Tai Tzu-Ying

Tai Tzu-ying was born to parents Tai Nan-kai and Hu Jung on June 20, 1994 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Her father, Tai Nan-kai, was a firefighter and held the position of director for Kaohsiung city’s badminton committee.

Her early introduction to badminton was facilitated by her father, who encouraged her passion for the sport. As Tai progressed through elementary school, her interest in badminton grew stronger, leading her to actively participate in competitions. Her talent was evident when she claimed the singles title at the National Ranking Tournament’s second division.

Tai Tzu-ying began to demonstrate her impressive potential in badminton at the age of just 15, when she competed at a senior level and secured the runner-up position at the Grand Prix tournament, the Vietnam Open. In December, Tai represented Chinese Taipei at the East Asian Games, where she clinched a bronze medal in women’s singles and contributed significantly to the team’s journey to the finals, ultimately winning a silver medal. 

One of the most notable milestones of her career took place in June 2010, when she reached her first Superseries final at the Singapore Open on her birthday. In the first half of the 2012 season, Tai achieved a remarkable feat by advancing to the semi-finals in the All England Open.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she represented her country as the second women’s singles player, trailing behind Cheng Shao-chieh. At just 18, she was ranked 13th globally and seeded 10th. Tai triumphed in all her group stage matches, outperforming Anu Nieminen of Finland and Victoria Montero of Mexico. However, she was halted in the round of 16 by China’s eventual gold medalist, Li Xuerui. 

Tai made history in September 2012 by winning her first Super Series title at the Japan Open, thereby becoming the youngest player at the time to clinch a Superseries title. She continued to represent her nation on international platforms, such as the 2014 Asian Games, where she secured Taiwan’s first badminton medal by finishing in third place.

Tai’s winning streak persisted in 2016 when she conquered the Indonesia Open and the Hong Kong Open which elevated her to World No. 1 for the first time. She secured her first All England Open title in March 2017, defeating Ratchanok Intanon in the final. Subsequently, she triumphed in the Malaysia Open and Singapore Open, besting Carolina Marín in the finals on two consecutive occasions.

In 2018, Tai clinched the Asian Championships title after defeating Chen Yufei in the final, regaining her world no.1 ranking. During the 2018 BWF World Championship, she defeated Beiwen Zhang from the United States in straight games, setting a new record with an extraordinary 31 consecutive match wins. At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, she secured the gold medal by defeating PV Sindhu in the final and marked her first major title triumph.

After winning the women’s singles’ title at the 2018 Denmark Open, her ranking points escalated to 101,517. This made her only the second player in the women’s singles category to surpass 100,000 points. At the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Tai battled her way to the final and clinched a silver medal after losing to top seed Chen Yufei in a nail-biting match.