After a clean sweep victory in the Men's Singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ma Long became the fifth player to complete a career Grand Slam (winning the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup), joining Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner and China's Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, and Zhang Jike. Additionally, he became the first male player (and second overall) in the world to have won every singles title in table tennis.
Contents [hide]
1 Playing style
2 Career
3 Career records
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Playing style[edit]
Arguably the best two-winged looper in table tennis history, Ma's playing style is that of the modern strategy of close-range third ball play. At the beginning of his career, his play strategy was primarily forehand-oriented, dominating play with powerful forehand loops, only using his backhand for controlled returns and to set up the forehand. He still plays a forehand-oriented style, but his backhand has become more consistent and stable as his career has progressed. Ma uses his backhand mainly to aggressively block and drive, but will occasionally loop himself. Opponents are usually caught off guard when he suddenly loops with his backhand, which he can do near the table or away from it. Compared to when he was younger, he is much more confident using his backhand to attack and defend.
While he may not be the most powerful player on the Chinese National Team, Ma is the most unpredictable. Fellow Chinese teammates have remarked that he is a very tactical player and is always searching for a solution. His serves appear to be traditional pendulum serves, but are some of the most visually deceptive in the world, with very subtle differences in spin and service motion. The Dragon is very quick on his feet, which makes it very difficult to get him out of position and allows him to track down balls and recover from situations that most other players couldn't. Ma is also the most prominent employer of the chop block on the Chinese National Team, which he uses to cross up his opponents. Initially used when he was out of position or to counter slow loops with heavy side spin, he now uses it as a tactic in games, adding another weapon he can confuse opponents with.
Career[edit]
After winning both the Asian and World Junior Championships, Ma became the youngest world champion at 17 years old after he participated in the 2006 Bremen World Team Championship. Ma developed his foundations under the tutelage of Wang Hao and former Chinese National Team coach Ma Kai Xuan before studying under Qin Zhi Jian. Before turning 22, he had great success in singles, reaching the finals of 11 ITTF World Tour tournaments (winning 8). He won the Asian Cup and World Tour Grand Finals twice, and also made it to the final round of the Asian Championships two times (losing to Wang Hao in 2007 and winning in 2009). In addition, he played in the finals of the China National Games and All China Championships, losing both matches to Wang.
Despite being the #1 player in the world for much of 2010–2012 stretch he was not chosen to represent China at the 2012 Olympics due to his temporary dip in ratings that happened after a 560-day win streak on the ITTF World Tour. In the first place, he suffered career setback by Japan's Koki Niwa in six games at the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament and then subsequently lost to Lee Sang-su at the 2012 Korea Open, 4–1. Players were selected based on the ITTF World Rankings. As a result, he was not given an opportunity to win an Olympic medal in singles at the time when he was widely accepted as the best table tennis player in the world.
Chinese National Team coach Liu Guoliang remarked that Ma had all the tools necessary to be the best, yet at major tournaments, he had so far lacked sufficient mental toughness to play to his full ability when under pressure. This was evident in his losses to Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov in the 2008 and 2009 World Cup semifinals as well as his defeats to Wang Hao (4–1, 4–2, 4–2) in the semifinals of three consecutive World Championships (2009, 2011, and 2013). Although he performed well on the ITTF World Tour and in domestic competitions, Ma never made it to the final of the World Championships in his first four attempts. This led to many believing he was inferior to compatriot Zhang Jike, who completed his Grand Slam in just over a year.
After his third defeat to Wang Hao at the WTTC in 2013, Ma had a successful year. He won the China Open at two different locations (beating Wang and then Xu Xin in the final), the Asian Championships (for the third time), and the China National Games in a full-stretch match against Fan Zhendong. However, Xu defeated him 4–3 at the end of the year at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.
In March 2014, he won the Asian Cup for the fourth time, again defeating Fan in seven games. At the 2014 WTTC, he didn't lose a single set. In the final against Germany, he played a pivotal role, beating Timo Boll in the opening match and defeating Dimitrij Ovtcharov for the win. For his efforts, he was awarded the Victor Barna Award as the tournament's best player. He then won the China Open for the fifth time, which tied him with Wang Liqin for the most ever. Ma's first encounter with Zhang Jike at a Grand Slam competition came in October 2014, at the World Cup in Düsseldorf. Although he was leading 3–2 in sets, Ma lost the match, saving two match points in the deciding game but still losing 10–12. This led to further criticism of his inability to come through on the biggest stages at the toughest moments. In November, he reached the final of the All China Championships, but was defeated by Fan, 4–2, again ending the year on a sour note.
However, 2015 would prove to be Ma's year. He won the Kuwait Open, beating Xu Xin 4–1 in the final, and then the German Open, getting revenge on Zhang Jike in an intense final after being down 3–1. But his biggest win came at the 2015 WTTC, where he did not drop more than one set until the final where he defeated tournament sensation Fang Bo in six games. This was a huge breakthrough for him, as his only other major singles title was the 2012 World Cup. After a surprising 4–1 loss to Shang Kun at the Japan Open, Ma won the China Open for a record sixth time, winning 4–1 against Xu Xin. In September, he led Ningbo over Fan Zhendong and Bayi to win the Chinese Super League championship. Injuries prevented him from competing at the Asian Championships, but he participated in the World Cup in Halmstad in October. Following a dropped set to Omar Assar in the round of 16, he did not lose another game in the competition, allowing his opponents to score an average of 6 points per set the rest of the tournament. He did not participate in the last two World Tour tournaments of the year, again due to injuries, but still was seeded first at the World Tour Grand Finals because he had won 3 other World Tour tournaments. In the final, he faced Fan again, winning 11–9 in the last game of a full-stretch match, coming back from being down 3–2 in sets (after being up 2–0), including down 8–6 in the sixth and 6–2 in the decider (when he won 8 points in a row). In 2015, Ma only lost once in international competition and just five times overall.
Ma won the German Open in January 2016, going undefeated until the final, where he beat Vladimir Samsonov 4–1. While helping China win the 2016 WTTC over Japan in Kuala Lumpur, he didn't lose a game, which extended his unbeaten streak to three straight World Team Championships. In March, he reached the final of the Kuwait Open, but was defeated 4–1 by Zhang Jike, who had recently defeated him 5–4 in China's Trials for the 2016 WTTC. However, a week later, he won the Qatar Open by defeating Fan in five games, breaking Wang Liqin's record for most ITTF World Tour singles titles by a Chinese player. In April, he directly qualified for the Olympic Singles in Rio by winning his section of the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament, taking down Zhang and then Fan in six and five games respectively. After this, Ma remained world #1, despite not participating in another international competition until the middle of June. Within a span of two weeks, Xu Xin beat him twice, first in the semifinals of the Japan Open (his second consecutive loss at that station dating back to last year) in six games, and then in the full-stretch final of the Korea Open (Xu had also beaten him the last time he participated at Korea, in the final in 2013). This was the shortest time between international losses for Ma since 2012 (when he lost to Niwa and Lee). At the Olympics in Rio, he automatically qualified to third round in the singles due to his #1 ranking. He swept Denmark's Jonathan Groth, but experienced a scare in the next round when he went down 2–0 to Korea's Jung Young-sik. However, he recovered and won the next four games to advance to the quarterfinals. His next opponent was Quadri Aruna from Nigeria, who had upset Timo Boll and Chuang Chih-yuanto become the first African player to make it to the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics. Ma beat him in four straight games to face Jun Mizutani, Japan's top player, in the semifinals. The first three games were all 11–5 wins by Ma, but Mizutani took the next game 11–7 and the fifth 12–10. Ma won the sixth, again 11–5, to set up a historic final match against reigning Olympic champion Zhang Jike. Their second meeting at a Grand Slam final was very unexpected: Ma took the gold by overpowering Zhang in a 4–0 vanquishment (14–12, 11–5, 11–4, 11–4), the first four-game sweep in an Olympic singles final.
By winning the gold medal in Rio, Ma etched himself a place as an immortal figure in table tennis history. He became the fifth male player to complete the Grand Slam, and the second male to be the defending champion of all three Grand Slam competitions simultaneously (Zhang being the first). He was the second male (after Kong Linghui) to win the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals and the three Grand Slam titles (dubbed a "Full House" in an ITTF article), being the first to win them all consecutively (therefore being the first male to be the reigning champion of all four at the same time) and the fastest to complete it (in just 467 days). In addition, he became the first male to have won every important singles competition possible, from majors to the ITTF World Tour to domestic competitions. The only other player who has done so is Deng Yaping.
As the current World Champion, he was slated to participate in the 2016 World Cup in Saarbrücken, Germany, but withdrew a month before the competition, citing exhaustion in addition to waist and knee pain. He did, however, play in the China Open in Chengdu, where his reasons for withdrawing from the World Cup were brought to light: he barely survived a seven game semifinal with Zhang Jike and was crushed in a sweep by Fan Zhendong in the finals. This marked the first time since the 2008 China Open that Ma lost in four games on the ITTF World Tour, excluding a withdraw from the 2014 Qatar Open due to injury. In December, Ma participated in the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Doha, Qatar, his last international event of the year. Although he entered as the first seed, he received a scare in the round of 16 from host nation's Li Ping, a former Chinese National Team member, going down 1-2. However, he won the next three games to take the match in six games, and beat both Wong Chun Ting and Jung Youngsik 4-0 to face Fan in the final for the second straight year. Just like the previous year, Ma clearly started better, winning the first three, before Fan won the next two, including three championship points, to stay in the match. But despite displaying wonderful resiliency and brilliance under pressure, the 19-year old could not extend the match to seven games. The Dragon closed the year by winning the 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, his record 5th title in the event, more than any other player.[5] This accomplishment also marked his fifth consecutive major title won. However, that success did not carry over to domestic competitions. Despite his team, Shandong Weiqiao, being ranked #1 for much of the 2016 Chinese Super League, they were defeated 3-1 in the semifinals by Bazhou and rising star Liang Jingkun, who beat Ma 3-1 to decide the match. For his accomplishments in 2016, Ma was named male athlete of the year at the China Central Television (CCTV) Sports Awards Gala in Beijing.
Ma began 2017 by winning the Qatar Open in February for the second year in a row, defeating Fan Zhendong 4-1 in the final. However, Fan would get his revenge at China's trials for the 2017 WTTC, dubbed "the Marvellous 12." Ma and Fan, #1 and #2 in the world respectively, each had 9 wins after the first 11-round stage, but Fan beat Ma in their head to head in an exciting three game match that went down to the wire (6-11, 11-5, 12-14). Unfortunately, Ma injured his waist during his final match against Lin Gaoyuan and had to withdraw from the trials, missing out on one of the three guaranteed spots in the 2017 WTTC. The Dragon looked to bounce back at the Asian Championships held in Wuxi in April and while he did contribute to a Chinese victory in the team competition, he lost to Korea's Jeong Sangeun 3-1 in the men's singles round of 32, which was the biggest upset of the tournament.
Despite his up and down start to 2017, Ma was given the chance to participate at the world championships held in Düsseldorf from late May to early June. Entering as the #1 seed, Ma progressed through the first four rounds without too much trouble, except for a tough six game match against Sweden's Anton Kallberg, who he had never played before. In the quarterfinals, he faced host nation's Timo Boll, who had played an excellent tournament in front of his home crowd. Ma prevented the match from going the distance only by coming back from down 8-4 in the sixth game to win 11-9 and 4-2 overall. He quickly booked his place in the final by sweeping teammate Xu Xin, who was making his second appearance in a WTTC singles semifinal (he was also swept by Zhang Jike in 2013). The 2017 WTTC men's singles final did not disappoint. Ma and Fan faced off once again in a major competition, having played each other at least once in every major within the last two years except the Olympics. Fan raced to a 7-1 lead in the first set and took it 11-7. However, Ma quickly came back to win the next three games (11-3, 11-6, 11-8) and it looked like another five or six game win for the World Champion. But as he had done in their past encounters, the fearless 20-year old rose to the occasion. He won the fifth and sixth games (11-5, 11-7) to push the match to a seventh game, the first seven game WTTC men's singles final since Ma Lin's and Wang Liqin's legendary clash in 2007. Fan won the first two points of the set, but Ma raced to a 6-3 lead. Unwilling to give in, Fan leveled it at 7-7, then won the next two points on Ma's serve. Down 7-9 with Fan serving, things did not look good for the Dragon, but he reeled off three in a row to have match point. Afterwards, China's head coach Liu Guoliang remarked that if Fan had chosen a different serve at that crucial juncture at 9-7, he would have had a better chance. But unlike the 2015 Grand Finals, Ma was not able to capitalize with his serve at 10-9 in the seventh. After two loops, Fan hit a big smash to Ma's wide forehand, which tied it at 10-10. Unfortunately for Fan, he was not able to capitalize with his serve either; his third ball banana flick hit the net and went long. Leading 11-10, Ma served short to Fan's wide backhand, then smashed it wide down the line to his forehand, securing the point and the title. The win put him on par with Zhang Jike and Ma Lin for the most Grand Slam titles (5) and he became the first male with 10 major titles. This also marked his sixth consecutive major title won. Since 2015, he has won every major competition he has participated in.
In June, Ma won the Japan Open in Tokyo, beating Xu (who had defeated him there last year) in 6 games and Fan in 5 on his way to the title. This was the first time he won in Japan, meaning he has won at every major station on the ITTF World Tour (Kuwait, Germany, China, Qatar, Japan, and Korea).
From late August to early September, Ma represented Beijing at the 2017 China National Games in three events: singles, doubles, and team. In the team event group stage, Ma and Beijing were put in the same division as defending champions PLA, led by Fan Zhendong. When Beijing and PLA went head to head, Ma beat Zhou Yu 3-1, but was brutally swept by Fan as PLA took the match 3-1 and finished first in the division. However, Beijing still qualified for the knockout stage by winning their other two matches and finishing second in the group. In the team quarterfinals, they faced Lin Gaoyuan and Guangdong. Ma beat Zhou Qihao 3-0, but Beijing still found themselves on the brink of elimination going into the fourth match. Unfortunately for Ma, he lost to Lin in five games (9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 12-14, 4-11) and Beijing bowed out of the team tournament, a disappointing result considering they had finished 3rd in the team event in the last two National Games. The 2011 World Champion men's doubles partnership was reunited as Ma and Xu Xin were paired together in the doubles event. They cruised to the final, sweeping all of their opponents along the way, to face defending champions Fan and Zhou Yu from PLA. The match was epic and went the full seven games. Ma and Xu narrowly lost the final game by the smallest margin (9-11), settling for silver as Fan and Zhou defended their title. After the match, both pairs acknowledged that Xu had been affected by injuries sustained from playing deep into the team event, which he won with Shanghai. The injuries eventually caused Xu to withdraw from the singles event the next day. Similar to the doubles, Ma navigated the singles pretty easily, never dropping more than a game until the final. There, he met Fan yet again, who had received a walk over in the semifinals due to Xu's injuries. After winning the first game, Ma found himself down 2-1, as Fan controlled the rallies with his backhand receive and backhand punch. However, Ma adjusted his tactics and Fan was unable to respond correctly, leading to a 4-2 win and a successful defense of the men's singles title for the Dragon. With the win, he became the second male to win two singles titles at the China National Games (Wang Tao in 1987 and 1997) and is the first to win two in a row. He has played in the last three singles finals at the National Games, the first player to do so.
Career records[edit]
- Singles (as of September 2017)[6]
- Olympic Games: winner (2016).
- World Championships: winner (2015, 2017); SF (2009, 2011, 2013); round of 16 (2007).
- World Cup: winner (2012, 2015); runner-up (2014); SF (2008, 2009).
- ITTF World Tour winner (24): Kuwait, German Open 2007; Korea, Singapore Open 2008; Danish, Kuwait, Harmony China (Suzhou), English Open 2009; German Open 2010; Harmony China (Suzhou), Austrian, Swedish Open 2011; Hungarian Open 2012; Qatar, China (Changchun), Harmony Open (Suzhou) 2013; China (Chengdu) Open 2014; Kuwait, German, China (Chengdu) Open 2015; German, Qatar Open 2016; Qatar, Japan Open 2017.
Runner-up (12): German Open 2005; Japan, Swedish Open 2007; UAE, China (Shenzen) Open 2011; Slovenian, China (Shanghai) Open 2012; Kuwait, Korea, UAE Open 2013; Kuwait, Korea Open, China (Chengdu) Open 2016. - ITTF World Tour Grand Finals: winner (2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016); runner-up (2013); SF (2007).
- Asian Games: winner (2010).
- Asian Championships: winner (2009, 2011, 2013); runner-up (2007).
- Asian Cup: winner (2008, 2009, 2011, 2014).
- China National Games: winner (2013, 2017), runner-up (2009), SF (2005).
- All China Table Tennis Championships: winner (2011); runner-up (2004, 2007, 2014); SF (2008).
- World Junior Championships: winner (2004); QF (2003).
- Asian Junior Championships: winner (2004)
- Men's Doubles
- World Championships: winner (2011); runner-up (2009); round of 16 (2007).
- World Tour winner (20): China (Harbin) Open 2005; Slovenian Open 2006; Swedish Open 2007; Danish, Qatar, English Open 2009; Kuwait, German Open 2010; China (Shenzen), Austrian Open 2011; Slovenian, Korea, China (Shanghai) Open 2012; China (Suzhou), China (Changchun) Open 2013; China (Chengdu) Open 2014; Japan Open 2015; Japan Open, China (Chengdu) Open 2016; Japan Open 2017.
Runner-up (10): China (Shenzhen) Open 2005; Singapore Open 2006; China (Shenzhen) Open 2007; Qatar, Korea Open 2008; Kuwait Open 2009; China (Suzhou) Open 2011; Kuwait, Qatar, Korea Open 2013, China Open 2014. - ITTF World Tour Grand Finals: winner (2006); runner-up (2011); SF (2007).
- Asian Games: winner (2014); SF (2006).
- Asian Championships: winner (2007, 09, 13); SF (2011).
- China National Games: runner-up(2017); SF (2005).
- All China Table Tennis Championships: winner (2010, 2015); runner-up (2006, 2007, 2014); SF (2008).
- World Junior Championships: runner-up (2004).
- Asian Junior Championships: runner-up (2003, 2004).
- Mixed Doubles
- Asian Games: QF (2006).
- Asian Championships: winner (2009); SF (2005).
- China National Games: winner (2013).
- All China Table Tennis Championships: winner (2012); runner-up (2008, 2016).
- World Junior Championships: runner-up (2003, 2004).
- Asian Junior Championships: winner (2004).
- Team
- Olympics: 1st (2012, 2016)
- World Championships: 1st (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016).
- World Team Cup: 1st (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015).
- Asian Games: 1st (2006, 2010, 2014).
- Asian Championships: 1st (2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017).
- China National Games: 3rd (2009, 2013)
- All China Table Tennis Championships: 1st (2011, 2012); 3rd (2007, 2008, 2010).
- Chinese Super League: 1st (2009, 2012, 2013, 2015); 3rd (2014, 2016).
- World Junior Championships: 1st (2003, 2004).
- Asian Junior Championships: 1st (2004).
Summary of Accomplishments
- 3x Olympic Champion (1 Singles, 2 Team)
- 9x World Champion (2 Singles, 1 Doubles, 6 Team)
- 7x World Cup winner (2 Singles, 5 Team)
- 44x ITTF World Tour winner (24 Singles, 20 Doubles)
- 6x ITTF World Tour Grand Finals Champion (5 Singles, 1 Doubles)
- 5x Asian Games winner (1 Singles, 1 Doubles, 3 Team)
- 12x Asian Champion (3 Singles, 2 Doubles, 1 Mixed Doubles, 6 Team)
- 4x Asian Cup winner (4 Singles)
- 3x China National Champion (2 Singles, 1 Mixed Doubles)
- 6x All-China Champion (1 Singles, 2 Doubles, 1 Mixed Doubles, 2 Team)
- 4x Chinese Super League Champion (4 Team)
- 3x World Junior Champion (1 Singles, 2 Team)
- 3x Asian Junior Champion (1 Singles, 1 Mixed Doubles, 1 Team)
- 2015, 2016 ITTF Male Star of the Year
- 2016 CCTV Sports Personality of the Year
- Head to head vs. other notable players (December 2004 – present)
(boldface indicates a Chinese teammate)
- Timo Boll: 16-5
- Chen Chien-An: 3-0
- Chen Qi: 19-2
- Chuang Chih-Yuan: 17-2
- Fan Zhendong: 20-9
- Fang Bo: 10-2
- Marcos Freitas: 4-0
- Gao Ning: 10-0
- Hao Shuai: 20-9
- Jung Youngsik: 6-0
- Joo Se-Hyuk: 20-3
- Petr Korbel: 4-1
- Kalinikos Kreanga: 3-0
- Liang Jingkun: 5-1
- Ma Lin: 30-14
- Michael Maze: 7-0
- Jun Mizutani: 16-0
- Oh Sang-eun: 9-2
- Dimitrij Ovtcharov: 17-0
- Ryu Seungmin: 7-3
- Vladimir Samsonov: 9-5
- Werner Schlager: 9-0
- Tang Peng: 14-0
- Wang Hao: 30-27
- Wang Liqin: 32-12
- Xu Xin: 41-11
- Yan An: 8-3
- Kaii Yoshida: 6-1
- Zhang Jike: 31-10
- Zhou Yu: 10-2
- Other Records
- Went unbeaten for 40 singles matches in December 2011.[7]
- Did not drop a single set in 5 tournaments: Swedish Open 2011, WTTC 2012, World Team Classic 2013, WTTC 2014 and 2016.
- In singles, he has won the World Tour Grand Finals 5 times, the China Open 6 times, the Asian Championships 3 times, and the Asian Cup 4 times, the most ever.
- One of two players to sweep all four medals in an Asian Championship (Fan Zhendong).
- Most ITTF World Tour singles titles (24) of any male Chinese player ever.
- Most major titles (10) of any male player.
- First player to sweep his opponent in an Olympic Singles final since the Olympics extended matches to seven games in 2004.
- Second male player to win the World Championships, World Cup, Olympics, and World Tour Grand Finals. He is the first male player to be the defending champion of all four at the same time.
- Fastest player ever to win all possible singles titles (2,092 days, from November 20, 2010 to August 11, 2016).
- Fastest player ever to complete a "Full House" (467 days, from May 3, 2015 to August 11, 2016).
- First player, male or female, to win the ITTF Star Player of the Year award in consecutive years.
- Won at least one tournament at every major station on the ITTF World Tour.
- First and only male player to have won two consecutive singles titles at the China National Games.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий