Recent content by Trismegistus

This is incredibly disappointing. Particularly after ML's recent birthday message which seemed to indicate that he wanted to continue pushing himself and competing at the highest level for as long as possible.

With the men's and women's team finals already set, I'm surprised there isn't a thread for this already. Quick question to start us off: Ma Long and Fan Zhendong will most likely meet in the team final in a few hours. In the past 7 years, has FZD lost any matches against ML in domestic team...

To add to this, Ma Long has faced Xu Xin twice in "majors": 2012 World Cup and 2017 WTTC. Both were 4-0 wins for Ma Long, and not really much closer than the score would indicate.

What is the basis for considering Waldner a possible candidate for the GOAT spot? From people charitable to the claim, one argument I've heard is that he pioneered a lot of the techniques that pushed the sport into the modern era From people uncharitable to the claim, I've also heard the...

I agree that ball change has changed some aspects of the game, but I'm not sure that it's responsible for all the changes we see. Ma Long in 2014 (prior to the ball change) had already changed dramatically from his early playstyle, adopting a much closer-to-the-table play style. I actually feel...

I made this thread because I wanted to compare Ma Long's most recent ITTF finals win today to his first one back in 2008, and see how he's changed as a player. Here is a video of his 2008 quarterfinal (please let me know if you find a longer one!) 2008 semi...

Ok, looks like I was being a doomer :) I mean obviously it was a possibility, but ML closed it. Also, what an awesome player Ma Long is. What awesome players they both are. Glad ML didn't go title-less this season.

Even though ML is up 3-0 I worry that a FZD comeback for a 7-game win is inevitable. FZD just never gives ML any breathing room (plus ML just barely won 2 of the first 3 games)

The question is who is better, not who has more titles. I think you probably understand why I draw this distinction, but just to clarify: Non-Chinese top players are basically able to play every tournament they want to play, big or small. Chinese top players (and even moreso players under them)...

Well, we didn't see much of Fan Zhendong as a 16-year-old, but I don't think he lost to any non-Chinese players at all (!) as a 16-year old. Towards the end of 2013, FZD was on a tear, dominating anyone he played (Dima, Zhou Yu, Xu Xin). (Funny enough, we also didn't see as much of Harimoto as a...

All true, but I also just feel like ML's level of play in this tournament is just not up to par. I just watched him against Ovtcharov and I didn't think he looked good there - backhand looked way too imprecise and tentative. I don't see him seriously challenging FZD in this state, and he might...

Did Ma long play a lot better against Ovtcharov than against Jorgic? I ask because ML played v. bad against Jorgic, even accounting for Jorgic's performance. Others have noted that he was severely lacking power, but also he just seemed slow, uncoordinated, missing a lot... And sure, he's...

I think the main issue is that the term "Jelly Cleaner" is not something we are familiar with (it also doesn't register any hits on a google search). Can you describe what you mean by "Jelly Cleaner"?

I feel like it would have been a significant upset if Kanak *had* beaten Wu Jiaji, lol. Although perhaps Wu's level has dropped since he left the CNT.

Interesting to look back on this incident in light of what happened earlier this year: https://www.ittf.com/2019/01/20/three-month-suspension-zhou-yu/ I wasn't aware that there was a previous instance of him allegedly doing the same thing. Too bad the video from 2017 isn't working anymore.