Nami Matsuyama (松山 奈未, Matsuyama Nami; born 28 June 1998) is a Japanese badminton player affiliated with the Saishunkan team.[1][2] She is the bronze medalist at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[3] Matsuyama helps the national team won the 2020 Asia Team Championships.[4] She reached a career high as world number 2 in the BWF World rankings on 8 November 2022 with her current partner Chiharu Shida.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tournaments on the BWF World Tour were either cancelled or rescheduled since 2020. Matsuyama was then included in the Japanese squad for the Sudirman and Uber Cup held in Denmark, where the team won the silver medals in both competitions. The pair of Matsuyama and Shida proved their prowess by winning two tournaments at the Indonesia badminton festival, the Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open,[19][20] and becoming runners-up at the BWF World Tour Finals held in Bali at the end of 2021.[21] Shida made her debut in the World Championships in Spain together with Matsuyama, reaching the quarter-finals. For their achievements, they entered top 10 in the BWF world ranking.
Started the 2022 season as world number 7, Matsuyama and Shida won the All England Open title beating Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu in the final.[22] They competed in the Asian Championships, but were eliminated in the quarter-finals to Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan.[23] The pair won their second title of the year in the Thailand Open by defeating Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara in the final.[24] Their good performance continue in the Indonesia Open triumph over Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota. [25][26] They also made a history as the first ever women's doubles to win three consecutive BWF World Tour Super 1000 event.[26] The duo then reached the finals in the Malaysia Masters, but have not been able to beat the world number 1 women's doubles pairing Chen and Jia.[27] They qualified to compete in the World Championships, but their pace were stopped in the quarter-finals to Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong.[28] Matsuyama and Shida reached their career high as world number 2 in the BWF world ranking in November 2022.
In the beginning of the 2023 season, Matsuyama and Shida took an easy win over Chen and Jia to claimed the India Open title, due to ill-health suffered by Chen.[29] Matsuyama and Shida then suffered five consecutive defeats from the South Korean new pairing Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee; in the finals of the German Open,[30] quarter-finals of the Malaysia Masters and Singapore Open,[31][32] second round of the All England Open,[33] and also in the first round of the Asian Championships.[34] They then finally topped the podium at the Canada Open after won the final against Matsumoto and Nagahara.[35] Chen and Jia are still too tough for Matsuyama and Shida. They have lost all of five meetings in the second half of the season; in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open,[36]World Championships,[37] and Asian Games;[38] semi-finals of the China Open; and then in the final of the Denmark Open.[39] The duo then won their third title of the year in the China Masters.[40] Matsuyama and Shida qualified to compete in the year-end finals tournament, the BWF World Tour Finals,[41] reaching to the semi-finals, where they were defeated again by Baek and Lee.[42]
2024–2025: Olympic bronze, second All England title
Matsuyama reached the finals in the French and Singapore Opens with Shida, but were defeated by Chen and Jia.[43][44] They lost to Baek and Lee in the All England Open in a close rubber game.[45] Matsuyama and Shida qualified to compete in the 2024 Summer Olympics. In their debut at the Olympics, the duo managed to win a bronze medal.[3] In the end of the season they were nominated as women's doubles player of the year by the Badminton World Federation.[46] The duo also reached the World Tour Finals after beating their arch-rivals Chen and Jia in the semi-finals,[47] but lost the title to Baek and Lee.[48]
In 2025, Matsuyama clinched her second All England Open title with Shida, after beating new pairing Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.[49] They then made their first finals in the Asian Championships and won the silver medal.[50]
On July 8, Matsuyama announced a split with Shida after a decade-long partnership ending with the 2025 BWF World Championships in Paris, France.[51]
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[52] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.[53]
^Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.