengyew90

    wengyew90 Regular Member

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    Yeah, watched it and couldn't have agreed more with you. From the gameplay itself, i really can't spot that the two are actually olympic singles champions in their respective categories. So the next time, u wanna beat ld, ask him for a xd game..lol
     
  20. craigandy

    craigandy Regular Member

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    Few from the Ladies game

    Petya Nedelchava ws-32 wd-22
    Kirsty Gilmour ws-23 wd-30
    Porntip B and Busanan O WS - 10/17 WD- Just started playing, will be top 50 if continue.
     

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