I would have to say Thomas Laybourn is one that I miss a whole lot. He had this very unique style and creativity compared to other mixed players.
Plenty of folks will say Wang Lin and Reiko Shiota. You can guess why. Having only discovered professional badminton in 2008, there are only so many notables who have retired in my time. But Gao Ling, Nova Widianto, Jung Jae Sung come to mind. I'd add Lee Hyun Il, but the man has more come-back lives than a cat! It's hard to feel sad about most retirements. Unless it's because of injury, one hopes that they are simply moving on with their lives. For we fans there are always new and exciting players coming up!
Nice topic. There are many. I certainly miss the more expressive players. It would be hard to pick one. Probably, Sun Jun because it was so interesting watch him. He could work out how to play people during the game. Anybody who beat him had to be at the very top of their game on that particular day.