As I've said before, Cai Yun started as a singles player before switching to doubles, I 'm not sure at what age, I guess in his early twenties. I tend to believe it's an individual matter and, perhaps, mindset.
I think that was before his heart surgery. Didnt FHF also play singles at a young age? Maybe I'm confusing that with a story about CY. But the blue ribbon stuff is more of an Asian thing, I haven't experienced Europeans valueing MS much over MD or XD. Personally, I can say that I value events based on how interesting the matches are to me, at the moment I like basically everything except WD, and WS only if TTY/RI/Nozumi Okuhara appear, although there certainly are MD, XD or MS matches that dont interest me, especially if its some sort of fluke-y match (Olympics Bronze medal MD match for example).
The Chinese system of training is that all players start off as singles players. Then they later specialise into doubles. Maybe that's why the men's doubles have generally not been as successful as other disciplines. Though why the difference to ladies doubles, I am not sure. However, this is definitely not going to affect Lin Dan. He only has to turn up for exhibition doubles matches to earn his cash.
XD used to be quite interesting. Both Europe and Asia had good pairs. The best rivalry was between ZYL/ZN vs Fischer/Pedersen. Both pairs gave their very best at almost every encounter. I still remember their match at French Open 2011. LCW and Chen Long were playing at adjacent court and were ignored by the crowd.
Its a shame there aren't any clips of them playing singles, would be interested to see how they played. There's a video of LYD playing singles and actually not doing too badly despite losing the match.
lol, forgot he didn't have a partner there? It's interesting to watch that, you can really see the difference in the way he plays.
Lin dan is total exhausted in the game both quarter and semi final 3 games. Today's final I take Lee Chong Wei to win .
Another great game between Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei. Nice to see them exchange shirts again after the match.
Well, Lin Dan made you eat back your words. He didn't play like Super Dan of old but he's still good enough to best his perpetual badminton foe. Lin Dan simply let his racquet do the talking.
Haha Lin Dan and the china gang seems determined to kick everyone butts at Malaysia backyard. Now the Japanese ladies playing against the Chinese ladies. Rooting for the jap ladies though. Gambatte!
