i guess in comparisons of today's players and yesterday's players (in terms of accomplishments, respect, etc) ye zhao ying (not sure spelling) = gong ruina dai yun =zhou mi zhang ning = zhang ning
In term of accomplishments, we can compare Ye with Gong, Zhou and Zhang. But don't forget Chinese women was at slump when Ye started. Without any help from teammates, she has to compete with Susanti, Bang, Martin, Mia, ... days in and days out all by herself, and still able to win so many tourments. I think Ye should get more respect than the fellow Chinese women player today.
Don't forget Ye also won the WC twice only other singles players who can compare would be the other immortals - Han Ai Ping, Li Ling Wei and Yang Yang. Good as they are, I can't place Dai Yun, Zhang Ning etc in the same league.
Yes, I agree. Ye Zhaoying reached the top at very young age at a period where Chinese WS were not at the top anymore/yet... She is the first player of the "new wave" of chinese WS stars! For this, her accomplishment is enormous. I had the luck to see her live at the 1995 WC in Lausanne when she beat Han Jingna in the final! (after beating Susi Susanti in the semi, though I didn't see the match)
This was about Gong Ruina in fact (as you must have seen), I would clearly not say that Ye Zhaoying is "much much much" better than Gong Zhichao!
i still　think Ye is much much much more better than gong zhichao Zhaoying YE 11 - 3 Zhichao GONG Year Tournament & Nation Round Winner Score 2000 Olympic Games 2000 (I) AUSTRALIA Semi-Finals GONG 8-11 8-11 2000 Japan Open 2000 (I) JAPAN Gold Medal Final GONG 7-11 3-11 1999 Asia Badminton Champs 99 (I) MALAYSIA Semi-Finals YE 11-2 11-4 1999 Singapore Open 1999 (I) SINGAPORE Gold Medal Final YE 11-5 5-11 11-7 1999 Japan Open 1999 (I) JAPAN Gold Medal Final YE 1-11 11-5 11-6 1999 All England Open 1999 (I) ENGLAND Quarter-Finals YE 11-6 11-8 1998 Asian Championships 1998 (I) THAILAND Gold Medal Final YE 11-5 13-12 1998 Konica Cup Singapore 1998 (I) SINGAPORE Semi-Finals YE 11-8 11-2 1998 Japan Open 1998 (I) JAPAN Gold Medal Final GONG 1-11 4-11 1997 World Championships 1997 (I) SCOTLAND Gold Medal Final YE 12-11 11-8 1997 All England Open 1997 (I) ENGLAND Gold Medal Final YE 11-3 11-1 1997 Korea Open 1997 (I) KOREA Gold Medal Final YE 6-11 12-10 11-4 Team Tournaments Year Tournament & Nation Round Winner Score 1999 World Grand Prix Finals 99 IR BRUNEI TEAM YE 11-2 11-5 1996 World Grand Prix Finals 96 IR INDONESIA TEAM YE 11-8 11-3
I don't think you can say one player is better than another just from their head-to-head. This depends on many things, including their respective playing style (A may always lose against B but win every thing else while B loses the rest...). Also, Gong Zichao arrived at the top fter Ye Zhaoying so it is normal that Ye won most of the matches. When Gong ZC was at her prime in 2000, she won both matches against Ye... Last but not least : the matches between players of the same team are often decided by team orders so they don't mean much, you need to compare both players head-to-heads against other nations top players. As a conclusion, don't take me wrong, I'm not saying that Ye Zhaoying is NOT better than Gong Zichao (nor the opposite), only that head-to-head between both players doesn't mean much on that subject.
