Viktor Axelsen
Fu Haifeng
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Fu Haifeng leads 1 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Viktor Axelsen at #4 and Fu Haifeng at #11.
Head-to-head FAQ
Who leads more shared metrics?
How do the published ranks compare?
Are these live stats?
The case for Viktor Axelsen
The dominant men's singles player of the 2020s and Europe's finest since the amateur era, Viktor Axelsen became the first non-Asian man in decades to rule the sport outright. The 1.94-metre Dane won Olympic gold in Tokyo 2020 and defended it in Paris 2024, and holds two World titles (2017, 2022) plus All England crowns in 2020 and 2022. Blending a colossal reach, a steep jump smash and hard-won patience, he strung together a spell of near-total dominance around 2021 and 2022, losing only a handful of matches across the seasons. Fluent in Mandarin and famously professional, he relocated to train at altitude in Dubai to extend his career. His rivalries — with Kento Momota, and later a rising field of Asian challengers — have defined the post-Lin Dan landscape and proved that the sport's summit is no longer an Asian monopoly.
The case for Fu Haifeng
The finest men's doubles player of his generation, Fu Haifeng powered China's dominance with the hardest smash the sport had seen — his 332 km/h effort at the 2005 Sudirman Cup stood as a world record and helped define the modern power-doubles era. Partnering Cai Yun, he won Olympic gold at London 2012 and four World Championships (2006, 2009, 2010, 2011), a men's doubles record, then added a second Olympic gold at Rio 2016 alongside Zhang Nan, aged 32. A left-handed rear-court hitter of terrifying force, he anchored multiple Thomas Cup and Sudirman Cup-winning Chinese teams across a 16-year career. Fu proved that doubles could be as thrilling and as decorated as singles, and his blistering attack reshaped how the discipline was played, making the flat, fast, downward game the template for every top pairing that followed.