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Kunlavut Vitidsarn has just recently become the newest world number one in badminton men's singles after a dominant performance at the 2025 Singapore Open. Many believe that his "new" aggressive playing style has contributed to his dominant performance in Singapore. So in this video, we will take a deeper look at how the Thai badminton player approaches the game, and his badminton skills that made him world number one.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
After an absolute dominant performance
0:02
in the Singapore
0:03
Open, a new king has been crowned and
0:07
Kunavot Vitid Zarn becomes the new world
0:10
number one. And if we're looking to get
0:12
good at badmitten, it's a no-brainer to
0:14
study the best of the best. In this
0:16
video, we will explain the bad mitten
0:19
strategies and skills that ultimately
0:21
allowed Vidzarn to become the number one
0:23
ranked men's singles badmitten player in
0:26
the world and what we can learn from
0:27
him.
0:31
It's safe to say that Vidsarn has
0:34
adopted a more aggressive style in his
0:35
recent matches, but this isn't something
0:37
that is particularly out of the blue. He
0:40
is playing very similar to how he played
0:42
at the 2024 Paris Olympics against
0:44
players like Shiuchi and Li Ja. The core
0:47
strategy revolved around playing down in
0:49
the back and following up quickly in the
0:51
front.
0:55
Made two errors as well.
1:04
I think so.
1:18
Yeah.
1:21
[Applause]
1:27
[Applause]
1:33
The reasons behind why Vidsarn is able
1:35
to push the pace so fast is both because
1:38
of where he is placing his shots and
1:40
that he is choosing to play faster shots
1:43
especially in the back court. Notice in
1:45
these rallies where Vidzarn is primarily
1:47
hitting his shots
1:54
[Applause]
2:04
Yeah. Yeah.
2:23
To push the pace of the game, Vidzarn
2:25
will often opt to play his harder
2:27
hitting shots in the back court closer
2:29
towards the middle of the court. If we
2:31
watch these rallies, for example, you
2:33
can see Vidzar would play down in the
2:35
middle towards Nishimoto. This shot will
2:37
definitely push the pace of the game and
2:39
will push the pace even more so because
2:41
it is a faster shot and adds a
2:44
significant amount of variation to his
2:45
attacking play. And it is also a very
2:47
safe shot to play. This is because there
2:50
is not much his opponent can do on a
2:52
shot like this. At most, they will drive
2:54
back.
2:55
However, as long as you're following up
2:58
and you're ready for this type of shot,
3:00
you can counter. If they hit a quality
3:03
block, you can simply block back to the
3:06
middle. Otherwise, you can change pace
3:09
on their slower shot most of the time.
3:14
In our previous video on vidadzern, we
3:16
talked about his phenomenal technique
3:18
and how commentators like Morton Frost
3:21
believe that he has the best technical
3:22
skill on the tour right now. His ability
3:25
to play a huge variety of shots aids his
3:26
attacking play tremendously because it
3:28
is simply too difficult to guess where
3:30
Viditsarn's next shot will be going.
3:32
Just look at this rally for example.
3:34
Even though Vidisarn loses the rally,
3:36
pay attention to how many changes he has
3:39
in his shots and look at how low Lynn
3:41
takes the shuttle.
3:53
Good volley
3:55
to tie Viditsarn's attacking play
3:57
together. He has been moving much faster
3:59
on court compared to
4:02
previously. As long as he takes the
4:04
shuttle early, he amplifies the
4:06
effectiveness of having shot variety and
4:09
speeds up the game by playing towards
4:11
the middle through blocks and
4:13
drives. This is different from before
4:15
when he was playing into his opponent's
4:17
shot combos and giving the opportunity
4:18
to his opponent to attack. With the game
4:21
being focused more on power and speed in
4:22
men's singles, this can be disastrous.
4:25
Just look at players like Lin Cheni who
4:27
can end the rally with a jump smash even
4:30
if the lift is high
4:31
quality. At the same time, however, it
4:34
is extremely difficult to play
4:36
aggressive and fast all the time. But
4:39
that's why being able to adjust his play
4:40
style coupled with his retrieval and
4:42
technical skills is what makes Vidzarn a
4:45
world-class player. He still has his
4:47
rallying capabilities and is able to
4:49
seamlessly transition between the styles
4:51
to be
4:53
unpredictable.
5:03
Got as
5:15
well. This is the best rally of the
5:17
match so far.
5:28
landed. Overall though, Vitadar played
5:30
less of a rallying style in these recent
5:32
matches with way less lazy clears and
5:36
lifts. A major problem with playing
5:38
aggressively for many players is the
5:40
problem of
5:41
inconsistency. A prime example we
5:43
discussed recently is Anthony Ginting,
5:46
who is perhaps badminton's most
5:48
inconsistent best player.
5:50
The reason why one becomes inconsistent
5:52
when they play aggressive is because
5:54
they end up rushing to play their shot
5:57
instead of controlling and stabilizing
5:59
their body first before playing the
6:02
shot. This often makes them lose control
6:04
over their racket and often ends with a
6:07
lowquality shot or hitting the shuttle
6:09
out.
6:17
[Applause]
6:20
Another difficulty with playing
6:21
aggressively is the fact that to play
6:22
aggressively, you have to play faster
6:25
and take the shuttle earlier. This means
6:28
using more energy and therefore you will
6:30
tire out quicker. This leads to
6:33
inconsistencies because players begin to
6:35
think that they must finish the rally
6:37
quickly and end up forcing risky shots.
6:46
trying to force it a little too much.
6:48
Vids, however, did an excellent job at
6:50
playing an aggressive style, all the
6:52
while staying extremely consistent. He
6:54
did this by putting pressure on his
6:57
opponents by first, taking the shuttle
6:59
early and second, playing these shots
7:01
within the lines shown on the screen.
7:07
Should now be very careful indeed, as he
7:09
has to be. You can't make any mistakes
7:12
from
7:23
here. What a shot. The reason why you
7:25
should aim for these lines is due to the
7:27
lower margin of error. In a tournament,
7:29
when athletes play other athletes at the
7:31
same level, players can often end up not
7:33
necessarily losing to their opponent,
7:35
but to themselves. It happens all too
7:37
often where your opponent isn't
7:39
necessarily scoring on you, but you're
7:42
making unforced errors. That is why in a
7:45
tournament or a high stakes match where
7:47
you aim to win, you should focus on
7:49
aiming towards these lines, especially
7:52
in bigger halls like in the Singapore
7:53
Open. Even if the shot does not go
7:55
exactly where you wanted it to go due to
7:58
factors like drift or anxiety, the most
8:00
probable outcomes are that you hit a
8:02
better shot than expected or a shot
8:05
that's not as good placement wise, but
8:07
still a shot with decent shot speed.
8:10
Either way, you'll be in a position to
8:12
keep the rally going and become
8:13
comfortable. This is exactly why Vidsarn
8:17
can have such dominant score lines like
8:19
21 to6. It definitely is.
8:25
When we say Viditsarn is becoming more
8:26
controlling, what we mean is he is
8:28
controlling the pace of the game much
8:30
better. Before he used to follow his
8:33
opponent's rhythm a lot. For example, if
8:35
we look at his 2023 World Championships
8:38
when he played Naroka, he was simply
8:40
just following Naroka's pace. That's why
8:42
for many fans it was a boring game to
8:44
watch because essentially it was like
8:47
watching two identical games where both
8:50
styles were focused on tiring out one
8:52
another. Good
8:56
shot. Naroka's at walking
9:02
pace. It's literally he's
9:06
walking. Crowd don't like it at all.
9:18
[Applause]
9:24
Or if we look at his game against Alex
9:27
Laneir in the 2025 All England
9:29
Championships, he played into Laneir's
9:31
pace changes.
9:39
Wow.
9:40
Incredible shot. The same goes for the
9:42
2025 Indonesia Masters against Lu Guangu
9:45
in the second round. When Vidsarn isn't
9:47
playing at his best, you can visibly
9:50
tell because many rallies he plays into
9:53
his opponent's combos and strengths. For
9:55
example, at the 2025 Indonesia Masters
9:58
against Lu Guangu, Vatids often played
10:01
pushes that Lu could jump out and attack
10:03
on. But in his recent matches leading up
10:05
to becoming world number one, you can
10:07
visibly see Kunlav Vidsarn in control of
10:09
the pace of the game. In the Singapore
10:11
Open, for example, Vidsarn would opt to
10:14
net back a lot against the players with
10:15
good backourt like Lu and Lin Chuni so
10:18
they could not
10:19
attack. It was definitely much more
10:21
apparent that Vidsarn prepared
10:22
strategies against his opponents.
10:27
Vidsarn showed absolute dominance in
10:29
Singapore and was named the new world
10:31
number one as a result of his
10:33
performance. If there's anything that we
10:35
can learn from Vidsarn, it would be how
10:37
to stay consistent while still playing
10:39
aggressive and fast by playing towards
10:41
the middle of the court.
10:43
Not only is Vittsarn making the court
10:46
smaller, allowing himself to play
10:48
faster, but he is also able to stay much
10:51
more
10:52
consistent because there is less of a
10:54
chance to make unforced errors. And the
10:57
reasons for playing aggressive and fast
10:59
is because one to control the pace of
11:02
the game and two prevent your opponent
11:05
from using their own strong attack if
11:07
they have one. This version of Kunov at
11:09
Vidsarn is a great player to study and
11:11
play like, especially in preparation for
11:14
tournaments. Do you think Vidsarn will
11:16
defend his title at the 2025 World
11:19
Championships? Let us know in the
11:20
comments below. If you guys like this
11:23
video, make sure to hit the like and
11:24
subscribe button. And as always, thanks
11:27
for
11:27
[Music]
11:32
watching.
11:43
Heat. Heat.
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