Most Wins, Highest Winning Rate, and Record Prize Money... A New Era in Badminton
Unprecedented 11 Wins in a Single Season, Singles Winning Rate Reaches 94.8%
Season Prize Money Surpasses 1.5 Billion KRW, Career Earnings Set New Record at 3.8 Billion KRW
South Korea's top badminton player, An Seyoung of Samsung Life, has set an unprecedented record in both Korean and global badminton history. On December 21, at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, An Seyoung solidified her status as the world’s best by defeating Wang Zhiyi of China, the world’s No. 2 ranked player, in the women’s singles final at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals 2025.
◆11 Wins This Season= An Seyoung competed in 15 international tournaments this season and claimed victory in 11 of them. Her titles include the World Tour Finals, three Super 1000 series events (Malaysia Open, All England Open, Indonesia Open), six Super 750 series events (India Open, Japan Open, China Open, Denmark Open, French Open, Australia Open), and the Super 300 Orl?ans Masters. As a result, An Seyoung has matched the record for the most wins in a single season, previously held by legendary Japanese men’s singles player Kento Momota.
◆Season Prize Money: 1.5 Billion KRW= This season, An Seyoung’s accumulated prize money surpassed an impressive 1 million US dollars (approximately 1.48 billion KRW), setting a new record for the most prize money earned by a badminton player in a single season. According to the Badminton World Federation, her total prize money for this season reached 1,003,175 US dollars, nearly double her previous record of 578,020 US dollars set in 2023.
◆Career Prize Money: 3.8 Billion KRW= Her career prize money has also increased to 2,569,466 US dollars (approximately 3.8 billion KRW), breaking the all-time record. This surpasses the 2,284,569 US dollars earned by Denmark’s legendary men’s singles player Viktor Axelsen, who reigned as the dominant force in men’s singles for 183 weeks.
◆Winning Rate: 94.8%=This season, An Seyoung achieved a remarkable winning rate of 94.8%. Including the team event Sudirman Cup, she played a total of 77 matches, losing only four and winning all the rest, the highest winning percentage among men’s and women’s singles players. This surpasses the 51 wins and 3 losses (94.44%) set by Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in 2022. The all-time highest winning rate is 98%, a record set in 1997 by the legendary Chinese women’s doubles pair Ge Fei and Gu Jun, who dominated the mid-to-late 1990s. However, they won 48 out of 49 matches that season, 25 fewer than An Seyoung’s total match victories. Of An Seyoung’s four losses, one was a semifinal at the China Open where she withdrew due to injury concerns, meaning she was actually defeated in only three matches.
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