Here are your categories SERVE RETURN OF SERVE DRIVES NET PLAY INTERCEPTION DEFENCE VARIATION SMASH FOOTWORK PHYSICALITY MENTAL STRENGTH i would go first Serve - Sukamuljo Return of Serve - Hendra Setiawan Drives - Hendra Setiawan Net Play - Cai Yun Interception - Sukamuljo Defence - Lee Yong Dae Variation - Zhang Nan Smash - Ahsan Footwork - Sukamuljo Physicality - Ko Sung Hyun Mental Strength - Fu Haifeng
SERVE - Sukamuljo RETURN OF SERVE - Hendra DRIVES - Zhang Nan NET PLAY - Hendra INTERCEPTION - Sukamuljo DEFENCE - LYD VARIATION - Hendra SMASH - Ivanov FOOTWORK - Watanabe PHYSICALITY - Ko Sung Hyun MENTAL STRENGTH - Cai Yun Celebration - Anders Skaarup Rasmussen
DRIVE - Watanabe if not Sukamuljo I dunno about you guys, but I've seen Zhang Nan and Hendra get out-driven by Sukamuljo too often to put them at the top.
(No rules) SERVE : KEVIN SANJAYA RETURN OF SERVE : HENDRA SETIAWAN DRIVES : HIROYUKI ENDO NET PLAY : MOMOTA INTERCEPTION : KEVIN SANJAYA DEFENCE : LEE YONG DAE VARIATION : YUTA WATANABE SMASH : PRAVEN JORDAN FOOTWORK : A. GINTING PHYSICALITY : LEE CHONG WEI MENTAL STRENGTH : LIN DAN
SERVE - Sukamuljo RETURN OF SERVE - Setiawan DRIVES - Setiawan NET PLAY - Setiawan INTERCEPTION - Sukamuljo DEFENCE - Endo VARIATION - those young Indian MDs SMASH - Ahsan FOOTWORK - Watanabe PHYSICALITY - Ko MENTAL STRENGTH - Ahsan/Setiawan
Sadly I'll have to take a pass as I'm absolutely horrendous at following and scrutinising MD to the level you lot do!
SERVE - sukamuljo RETURN OF SERVE - setiawan DRIVES - setiawan/watanabe NET PLAY - setiawan INTERCEPTION - sukamuljo DEFENCE - endo/watanabe VARIATION - watanabe SMASH - rankireddy/wang chi lin FOOTWORK - sukamuljo/watanabe PHYSICALITY - rankireddy/shetty MENTAL STRENGTH - ahsan/setiawan ----- entertainment value - sukamuljo underrated - endo overrated - li junhui
Frankly, I'm much more into singles than doubles. Anyway, here goes: SERVE = None (imho, in doubles, there's little or no advantage in service but for receiving serve, yes. However, if I had to pick one, my choice is Zhang Nan).) RETURN OF SERVE = Lee Yong Dae, Zhang Nan, Rankireddy/Shetty (either one as I've mixed up their names) DRIVES = None (fast flat exchanges? Then I'd say, Kevin/Marcus and Tan WK/Goh V Shem, perhaps Zhang Nan) NET PLAY = Kevin Sukamuljo, Cai Yun INTERCEPTION = Kevin Sukamuljo, Tan Wee Kiong/Goh V Shem, Zhang Nan DEFENCE = Endo/Watanabe (as a pair), Kevin Sukamuljo/Marcus Gideon (as a pair), Setiawan/Ahsan (as a pair), Lee Yong Dae/Yoo Yeon Seong (as a pair) VARIATION = Zhang Nan, Hendra Setiawan SMASH = Fu Haifeng, Yoo Yeon Seong, Wang Chi Lin, Li Junhui (in disorder) FOOTWORK = None (I tend to think it's less important in doubles than in singles. For doubles, it's mostly raw speed and scrambling as you have another partner to cover the return shot) PHYSICALITY = Wang Chi Lin , Ko Sung Hyun, Yeon Seong, Fu Haifeng, Vladimir Ivanov, Li Junhui, (not in any order) MENTAL STRENGTH = Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng (as a pair), Fu Haifeng/Zhang Nan (as a pair), Hendra Setiawan (Ahsan less so), Mathias Boe/Carsten Morgensen (as a pair)
Serve - Lee Yong Dae spin serve Return of Serve - Hendra Setiawan Drives - Lee Yong Dae Net Play - Cai Yun Interception - Sukamuljo Defence - Lee Yong Dae Variation - Zhang Nan/Hendra Setiawan Smash - Fu Haifeng Footwork - Koo Kien Keat (becoming fat made him more efficient at footwork ) else I can't think of anyone in particular because it's less important in single, so it's certainly equivalent to physicality which is : Physicality - Ko Sung Hyun Mental Strength - Cai Yun Celebration - Mathias Boe/Sujamuljo Trickshot - Koo Kien Keat Dropshot - Jung Jae Sung Most talented pair ever - Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong Most All round - Jung Jae Sung, a great back player as everybody know, with infinite smashs that could rivale with Fu Haifeng (according to pro, it was as hard to get), great drop, good placement, and he was able to be excellent at net at time. Also Tony Gunawan and Kim Dong-Moon, haven't watch a lot of their match but from what i've seen, both of them could play consistently good at front and back