Good job, Alan, really appreciate it.
Up to week 21 ending 26th May 2016. For the younger players, esp those who just started out in their careers, their win – loss records or ratios may not be very meaningful or representative as compared with the older players who have been around much longer. I mean the comparison may be a bit unfair but nevertheless very useful and interesting to know as we follow their progress over time.
Players with at least a 5-year active playing record should give us a better picture of their relative strengths and achievements, more indicative of their performance. That said, Lin Dan’s records over a span of 12 – 14 years are truly, exceptional, phenomenal, justifying his unmatched status.
Unfortunately, for the late bloomers like Hu Yun, Wei Nan and Sho Sasaki, I believe most of their wins are in the latter part of their career, thus not putting them in a favourable light.
And for doubles players, if they are split and later formed new partnerships, the picture becomes complicated. Can’t be helped, I suppose. So whenever we make comparisons, try to take all this situations and events into consideration, i.e. compare apples with apples, not apples to oranges.