How we got here
The two-time Olympic Champion is finally returning to the badminton court after 182 days of recovering from injury. At the All England back in April, the star went out in the first round. There, a disappointed Axelsen stated that he needed a longer break, and that he was constantly in pain.

After hoping for a quick recovery and aiming to be back to tournaments within weeks, surgery revealed that it would take a longer process to achieve a full recovery. The star had then aimed to participate in the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025, returning to the venue that secured him his second Olympic medal. In this case, however, Axelsen had to listen to the strong recommendation from his doctors, advising him against playing at the World Championships as further recovery was necessary, again prolonging Viktor Axelsen’s absence from tournaments.

Hong Kong Open
And now, he will compete at this week's LI-NING Hong Kong Open 2025, but in what shape will he be coming back? Speaking to Danish broadcaster TV2 Sport, he expresses that “[t]he result is not important, what is most important is that my back holds up, and that I can be excited to play again.”

He will use the tournament to come back into competition shape, not necessarily aiming to win.

He will be facing Chou Tien Chen in the first round, an extremely difficult opponent which in any other tournament sounds like a matchup for a semifinal or final. But since Axelsen is now placed 18th in the ranking, tougher opponents will now be par for the course at earlier stages in tournaments.

What to look for
It will be interesting to see how Axelsen looks playing in a competition, as we have only seen glimpses of him on the training court. Can he climb back up the rankings? Can he come back to winning tournaments? Can he ultimately play in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles — where a gold is his major goal for his legacy? We will have a much greater idea of all of those questions once we see him back on the court again this week.

We just hope to see a Viktor who is feeling well and is confident in his game again without worrying about injuries.

Other Europeans at the event

Men’s singles

• Viktor Axelsen

• Rasmus Gemke

• Christo Popov

• Toma Popov

• Wang Yeu Hang (qualification)

• Heng Lin Ngain (qualification)

Women’s singles

• Mia Blichfeldt

• Line Kjærsfeldt

• Line Christophersen

• Julie Dawall Jakobsen

• Polina Buhrova

• Amalie Schulz (qualification)

Men’s doubles

• Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen

• Ben Lane/Sean Vendy

• Christo Popov/Toma Popov

• Daniel Lundgaard/Mads Vestergaard

• William Bøe/Christian Faust Kjær (qualification)

Women’s doubles

• Polina Buhrova/Yevheniia Kantemyr

Mixed doubles

• Mads Vestergaard/Christine Busch

• Jesper Toft/Amalie Magelund

• Callum Hemming/Estelle Van Leeuwen

• Oleksii Titov/Yevheniia Kantemyr