The Evolution of Badminton Men's Single 

Evolution of the Camera too

The evolution of the badminton racket from wood to steel to carbon fibre along with the evolution of racket strings from gut to high-strength synthetics has made the game much faster. This, in turn, has forced the players to become faster and fitter to meet these demands. I started playing in the late 70s and can say that today's rackets would have been like a gift from the gods back then. My first rackets were close to today's squash rackets in weight.

Lin, LCW, Peter , Taufik was the golden era of men's single

The level of performance is unbelievably quite high even in the earlier times

I played since early 80's. The playing game and speed has evolved, for sure. We noticed that allowed tension on the rackets was about 2,5 x lower than today. There was only just a few brand rackets, while only 2 or 3 were used by most players. The rakets cost was quite high, the weight balance wasn't part of the marketing.... Concerning the way we played, we didn't learned smash jumps before the 90's, also specials moves or other techniques which tends to be faster arrived much lated. It was quite casual play at the beginning for many players. Now even beginners arrive on the court with their own trainers...to play for the winning. But I like both times because badminton is so enjoyable to play, whatever how good you are.

LIN Dan & LCW must be the greatest rival of ALL time.

badminton is the most underated sport of all time

I think one of the biggest revolution is the camera work. It's definitely showing more of the athletes and their movements from multiple angles and makes the game watching experience so much more immersive.

I LOVE WATCHING KENTO MOMOTA VS ANTHONY GINTING ALL THE TIME

I am utmost proud to have a chance and witness the great Lee-Lin rivalry for ten years. Respect for the both of them

The game is constantly evolving. Nice to see how smash styles differ throughout the years. Great video as always!

How the game has become so much faster and flatter. Also more exciting to watch with the variety and deception in the game.

Yes, I still remembered the wooden badminton racket i played when i was a child back in the 1970s, it was so heavy !

How the game has change, the form, pace, and also the strategy. Beauty

Taufik has to be one of the most important contributor who change the modern men’s single era with his backhand 👍👍👍👍👍

Badminton architect - The legend Zhao Jianhua . Famous with his jumping smash . 90's hero for badminton lovers

i started playing around 90s. and i was named after one of Indonesian's player in the 70s. i can see and feel that the badminton earlier was more to placements and not much power in it. perhaps due to the racket materials and regulations. towards more modern times, it become more strength and speed. i think this evolution makes badminton more interesting

Wonderful Episode - knowledgeable and informative and it clearly shows how the game of badminton has evolved over the years ! thank you !!

The evolution of everything. The point calculation, the pace, the tools (racket, string, birdie, shoes, etc) and the evolution makes the game is better to watch.

Denmark players in this video : Svend Pri (1970s), Morten Frost Hansen (1980s), Paul Erik Hoyer Larsen (1990s), Peter Gade Christensen (2000s).

Thank you very much. Started playing badminton from age of 11. Now 61. The weight of the rackets making all the difference.

I think 90s badminton impact and change a lots, start to become faster, powerful and dive return

4:36 that defense though. Marvellous

Please do evolution of mixed double. It must be exciting where a lot of the women even do strong jump smash, cover a lot of back court

Sidek brothers were Legends. Managed to bring back Thomas Cup. Last time badminton was harder. The system was based on 15 points, however, the one who served and managed to win during that serve, will get the point. Players most of the time change serves without gaining any points because they lost to opponent. They rallied for hours. One set felt like eternity. Imagine playing three sets. Stamina was tested until the third set.

This video made me realise how beautiful badminton game is..

Taufik and LCW are my favorite.

No doubt Super Dan lifted the sports to another level. The GOAT in badminton.

0:03 Svend Prie, one of Rudy (Hartono)'s toughest opponents, which ended Rudy's record of winning streaks at the All England 1975. Unfortunately, had to end his life in sadness :(

Beautiful to see how better racket technology as well as athleticism allows modern single players to play so much more aggressive. Even defensive players like Chen Long play so much more "active" in their strategy compared to the players from the 70s and 80s. I wonder if this trend will continue or if in ten years maybe players will become more defensive again...

I always love badminton since i was 9 😆😍 this is cool

These player's have give modern methods to badminton game and a high level of competition in tournament's.

the evolution is always going up and up. It gets more and more complex, speedy, powerful and challenging.

"National Archive of RI" so proud being an indonesian badminton fan ❤

2010-2020 LeeChongWei-LinDan, KentoMomota-AntonyGinting,... Omg, amazing for all of them

As someone who has only played local park level badminton, I couldn't make out the changes until I read the comments. very enlightening

I still remember when I first started playing in around 2004 old rules were there. You had to win two points to break the service I think and that made games longer and caused more exhaustion. Doubles also had some different rules I think. I really liked the trick shots of Peter Gade, when I got my first PC in 2011, I would spend my time watching trick shot videos on RU-vid, old games of Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, and Peter Gade. Some time back I did watch some videos of very old matches, but the quality wasn't good, hope someone finds and uploads a good quality video for those.

当時のラケットでこのスマッシュの速さはエグすぎ

The past - Lin dan, lee chong wei, taufik hidayat , peter gade, hendrawan, sony dwi, chen long, chen jin, chen hong Now - kento, axelsen, lee zi jia, ginting, antonesen, chou tiow chen, shi yuqi.

I can handle watching these many legends in a single video 🤯

3:37 you came for this

Honestly, the game hasn’t actually changed that much, the way they play shots are the same, and the only thing that’s really changed is the short serve in men’s singles, the big difference really is in the way the game is paced and how they control the court, the fundamentals are the same, but tactics have changed

My top fav: 1. Lin Dan (all rounded) 2. Lee Chong Wei (reflect & agile) 3. Taufik (skillful) 4. Peter Gade (deception) 5. Joko Suprianto (power) 6. Sun Jun (very fast & power) 7. Xia Xuanze (his collar always up)

Badminton was always extraordinary .In the Past also and in the present also and will be in the future also 😊

Props to the cameraman for always being there!

Lin Dan is, without a doubt, the greatest badminton player ever.

Good one ☝️

There are many great players, but I like LD and LCW the most as they have a lot of great matches and great moves.

The quality of game remains unchanged over the decades, it just a quality of video coverage changed.

Foo Kok Keong should be included as I believe he was the first player to do the diving return.

The most powerfull smash single player of all time goes to LIEM SWIE KING with the racket name BLACKEN produced by YONEX. Made from steel for shaft & aluminum frame.

It's incredible how hard Svend Pri hit his smashes. Especially with those rackets in the 70:s.

I really noticed the quality of the cameras evolving :)

Ppl forgetting to mention about the point system. Back in the day the points were up to 15. You can only get a point when its your serve. If your opponent was serving and u won that rally, all u get is the service. Then if u win again during ur service u will get the point. This meant that games dragged on way longer as sometimes players would give service over back and forth which resulted in a standstill in the points.

Good insight ! All the time, only King (Liem Swie) able to play Single and Double ! And both are successful...

@01:24, The last heavenly king of 90s...Zhao Jian Hua, my all time badminton idol when i was a teenager.....

You can tell the people are more athletic now. That’s pretty cool. It would have been nice to see a better _Then & Now_ with the contrasts though. Future thought.

Btw, Carlton 3.7X racket is worth collecting. I saw a pair of that racket at flea market, it feels good in my hand, best-balanced

It just gets better over time.

i feel like badminton has never changed a bit in a good way ofc

The sound of the shuttle strike is so completely different now! It sounded more like tennis at the start

Everyone's a gangsta until Lin Dan comes 🔥💯

Great video! But it could be better, if there was games of Chen Hong, whose style and plastic of movements was the brightest in 2006-2009)

The players from the 80s and 90s were the best and toughest imo especially bc they were using the 15 pt side out system.

Everytime I Saw Taufik Hidayat's play, It seems like his footwork is so effortless and efficient. Not doing many steps to chase shuttlecock.

1:02 is that Viktor Axelsen 😂

One thing I can tell, cameras are getting better!

The clip of 1980s should feature jump smash by Liem Swie King, although he had done it since late 1970s.

First video maestro rudi hartono❤

I miss playing badminton

Just like football. More speed, more physical, and more tactical. In term of technical not so many different. But I do miss the 100 Watt smash from Heryanto Arbi.

Zhao Jian Hua is still the best, and most elegant !

I didnt know that there was a mens single players like LD and LCW I only know Taufik Hidayat and Paul Eric Hoyer , thank you for sharing such an epic video..

Glad to have the Momogi rivalry now that the LCW and LD era has passed.

From competition of stamina to competition of speed and technique

These 1970s players will still beat me even me using modern gears.

Players have become really superfit, fast and strong nowadays

1.Rudy Hartono 2.Taufik Hidayat 3.LCW 4.Anthony Ginting My best idol

The evolution of the atmosphere changed too. Previously it is all quiet. The players just play. The crowd just claps at most when win a point back then.

I played during the 15 points to win era. The serve is defensive so I like the old scoring method. Endurance was more important.

Just seeing camera's evolution; Badminton is always the sme.

I think there is definitely borderline 90’s before or after regard as rally-quality. racket itself or strategies evolves?

Can I dowload this video to post my facebook? Thanks u so much

you can learn a lot of tricks and the play style during the evolution

The point counting system were different too back then, u can only earn points when it's your turn to serve

If I recall correctly, in 90s single players always serve high and long. Short serve are rare. Nowadays, it's the opposite.

one thing for sure is that the camera quality got better

Fast and power that's the evolution.

Evolution of the shirts too, from classic Polo to lion dance crew uniform

Evolution during 1980s is the great leaping for playing badminton. The style of smash, drop shot and defence is changed a lot. Many leader countries in Asia like China, Indonesia and Japan create those techniques to the game.

4:31

Now this video should add new evolution how Prannoy of India is defeating Ginting of Indonesia!!🇮🇳🔥

Sports tech evolved much faster than the techniques because when skills of athletes are at par the difference in equipment may be the winning difference

Actually very solid early stages of badminton. Least evolved in terms of play style meta from the sports evolutions I've seen, but that's pretty cool and interesting.

evolution on the tshirt also.. from white to white with strips/patterns, and with color as nowadays.. sleeveless shirt also allowed.

0:17 Svend Pri's physical ability to generate massive racket head speed 💪 Wooden frame and steel shaft racket

Zhou Jiann Hua is the one reinvented smash speed and footwork of today's badminton.

So nothing has changed except the racquets and camera quality

So its exactly the same as the first video…so the only evolution has been from black and white to colour to high definition…brilliant

Untill Lin Dan enter the badminton world, no one can defeat him in his prime and became Super Dan. What a legend