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How does Akane Yamaguchi continue winning despite being one of the shortest players in professional badminton and battling multiple injuries? In this video, we break down the tactics, footwork, serve returns, punch clears, around-the-head shots, and unique playing style that have helped the three-time world champion reach four consecutive finals in 2026. We also explore the importance of lat mobility, overhead technique, and the data behind her unforced errors and winners. Whether you play singles or doubles, these badminton strategies can help improve your game and understanding of elite women's singles badminton.
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0:00
Over the last few years, Akane Yamaguchi
0:01
has been plagued with injuries. In 2023,
0:05
she sustained a right foot injury that
0:07
took her out for 3 and 1/2 months. She
0:09
then got a hip injury
0:11
in 2024 that only allowed her weeks of
0:14
full-scale training and preparation for
0:16
the Olympics.
0:17
That wasn't the end, either. Another
0:19
right calf injury appeared at the end of
0:21
2024.
0:22
And another knee injury in early 2026
0:24
caused her to withdraw
0:26
>> [music]
0:26
>> at the 2026 Malaysia Open.
0:28
Yamaguchi is 29 years old now.
0:31
And she is also one of the shortest pro
0:32
players at a height of 156 cm, or about
0:36
5 ft 1 in. By all means, Akane Yamaguchi
0:40
shouldn't still be winning.
0:41
But yet, she is. Her recent win at the
0:44
2026 Australia Open now means that
0:46
Yamaguchi has made four consecutive
0:48
finals, winning two of them. And her
0:51
unique play in women's singles contains
0:53
elements we can all learn from. Let's
0:55
take a look at how the three-time world
0:56
champion and current world number three
0:59
plays to consistently contest and win
1:01
pro tournaments.
1:03
>> [cheering]
1:04
>> To understand what makes Akane Yamaguchi
1:06
good, we must first explore the general
1:08
concept of not letting the shuttle fly
1:10
behind you.
1:11
In all badminton play, trying to get the
1:13
shuttle behind your opponent is one of
1:15
the main ways to set up opportunities to
1:16
score.
1:18
When the shuttle is behind you,
1:19
you naturally don't have as many shot
1:21
options due to contact point and
1:22
movement mechanics.
1:25
In women's singles, the idea of pushing
1:27
the shuttle behind your opponent is even
1:29
more important because female players
1:31
often don't have the same capability to
1:33
produce shots like Taufik Hidayat's
1:35
back.
1:37
And perhaps even more critically, female
1:39
players are often unable to threaten the
1:42
same attacking shots that males can
1:43
threaten when the shot is very flat.
1:47
This brings things back to Akane
1:48
Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi is both good at
1:51
pushing players to the back court, and
1:53
also not getting pushed around in the
1:55
back court herself. We can start with
1:57
the skills that make her good at
1:58
controlling her opponents.
2:01
What immediately stood out when watching
2:02
many of Akane Yamaguchi's matches
2:04
was just how often her opponents went
2:06
for a short serve. We were particularly
2:08
surprised in her match against Pornpawee
2:10
Chochuwong at the Australian Open
2:11
finals, where Chochuwong continuously
2:13
went for a short serve despite
2:14
Yamaguchi's pressure.
2:16
Akane Yamaguchi is probably the best
2:18
player in women's singles at attacking
2:20
short serves, and it really showed
2:22
against Chochuwong.
2:24
What you should watch for is her
2:25
variation in rhythm of her serve
2:26
receive. On a short serve, Yamaguchi
2:29
will often receive like doubles, where
2:31
she takes the serve extremely early. She
2:33
doesn't have to play a double shot,
2:34
though, and that's where she becomes
2:36
really deadly.
2:37
There are the quick flat drives and
2:39
pushes, but also the ability to play a
2:41
deceptive net.
2:47
Men's singles players will often just
2:49
cut off really flat shots, but in
2:51
women's singles, it isn't as easy
2:54
and will often require them to stand a
2:55
bit further back.
2:57
By standing further back, however,
2:59
then the net opens up for Yamaguchi.
3:01
Add in the fact that Yamaguchi sometimes
3:03
just waits and lifts it really high,
3:07
you're now playing against a player
3:08
that's really hard to read.
3:10
Service return, however, is just one
3:12
thing,
3:13
and we've only talked about the short
3:14
serve here.
3:15
Yamaguchi is very good at taking the net
3:17
early
3:18
and playing multiple deceptions
3:20
throughout the rally,
3:21
but much of it stems from what she is
3:23
able to do in the backcourt.
3:25
We'd say that Yamaguchi's punch clear is
3:27
her best shot, and it's really effective
3:29
when you consider Yamaguchi's variation
3:31
and ability to play other shots,
3:33
like smashes and drops.
3:35
Now, what enables Akane Yamaguchi's
3:37
backcourt to pressure her opponents is
3:39
also what helps prevent her from being
3:41
pressured in the backcourt, as well.
3:43
When you watch a lot of Yamaguchi's
3:44
games, what you'll notice is that she
3:46
rarely ever takes a late backhand.
3:48
>> [music]
3:48
>> Even on her forehand, she will usually
3:51
opt for jump outs instead.
3:53
There two main things that allow her to
3:54
do this. First, her flexibility in her
3:57
swing.
3:59
Second, her height has been a blessing
4:01
in disguise here.
4:03
Where she can often still take an
4:05
overhead
4:06
when taller players might be swinging
4:09
closer to their head.
4:11
These attributes allow Yamaguchi to take
4:12
around the head, even on flat drives,
4:15
which can add significant pressure on
4:17
her opponents.
4:20
And it's not the kind of around the head
4:23
where you're forced to drop loosely.
4:25
Yamaguchi's flexibility in her swing
4:28
makes it so that she has numerous
4:29
options,
4:30
even when late, like slices,
4:33
smashes,
4:35
and like we mentioned earlier,
4:37
punch clears. The end result is that
4:39
despite Yamaguchi's opponents playing
4:40
shots that [music] are supposed to
4:42
pressure Yamaguchi,
4:44
they end up being the one under
4:45
pressure.
4:46
As the faster shot just ends up being
4:48
returned faster because of Yamaguchi's
4:51
contact [music] point.
4:52
Interestingly, it is noted that
4:54
Yamaguchi had done a lot of swimming
4:56
when she was younger that may have a
4:58
major contribution to her overhead
4:59
flexibility.
5:01
Swimmers are constantly reaching forward
5:03
in their movements
5:04
and need to develop good lat mobility to
5:06
swim well.
5:08
In badminton, lat mobility is not
5:10
discussed nearly enough when it is the
5:12
key to hitting many of these tricky
5:14
around the head shots. In fact, a 2014
5:16
study found that adequate latissimus
5:18
dorsi length
5:19
>> [music]
5:20
>> is important for achieving full shoulder
5:21
flexion
5:22
and allowing the shoulder to rotate
5:24
properly overhead. This is particularly
5:26
important on around the head shots.
5:28
If the lat is too stiff, it becomes
5:30
harder to comfortably get the elbow up
5:32
and the racket behind the head. Players
5:34
often feel cramped when the shuttle gets
5:36
slightly behind them and are forced into
5:38
weaker clears, loose drops, or late
5:40
[music] backhands.
5:45
Yamaguchi rarely seems to have this
5:47
problem.
5:48
Even when she is slightly late to the
5:49
shuttle,
5:50
she can still access slices, punch
5:52
clears, smashes, and other overhead
5:54
variations because she is able to
5:56
maintain a strong overhead position. If
5:58
you want to improve this yourself,
6:00
increasing lat mobility can improve
6:02
shoulder flexion. Practical ways to work
6:04
on this include dead hangs, overhead
6:06
reaches, wall slides, and swimming
6:09
itself, which repeatedly takes the
6:10
shoulder through large overhead ranges
6:13
of motion. And of course, the actual
6:15
badminton movements must be practiced,
6:16
too, where getting used to the overhead
6:18
range of motion will help.
6:21
While Akane Yamaguchi is one of the best
6:23
women's singles players, she's not
6:25
invincible.
6:26
Unfortunately,
6:28
height does make it more difficult for
6:30
Yamaguchi to play defensively.
6:32
And this has been one of Yamaguchi's
6:34
weak points.
6:36
Compared to players like An Se Young and
6:38
Chen Yu Fei,
6:39
Yamaguchi is unable to play a more
6:41
defensive control style where she looks
6:43
to counter
6:44
rather than always take the initiative
6:46
herself.
6:47
Height does end up playing a role here
6:49
as reaching out with your racket in one
6:51
step is pretty much always faster than
6:53
having to take multiple steps.
6:56
Against players like An Se Young who
6:57
have extremely good placement with their
6:59
shots, you begin to see how Yamaguchi
7:01
can lose.
7:02
Yamaguchi pretty much always has to play
7:05
a faster game where she's setting up the
7:07
attack for herself. And if you have
7:08
watched some of our recent videos like
7:11
how the Chinese play style revolves
7:12
around control,
7:14
you'll see that there is an inherent
7:15
difficulty in playing Yamaguchi's way.
7:20
The faster you have to move, the less
7:22
you're able to control the shuttle.
7:24
The faster you have to move, the more
7:26
energy you're consuming as well, and
7:28
more fatigue also equals more mistakes.
7:31
Because Yamaguchi can struggle on
7:32
defense against some opponents,
7:34
she has to maintain her faster play. Her
7:37
faster play wins her points, but the
7:39
longer it goes and the faster she has to
7:41
play, errors begin to surface.
7:47
Yamaguchi is not inconsistent, far from
7:49
it actually.
7:51
This is what will happen naturally
7:52
though.
7:53
You're not going to have any control.
7:55
Trying to text and sprint compared to
7:57
sitting and texting.
7:59
That's why across all the matches we
8:01
tracked for Yamaguchi, her biggest
8:03
sources of problems have been from
8:04
unforced errors.
8:06
When you take a deeper look at the data,
8:08
where Yamaguchi is making the unforced
8:10
errors is really telling.
8:12
Most of her errors consistently come
8:14
from drops and nets across the games we
8:16
tracked. And particularly, more complex
8:19
shots, such as spin nets, cross nets,
8:22
and slices. And if you go into the pro
8:24
comparisons to compare Yamaguchi with
8:26
various players based on the data we've
8:28
tracked so far,
8:30
you'll see that Yamaguchi consistently
8:32
loses more points off her unforced
8:33
errors than other top women's singles
8:36
players.
8:37
She also consistently wins many more
8:39
points compared to others through her
8:40
winners.
8:41
And that's something worth thinking
8:43
about in your own game as well.
8:45
Most players know when they lose a
8:46
point, but very few actually know why.
8:49
Was it your defense?
8:50
Your footwork? Were you making more
8:52
mistakes late in the game because of
8:53
fatigue?
8:55
Or were you actually losing points much
8:56
earlier in the rally without realizing
8:58
it? The problem is that without data,
9:00
it's all just guessing.
9:02
That's exactly why we built the GGAB
9:04
app. With the GGAB app, you can track
9:07
your own matches, identify where points
9:09
are being won and lost, and get
9:11
AI-powered insights that help turn raw
9:13
match footage into actionable feedback.
9:16
And this AI is only going to get more
9:18
powerful as we're currently building
9:20
integrations with various wearable
9:22
companies and training logging, where AI
9:25
can help you manage your own training
9:27
based on your activity. If you'd like to
9:29
learn more, you can check out the link
9:30
in the description. We're still in beta
9:32
right now, so it's not at the stage
9:33
we're envisioning yet, and that's why
9:35
users who get in now get a huge lifetime
9:37
discount.
9:39
Of course, Akane Yamaguchi is still a
9:40
three-time world champion. Not to
9:43
mention the two bronze medals as well.
9:45
She's made it to four finals in a row
9:46
now and won two of them. So, she's
9:48
clearly doing multiple things right.
9:51
Even if you're not female
9:53
or 156 cm tall,
9:56
there are still a ton of things you can
9:57
learn from Yamaguchi.
9:59
First, we should remember that one of
10:01
the most consistent ways
10:04
to get scoring opportunities
10:06
is to push the shuttle behind your
10:08
opponent.
10:09
There are a couple of things Yamaguchi
10:10
does that you can copy.
10:12
Against players who don't have extremely
10:14
good jump outs or ability to cut off the
10:16
shuttle,
10:17
learning to use punch clears and a
10:18
doubles receive rhythm on a short serve
10:21
can lead to lots of easy points.
10:24
At the same time, it's not just about
10:25
pushing the shuttle past your opponent,
10:27
but also about not letting it pass you.
10:30
One of Yamaguchi's greatest strengths is
10:32
her ability to take around the head
10:34
pretty much every time
10:35
and also play good shots from these
10:37
pressured situations.
10:39
Lat mobility is key to unlocking the
10:41
shot variation. And generally,
10:43
practicing and understanding that the
10:45
swing should not perfectly be in the
10:46
same place every time will help.
10:49
You can't always have the perfect
10:50
contact point, and you can't let perfect
10:52
be the enemy of good.
10:55
If you like this video, make sure to hit
10:57
the like and subscribe button
10:59
so you don't miss out on future content.
11:01
Please let us know what you would like
11:03
to see next in the comments below. And
11:05
as always, thank you for watching.
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