I read an ITTF science report a while back that stated the CNT often uses the first game in a match to gather diagnostic information on their opponent. They have extensive scouting reports on all the top players, and they use the first game to examine patterns and tendencies related to what they know about the player. They will specifically use serves, serve returns, and placements during rallies to see how their opponent responds. They are then able to better craft a strategy for the remaining games. Since then I don't get too excited when someone wins the first game from a CNT player.
I think it was the same article that stated that something like 40% of games at world class levels achieve a score of 9-9, so the CNT also has specific tactics prepared for those situations against every opponent they will face.
Not only are they all gifted and well-trained athletes, they are exceptionally well prepared.
Yeap, a chinese member of mytt translated some videos. They have a team of statistics that keep record of all the points in every tournament (including CTTSL) of the top CNT members.
They analyze everything points won ir lost with FH,BH, pushes flicks everythin. One specific example is Ma long's behavior in important tournaments. When he is leading in score the average seconds that he takes to pick up the ball and get ready to serve is 18-23 seconds something like that. When the situation is tense or he is behind in score he does 12-14 seconds
So he had sessions with psychologists and coaches discussing what is goin in his head during those situations and tried to found solutions to achieve equilibrium/relaxation in ma long's state of mind
Same thing for ZJK who found it very diffuclt to get into the zone in team's matches ( 3 sets), since he is a slow starter even in singles (4 sets) and got early into trouble in many team's matches
