The wait is over – after four years, YONEX US Open 2023 marks the post-COVID return of the HSBC BWF World Tour to American soil.

This is also the first time the 69-year-old event is hosted in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

• Lin Chun-yi and Hsu Ya Ching are the only former winners competing.
• Both won in 2019, although Hsu is back in women’s doubles with Lin Wan Ching after winning mixed doubles alongside Lee Jhe-Huei last time out.
• If they repeat glory, Lin and Hsu will be the maiden Chinese Taipei shuttlers to triumph twice in a row.
• Lin will also emulate Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen, the previous player to win the same discipline at back-to-back editions in 2014.
• None of the top seeds have US Open titles. Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Ye Hong Wei (men’s and mixed doubles) and Maiken Fruergaard/Sara Thygesen are making their tournament debuts.
• Although they possess the top seeds, women’s doubles is a category Denmark have not aced following Rikke Olsen/Helene Kirkegaard’s success in 1994.
• Goh Sze Fei/Nur Izzuddin, at their first competition since reuniting, have the additional incentive of snapping Malaysia’s 31-year drought in men’s doubles. Legends Cheah Soon Kit/Soo Beng Kiang were the last to win in 1992.
• China have won men’s singles only once, via Xiong Guobao in 1984. Canada Open runner-up Li Shi Feng (No.2 seed) and Weng Hong Yang (5) are strong contenders to add to that.
• Thailand’s sole title in the discipline was bagged 20 years before that. Triumph for Vitidsarn will end a 59-year dry spell.
• Beiwen Zhang is the most recent American champion (2014). This year, the hosts have seeded hopes in women’s pair Annie Xu/Kerry Xu (8) and mixed pair Vinson Chiu/Jennie Gai (5).
• In five subsequent editions since Beiwen’s victory, only players from Japan and China have taken women’s singles honours.
• A Pusarla V. Sindhu success will make her the first women’s singles winner from India in tournament history. Prannoy H. S. (2017) is the single Indian with US Open silverware.
• No nation has swept clean the accolades since Korea in 1897.

Standout Stat: Thailand’s lone women’s singles titlist is mixed doubles star Sapsiree Taerattanachai (2013).