Jonatan Christie

Leonardus Jonatan Christie (born 15 September 1997) is an Indonesian badminton player specializing in the singles discipline affiliated with the Tangkas Specs club.

Christie was called up to join the Indonesian national team in 2012, after he reached the semi-finals of the 2012 National Championships in Solo, Central Java.

In July 2013, Christie won his first international senior title at 15 years old at the Indonesia International Challenge, after beating the experienced Alamsyah Yunus who is 11 years older than him in the final by 21–17, 21–10.

Christie started the 2014 season as the world number 1 in BWF boys' singles ranking.

Although still competing in the junior tournament, Christie again has reached the finals of the senior event in the 2014 Indonesia International Challenge, but he has not managed to defend his title after being defeated by the Korean veteran Lee Hyun-il by 5 sets, 10–11, 11–9, 11–5, 8–11, 3–11.

In October, he won the Swiss International.

He won the men's singles title at the 2017 SEA Games and at the 2018 Asian Games.

In 2017, Christie reached the finals of the Thailand Open Grand Prix, and later the Korea Open Super Series event.

He was defeated by B. Sai Praneeth in Thailand and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in Korea.

In August, he won gold medals at the SEA Games in the men's singles and team event.

In 2018, Christie and the Indonesian men's team managed to defend the Asia Team Championships title after beating China 3–1 in the final.

In May, he advanced to the finals of the New Zealand Open, but was beaten by two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan in straight games.

At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, he won 21–18, 20–22, 21–15 over Chou Tien-chen and took the badminton men's singles gold medal for Indonesia.

In the team event, he helped the Indonesian team earn silver medal.

Christie opened the 2019 season as number 11 in the BWF World ranking.

He played at the Malaysia Masters, but had to defeat in the second round to reigning Olympic champion Chen Long, the head-to-head record between the players stood at 0–6.

He then lost in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Masters to Anders Antonsen in straight games.

In March Europe tour, he fell in the early stages of the All England and Swiss Opens.

In April, he advance to the semi-finals os the Malaysia Open beating World number 1 Kento Momota in the second round, and Viktor Axelsen in the quarter-finals, both in straight games.

His pace then was stopped by Chen Long in rubber games.

This result allowed him to beat four out of the world's top five men's singles players (Kento Momota, Shi Yuqi, Chou Tien-chen and Viktor Axelsen) in the BWF World rankings.

A week later in the quarter-finals of the Singapore Open, Axelsen avenged his previous defeat in a close rubber games, with a score of 24–22, 18–21, and 22–24.

In May 2019, Christie claimed two titles in the Oceania tour, by winning the New Zealand and Australian Opens.

Christie then reached the finals of the Super 750 event, the Japan and French Opens.

The other results of Christie in 2019 was the semi-finalists in the Hong Kong Open; the quarter-finalists in the Korea, Indonesia, Fuzhou China Opens and the World Championships.

His unsatisfactory results came from the China Open and the Asian Championships, where he was defeated in the first round.

He then qualified to World Tour Finals, where his journey ended in the group stage.

He reached a career high of number four in the BWF World ranking on 6 August 2019.

Christie was part of Indonesia's winning team at the 2020 Thomas Cup.

Christie competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

He topped the group G standings after beating Aram Mahmoud and Loh Kean Yew.

He lost to Shi Yuqi of China in straight games and was knocked out at the Round of 16.

In September–October 2021, Christie alongside the Indonesian team competed at the 2021 Sudirman Cup in Vantaa, Finland.

He played a match in the group stage against Brian Yang of Canada, but was defeated in the rubber games.

Indonesia advanced to the knockout stage but lost at the quarterfinals against Malaysia.

He made up for his less than favorable performance in the previous tournaments at the 2020 Thomas Cup, notably sealing Indonesia's victory against Denmark at the semifinals in a 100-minute match against Anders Antonsen and against China in the finals against Li Shifeng.

He continued his form at the Denmark Open, but was forced to retire from his quarterfinal match against Kento Momota due to a waist injury, which forced him to withdraw from the French Open.

During the three tournaments in Bali, Christie was defeated by Srikanth Kidambi at the second round of Indonesia Masters, but bounced back by reaching the semifinals of Indonesia Open.

Christie did not qualify for the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals.

Christie started his 2022 season with a second-round exit at German Open.