Build your perfect WTT player

[olive-nguyen]

He has a good BH, but not SH pro level...

Of course, Joo is one of the legends!

I put Xu Xin for feeling, not for forehand. Xu's forehand is extremely powerful, for sure (I based my forehand off his and RSM's!) but it doesn't have the power, just the spin. If you see ML or RSM in their prime, the ball gets shot out of their racket like a bullet! For Xu it's just really really spinny (you need great feeling for that)

Makes sense, so it's strength excels in another way and not as much speed kills like Ma Long and Ryu.

I have to say though that Ryu's forehand seemed to have lost quite a bit of topspin end speed after the ban of speed glue. Maybe that had an effect on forehand for the later generations?

Nice to know who you learn your forehand from.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

Makes sense, so it's strength excels in another way and not as much speed kills like Ma Long and Ryu.

Yep! If you look at the spin on that, it's crazy!

I have to say though that Ryu's forehand seemed to have lost quite a bit of topspin end speed after the ban of speed glue. Maybe that had an effect on forehand for the later generations?

Of course, it applied to everyone. It didn't really change much after though. The ball change was the big one

Nice to know who you learn your forehand from.

Yep, always learn from the masters!

 

[Dr Evil]

By the way I don't see anyone putting Xu Xin for forehand in the list. Is prime Xu Xin's forehand comparable to prime Ma Long's forehand?

Better quality. Ma Long's forehand was excellent but not overwhelming on a shot for shot basis. This is according to my coach who played him. For sheer quality he'd pick someone like Xu Xin or Quadri Aruna. And yet he'd still pick Ma Long's forehand as the best because it was so solid and precise.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

Better quality. Ma Long's forehand was excellent but not overwhelming on a shot for shot basis. This is according to my coach who played him. For sheer quality he'd pick someone like Xu Xin or Quadri Aruna. And yet he'd still pick Ma Long's forehand as the best because it was so solid and precise.

Aruna is an interesting pick from your coach... I personally am not too much of a fan of his forehand cuz it looks a little off. But I can see where he is coming from. Aruna is a great player!

 

[Dr Evil]

Aruna is an interesting pick from your coach... I personally am not too much of a fan of his forehand cuz it looks a little off. But I can see where he is coming from. Aruna is a great player!

Aruna's forehand looks pretty wild, but he's not just blasting it through people. He's very precise.

 

[Angerer]

I wouldn't pick Aruna simply because his forehand power doesn't convert into results. In recent years, he mastered the skill of exiting tournaments in the 1st round.

 

[land_killer]

Forehand: ML
Backhand: FZD
Serves: LYJ
Mentality: FZD
Feeling: Truls
Personality: FZD
Power: Aruna
Celebration: Harimoto

 

[joshmak10]

I think Harimoto chose a very underrated mentality in Liang Jingkun. Considering he is a comeback man I think he has one of the best mentalities in the world.

 

[Manto76]

Just for fun, I'm going to build my perfect non-CNT player:

Forehand: Aruna
Backhand: Calderano
Serves: Ovtcharov
Mentality: Boll
Feeling: Gauzy
Personality: Aruna
Power: Karlsson
Celebration: Moregard

 

[Snek]

Forehand: Ma Long
Backhand: Lin Shidong
Serves: Wang Chuqin
Mentality: Fan Zhendong
Feeling: Xu Xin
Personality: Benedek Olah
Power: Ma Long
Celebration: Ma Long

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Just for fun, I'm going to build my perfect non-CNT player:

Forehand: Aruna
Backhand: Calderano
Serves: Ovtcharov
Mentality: Boll
Feeling: Gauzy
Personality: Aruna
Power: Karlsson
Celebration: Moregard

This could be fun...

Non-CNT:

Forehand: Aruna
Backhand: Harimoto
Serves: Felix
Mentality: Duda
Feeling: Truls or Gauzy tie
Personality: Truls
Power: Hugo and Aruna tie
Celebration: Harimoto

 

[disaster3]

Non-CNT:

Forehand - Aruna
Backhand - Darko Jorgic
Serves - Felix Lebrun
Mentality - Duda
Feeling - Gauzy
Power - Hugo Calderano
Personality - Truls
Celebration - Truls

All:

Forehand - Ma Long
Backhand - Lin Shindong
Serve - WCQ
Mentality - Fan Zhendong
Feeling - Gauzy
Power - Hugo Calderano
Personality - Fan Zhendong
Celebration - Truls

 

[ThePongCommenter]

I wouldn't pick Aruna simply because his forehand power doesn't convert into results. In recent years, he mastered the skill of exiting tournaments in the 1st round.

First round exits don't mean what they used to with the way WTT does the draws now. It is not uncommon to draw a good player in the first round, he drew WCQ first at the recent Chongqing event.

Saying his forehand power doesn't convert into results is pretty wild though....

 

[olive-nguyen]

I will just add the video of the interview with Wang Chu Qin here.

 

[YELLOWCLAM]

Forehand: Ma Long
Backhand: Xu Xin
Serve: Wang Chuqin
Mentality: Fan Zhendong
Feeling: Xu Xin
Power: Quadri Aruna
Personality: Ma Long
Celebration: Ma Long

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Forehand: Ma Long
Backhand: Xu Xin
Serve: Wang Chuqin
Mentality: Fan Zhendong
Feeling: Xu Xin
Power: Quadri Aruna
Personality: Ma Long
Celebration: Ma Long

Xu Xin backhand

 

[NextLevel]

My perfect non-CNT players (using a different philosophy from my original answers):

Forehand: Truls Moregard
Backhand: Liam Pitchford
Serve: Quadri Aruna
Mentality: Harimoto
Feeling: Anders Lind
Power: Alexis Lebrun
Personality: Simon Gauzy
Celebration: Darko Jorgic

 

[olive-nguyen]

Forehand: Ma Long
Backhand: Xu Xin
Serve: Wang Chuqin
Mentality: Fan Zhendong
Feeling: Xu Xin
Power: Quadri Aruna
Personality: Ma Long
Celebration: Ma Long

? Xu xin for backhand. I really don't think so much as a Xuperman fan.

 

[rpb23]

Isn't Boll and Fan too?

As Long as they played WTT events, they are counted. The task is 'build your perfect WTT player'.

 

[rpb23]

I truly believe that Ma Longs FH is overrated and his game brain, game savvy and tactical awareness are underestimated. 🤷‍♂️
FZD matched him on both sides of the table for years but ML often found a different way to win.
As the saying goes, power is nothing without control. In this regard I think ML is perfect 😉

On the contrary, I think ML's forehand is underrated. With a useful but unimpressive backhand, he has to have a great forehand to achieve the goat status. His forehand is not the most powerful (maybe not even in the top 5) but with top notch consistency, timing, pace and change, trajectory, placement, counter-loop/drive, and more importantly, the extremely high usage.
ML battled many years against two of his teammates with monster backhand in ZJK and FZD, he has significantly better H2H advantage against both them. The key part for his winning? Using his forehand against their backhand. How many times we saw ML would pivot from backhand to forehand in a backhand to backhand exchange and winning the point? It's still true in most cases nowadays that a good forehand still can power through or outlast a great backhand in a rally.