Ma Long's first match since his injury - 2018

[TableTennisDaily]

Hey everyone,

TTLondon2012 has just uploaded Ma Long's first match since his injury. Here he is playing Zhou Qihao in the Chinese Super League:

Ma Long even pulls off a swap hand!

 

[Lightzy]

He gave him the beatdown and then gave him the smackdown and the ole' sugar-me-do.
Took him to school (and picked him up at 15:30).

The answer is fries.

 

[TTHopeful]

Hes back!

 

[Crunchyhippo]

I wasn't aware that he was injured. What happened? I saw that he fell in the rankings and just attributed it to advancing age - LOL.

 

[Loopadoop]

Ma is a solid player for his #11 World Ranking.

 

[Suga D]

Oh captain, my captain!
Tabletennis just isn't the same without you.
Lovely return to the game.

 

[Crunchyhippo]

Yes, but once a #1 player falls to #11, they almost never reclaim their former ranking. He's more than likely going to be chasing the next upcoming generation the rest of his career, like Zhendong, Ovtcharov, and Harimoto among others. After all, Ma Long was #1 for about eight years straight (with a few dips).

 

[JST]

Yes, but once a #1 player falls to #11, they almost never reclaim their former ranking. He's more than likely going to be chasing the next upcoming generation the rest of his career, like Zhendong, Ovtcharov, and Harimoto among others. After all, Ma Long was #1 for about eight years straight (with a few dips).

It's very likely that he is now concentrating on two last big events of his career: WM2019 in Hungary and Olympics 2020 in Tokyo. And because internal Chinese qualification is independent on World Ranking (top 12 players) then he doesn't need to give a s**t if he is #1, #2 or #20. Yes, for seeding to the tournament he want to be in top10 but if he meets FZD in semi or final isn't probably too important for him. He will need to be in top shape and beat him or he will simply close the shop without the gold on his last event.

 

[mrk]

Ovtcharov isn't someone from the upcoming generation, he is older than Ma Long!

 

[FruitLoop]

Yes, but once a #1 player falls to #11, they almost never reclaim their former ranking. He's more than likely going to be chasing the next upcoming generation the rest of his career, like Zhendong, Ovtcharov, and Harimoto among others. After all, Ma Long was #1 for about eight years straight (with a few dips).

He should be inspired by Nadal, Djokovic and Federer.

 

[Richie]

He's still number 1 in my eyes and will be for quite a while. The most dominant, accomplished and complete player of this era.
Seriously, who cares about the official ranking, lets instead watch the quality table tennis that a player like Ma Long can produce and has produced. It will however be interesting to see who will be the "next" Ma Long so to speak. Potentially FZD.

 

[Crunchyhippo]

He's still number 1 in my eyes and will be for quite a while. The most dominant, accomplished and complete player of this era.
Seriously, who cares about the official ranking, lets instead watch the quality table tennis that a player like Ma Long can produce and has produced. It will however be interesting to see who will be the "next" Ma Long so to speak. Potentially FZD.

An Ma Long is far more fun to watch than Zhendong, for sure. He's just one more Chinese, cookie-cutter player to me.

 

[vik2000]

He's far from being just a cookie cutter Chinese player. His footwork and his sheer strength in executing every single shot is just a joy to watch. I enjoy watching ML of course as well.

 

[Richie]

An Ma Long is far more fun to watch than Zhendong, for sure. He's just one more Chinese, cookie-cutter player to me.

Not sure I agree with you here. They're both very impressive in different ways. I've now watched FZD live a couple of times and he is one of the most impressive players I've ever seen. His power is out of this world. What many people seem to think is that he's a generic player, I can sort of understand that if you compare to a player like Ma Long. From having watched pro tt a few times now, the screen really doesn't do them justice and I think especially doesn't do FZD justice, seeing it for real is like entering a different world.

FZD just seems to make lots of other incredible top players look like amateurs when he executes his shots.
I agree with vik2000.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

Yes, but once a #1 player falls to #11, they almost never reclaim their former ranking. He's more than likely going to be chasing the next upcoming generation the rest of his career, like Zhendong, Ovtcharov, and Harimoto among others. After all, Ma Long was #1 for about eight years straight (with a few dips).

I guess you don't understand how the new ranking point allocation works
should any of the new generation be absent from any world tours + having point expired, the likes of FZD can easily fall into WR20 or more within a very short time spam.
Just like the likes of Ding Ning was ranked 40 or 60 something at one stage this year....she is back to number 2 in just a few months of "active" table tennis

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I wasn't aware that he was injured. What happened? I saw that he fell in the rankings and just attributed it to advancing age - LOL.

his world ranking fell because of 2 withdrawals of world tours due to injury, thus he lost more points than gained
I guess Timo Bolls advancing age and his number 3 rank must be difficult for you to accept....

 

[Crunchyhippo]

his world ranking fell because of 2 withdrawals of world tours due to injury, thus he lost more points than gained
I guess Timo Bolls advancing age and his number 3 rank must be difficult for you to accept....

I don't care one way or the other. I'm not sure why you've assumed that I'm broken up about it. Maybe you shouldn't jump to conclusions.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I don't care one way or the other. I'm not sure why you've assumed that I'm broken up about it. Maybe you shouldn't jump to conclusions.

If all your 4 (at this current point time) posts on this forum is all in this thread, I thought you cared a lot
lol
any ways, hope you not a troll or ZJK girls fans club member
enjoy this forum

 

[Ioiettino]

Oh captain, my captain!
Tabletennis just isn't the same without you.
Lovely return to the game.

Yes!!

His TT IQ and mental strength (that's because he's one of the goodies ) are off the charts, it's not as if he always relied on muscle strength. I could see a Pirlo-style (or take any other of your picks) adaptation to a successful and classy end of career. He's sure got the swagger, and I kind of see in him the same good-natured attitude and love of the game you need to make it far and late. CNT politics, on the other hand, is maybe the biggest threat...


Anyhow, not sure if it was clear but I've got very high hopes that the best matches are yet to come!

 

[Lightzy]

The match vz fang bo was also nice.

Ma Long won 3-0 of course cuz fang bo is the punching bag of the chinese team, but you can see Ma Long doesn't move laterally as he did before. Lots of odd on-body blocks where I was used to seeing him pivot and counter-attack, and many sideways balls he couldn't (it almost seems like he wouldn't) reach.

That said his forehand is still the best forehand I've ever seen in my life and if anything looks even better now