How the Chinese have approached the puzzle of the unbeatable An Se-young?
There are some stunning pointers to the An Se-young-Chen Yufei rivalry that are thanks only to the surfeit of matches they play, in what is otherwise a much-maligned badminton circuit, where top names keep running into each other. Injury to Yufei intervened to deny another chapter to this saga at Malaysia. But the two have met 28 times at all sorts of big and small venues, which means the last two Olympic champions are embroiled in a loopy repetitive battle, as high-viz as construction supervisors’ neons when working the night shift. It stands out in the fog. Make no mistake – the high propensity to battle, the voluminous quantity hasn’t dulled the quality in their games, though scorelines are varied, and subject to fitness, from straight sets with single digit points to three set epics. But the rivalry that started in 2018 (same year as when Sincaraz turned pro, and have tallied 16 matches, with 10 to Alcaraz), is currently 28-matches long, poised tantalizingly at 14-14. The aforementioned stunning stat isn’t how there’s almost parity, …
