Tai Tzu-ying
Tai Tzu-ying is the only person to stay number one for 200 weeks in women’s singles ever since the current ranking system was instituted in 2009.
She first reached the top in 2016 and held it for a personal best 72 consecutive weeks. Since then, only the Japanese pair of Yamaguchi Akane and Okuhara Nozomi as well as China’s Chen Yufei to have reached the pinnacle aside from Tai.
The Taiwanese right-hander won a total of 26 career women’s singles titles in the BWF Grade 2 circuit (which includes the Super Series, Grand Prix, and World Tour events), in addition to two Asian Championships and a gold medal each at the Asian Games and the Summer Universiade.
She is a key contributor for Chinese Taipei at the Uber Cup, where she holds an overall record of ten wins and defeats. They made the quarterfinals in all but one of the four times she has been on the squad.
Remaining major tournaments that elude her are the Olympic Games and the World Championships, her best finish in either tournament being runner up.