Rudy Hartono
Susi Susanti
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Rudy Hartono leads 1 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Rudy Hartono at #3 and Susi Susanti at #5.
The case for Rudy Hartono
Before the Open era's riches, Rudy Hartono was badminton's first global superstar. He won the All England Championship a record eight times, including seven in succession from 1968 to 1974 — a feat unmatched in any singles racquet sport — adding an eighth in 1976. He crowned his career as an undisputed World Champion in 1980 at 31, and anchored four Thomas Cup-winning Indonesian teams. Renowned for elegant, effortless movement and a whip-like smash, Hartono dominated an amateur age when the All England effectively served as the world title, drawing fervent crowds and giving the sport its first true glamour. Widely named among the greatest players of the twentieth century, he set the template for Indonesia's enduring badminton dynasty and remains the benchmark against which all All England greatness is measured, more than four decades after his final title.
The case for Susi Susanti
Susi Susanti delivered Indonesia's first-ever Olympic gold medal of any kind at Barcelona 1992, winning the inaugural women's singles title on the same day her future husband Alan Budikusuma took the men's crown — a national fairy tale watched by a spellbound country. She added the 1993 World Championship and four All England titles (1990, 1991, 1993, 1994), and won the World Cup a record five times. Playing with metronomic consistency, tireless defence and an unbreakable competitive calm, she was the finest women's player of the early 1990s and the pioneer who proved the women's game could carry a nation's hopes. Her Barcelona gold remains one of the sport's most emotionally resonant moments and the foundation of Indonesia's badminton identity, and she is universally regarded as one of the greatest women ever to play the game.