An Seyoung's rise to the top: "I feel more responsible"
The 2021 World Tour Finals winner intends to sharpen her attack to help her take her game to the next level.
Badminton
An Seyoung has enjoyed a meteoric rise to becoming one of the top badminton players in the world.
The South Korean burst onto the scene in 2019 when she went from being ranked 99 in the world at the start of the year, to world number nine by the end of the season. It was a year that saw her make the finals of six World Tour events, winning five of them.
It's an even more remarkable feat once you consider that she was only 17 at the time.
When competitions resumed after the pandemic hiatus, An continued her upward trajectory. It culminated with her winning the 2021 World Tour Title in Bali, beating 2019 World champion PV Sindhu in the finals.
An sat down exclusively with Olympics.com to reflect on her career and share what impact this success has had on her.
" I feel more responsible. I feel like I need to show more, and perform better" - An Seyoung exclusively to Olympics.com
Sharpening her game
20-year-old An is not one to sit and bask in her success.
Quite the contrary, the South Korean is already working on improving her game, having identified key areas to focus on.
"I lack attacking tactics, so I obviously need to improve that. So I am working on playing more aggressively and smashing more."
An is determined to clinch more accolades in the future, and has her sights on winning every tournament level on the World Tour calendar. To-date she has enjoyed victories in a Super 100, Super 300, Super 750 and even a Super 1000 event. All that remains is a Super 500 title.
"I like getting titles like "first", or "new". So, I am very hard on myself and put a lot of pressure on myself. That's probably why I was successful faster than others."
Learnings from Tokyo 2020
Having made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, An now has a clearer picture of what it takes to be successful at the biggest sporting event in the world.
Her debut campaign came to a halt in the quarter-finals when she was defeated by China's Chen Yu Fei, who went on to clinch the title.
"What I learnt was even though I thought I was prepared, I have to try harder as I failed at this Olympics. I discovered that I still have lots to train for and to learn"
An is in action this week at the Korea Open. The home favourite is seeded second in the tournament behind Chen, whom she has yet to record a win against.
Should they meet in the final and if An finds a way to edge ahead, she could add two new "firsts" to her list - a first win over Chen Yu Fei and a first Super 500 title.