i think neoanderson means who's the PROFESSIONAL singles player that we already know about. can be roslin , or Lee Hyun II, or etc. dunno.
If currently, I'd say Roslin. I don't know if anybody else plays defensive nowadays save him as a majority are either a mix of both (Xia, Wong, Bao, Peter) or are offensive minded (Lin, Taufik, Sony). The past, I'd say Foo Kok Keong. You just have to watch his matches to see the definition of 'defensive'. He is HARD to kill. Also, the likes of Razif/Jalani in the past as well, are highly defensive players. Note: Notice the list of current - most youngsters are offensive minded while older ones are 'balanced'?
i wouulldddddd sayyyy.......... Peter ramussum(not sure spelling)....lee hyun il also not bad but dunno why he's rather off form lately.
It got to be Han Jian - kept chasing and retrieving all his opponents' shots to frustrate them especially in the famous TC match against Liem SK. Another one I can think of is Sun Jun.
why are those women's singles players are not metioned by you guys? Gong zhi chao and Susi susanti were definitely defensive players. currently, I think the korean No.1 girl (dont know how to spell her name) is also a defensive player.
yeah, Gong Zhi Chao definitely on the top of my list. she changed her style later on in her career, mixing in more offensive shots as well. which i think led her to be a more complete player and led her to her Olympics victory. Susi also, but from the time i started knowing her, she was already quite complete, with a mixture of defense and offense. also to mention another guy, the current Thai #1 Polsana Boonsak was a complete defensive player, any attempt at attacking he will lose the rally. but lately he also changed his style a little and started working on his offensive skill as well. Han Jian from my teenage days have had the nickname "bubble gym". meaning you can punch him, squeeze him, throw him, anything, but you cannot break him. however, i must admit, my memories of him playing faded over the years and knew nothing more than his nickname. only recently when i watched his video again did i started to appreciate his style again.
ardy and budi santoso. they tend to drag it to 3 games. they tend to force the opponents make the mistakes yeah, han jian is another one.
not sure about budi santoso. i have seen his matches before and i didn't see much other than pure offensive.
Couldn't do much better than Cheung's picks, Ardy and Susi. I wouldn't call Sun Jun a defensive singles player, more a singles player with a great defence. You see a lot more players hitting rear court winners or forcing weak blocks with smashes/slices than years ago, at the same time the defence of modern players is superb, in the past you seldom saw the sort of fast driving rallies you see now in singles. Lin Dan and Xia have great defence but they mix up their play a lot , taking the chance to hit winners when possible, rather than waiting for mistakes.
hmm, not the matches that i have seen him play him. It is possible that if a defensive player is dominating the pace, he'll turn on his/her offensive mode. One dont, especially pros, stay at one particular play style mode. I think it is more energy efficient to finish the shot offensively if one is dominating the play. I saw the match ardy vs zhao jianhua in a WC final and ardy look quite offensive to me (and won too).
I would accept with Cheung. Ardy Wiranta and Susi Susanti were the all-time best defensive players for me. They keep playing the rallies and tire the opponents. Does Joko Suprianto qualify as a defensive player? I would say he's a bit of defense and a bit of offence.
\ i saw his game, and i found out that he did nothing but smash or drop when he got cleared. I personally thought that was a good tactic, but when i tried it, i got burned on court... . I realized i wasn't as fast enough as hendrawan, so i decided to not use his tactic of smash, smash, smash.