Fan Zhendong is joining 1. FC Saarbrücken next season

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I think it is a pretty poor excuse. Imo, he was just not in his best shape 🤷‍♀️
Both things can be true. Clearly, he was missing a lot of balls that we aren't used to seeing him miss and didn't seem to be due to anything Ruiz was doing in particular.

But, tables and balls could've very well been one of the factors contributing as well. Many pros I know who are not excuse makers will frequently mention tables and balls as the biggest factor they need to get used to, and in some cases struggle to, when playing in new venues.
 
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There was a time a couple of years ago when Ma Long and Wang Chuqin made the final of the event and after Wang won, they had to travel to the next event on tour and both lost in the first match they played. Some people just blamed it on tiredness but a coach and friend argued it had a lot to do with the differences in tables and balls across events and that without the time to adapt given how much they had played previously, their instincts were off against high level opposition. While Fan wasn't in quite the same spot, Tibhar tables are notorious for letting the ball go through in ways that most high level tables don't.
Both things can be true. Clearly, he was missing a lot of balls that we aren't used to seeing him miss and didn't seem to be due to anything Ruiz was doing in particular.

But, tables and balls could've very well been one of the factors contributing as well. Many pros I know who are not excuse makers will frequently mention tables and balls as the biggest factor they need to get used to, and in some cases struggle to, when playing in new venues.
 
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To be fair, Ruiz and Duda played really well though.

Ruiz - probably dream to play the Olympic gold medalist once in a llifetime, gave it all in.

Duda - already made really great progress recently.

To make a comparison, Liu Guoliang went to play in the German league after winning the 1996 Olympic gold. He lost 4 matches straight. The German league is no joke, even ML ZJK can lose a few matches.
 
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I don't know about German leagues but us Western neighbours do share a lot of the stuff mentioned so I can relate. One week you play on concrete flooring, the next on wood, and after that on a half dead rubber gym floor. There's hardly any standardized stuff going on because that's impossible to finance in this sport. Most clubs are happy to have any accommodation, they can't be picky. Sometimes you have to be lucky to even get a match approved ball at all 😂 well not at the top flight of course. But that only means that in higher tiers, more people bring their own balls.
 
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Same in german league. First league at least has good tables and balls but they can be different in each club. The floors are pretty much the same in the TTBL they always use some rubber mats but what's under it can he different. Might be wood might be concrete.

Also some clubs play in school gyms or stuff like that. Chinese super league is easy compared everything is standardised
 
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I don't know about German leagues but us Western neighbours do share a lot of the stuff mentioned so I can relate. One week you play on concrete flooring, the next on wood, and after that on a half dead rubber gym floor. There's hardly any standardized stuff going on because that's impossible to finance in this sport. Most clubs are happy to have any accommodation, they can't be picky. Sometimes you have to be lucky to even get a match approved ball at all 😂 well not at the top flight of course. But that only means that in higher tiers, more people bring their own balls.
Any with concrete table?
 
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RomainRuiz
https://weibo.com/7831778553/Q2ADe0i9U

昨天打败小胖的 Ruiz 开通了微博 (Ruiz who beat Little Chubby yesterday has signed up for Weibo)
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10002227121
_6iTL83 哈哈,他是不是要像斯佐科斯那样狂发100条庆祝战胜了奥运冠军
IP属地:四川来自Android客户端2楼2025-09-01 23:08收起回复
(Haha, is he going to take a page from Szocs who posted 100 times to celebrate beating the Olympic champion?)

贴吧用户_0M7K46e 看来德甲的流量确实大,微博这b居然连他都邀请了
IP属地:重庆来自iPhone客户端4楼2025-09-01 23:28回复
(It seems that the traffic of TTBL is really large. A platform like Weibo even invited him)

老弗(奶爸版) 让外协小哥见识一下简中互联网的群魔乱舞
IP属地:浙江来自Android客户端8楼2025-09-01 23:42收起回复
(Let the youngster of foreign association have a taste of the demons dancing wildly on Simplified Chinese internet)
难受的时候: 看了一下评论区还是比较友好
2025-9-2 10:45回复
(I looked at the comments section and it's pretty friendly)

FeFe(技改版) 看了下评论区 和谐 这就是超级金满贯粉丝的素质 别天天喊我们饭圈
IP属地:青海来自iPhone客户端21楼2025-09-02 07:02回复
(I looked at the comments section and it's harmonious. This is the quality of the Super Golden Slam fans. Stop calling us fandom all day long)
 
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in his most recent match vs Ochsenhausen, FZD was using a red rubber on his forehand and a black on his backhand side.

1.PNG


3.PNG



2.PNG
 
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My guess is that since Franziska does it sometimes, Fan tried it and found it more viable.than he might have originally believed and gave it a whirl fo this match. Might also address something he is experiencing in Germany.
 
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My guess is that since Franziska does it sometimes, Fan tried it and found it more viable.than he might have originally believed and gave it a whirl fo this match. Might also address something he is experiencing in Germany.
Now that he's not a chinese national team player he could play with 2 dignics09C, maybe one a little bit harder on the forehand. No reason to use hurricane and booster
 
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Now that he's not a chinese national team player he could play with 2 dignics09C, maybe one a little bit harder on the forehand. No reason to use hurricane and booster
Yeah, he could just be playing with 2 D09c. All pro attackers boost though, so that's probably not going away.
 
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