What's causing China losing all these matches lately?

[TTHopeful]

I remember the time when China very rarely lost to a non Asian player. It seems to happen a lot more nowadays which is making events become interesting again. Take the recent Saudi tournament:

Ma long lost to Jang Woojin
Lin Gaoyuan lost to Jonathan Groth
Fan Zhendong lost to Patrick Franziska

Could it be players are now using tacky rubbers and are now better closely matched to Hurricane based players?

Any other reasons?

 

[ck1407]

I think best of 5 could be a possible reason. During ITTF era, it's best of 7 which really test the mental resilience of a player and the player with good mental resilience can make a comeback. Like the recent Macau finals, Ma Long flip a 0-3 and win with 4-3. With best of 5, games are more fast paced and the leading player will have an advantage in the mental aspects of the match.

Patrick case is quite amazing and hope Germany reconsider their singles entry.

 

[yoass]

BO5, and the shadow of the upcoming olympics is looming large.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Reasons:

1. 09C
2. K1
3. A1
4. Rakza Z
5. some Europeans start to use boosted H3 ( can't beat em? Join'em then )
6. Taylor Swift

 

[Aizen]

1- exhaustion from previous tours
2- 35-40c temperature
3- bouncy floors
4- upset from Olympic decision for ML, LJK, LGY etc
5- commitment of non-cnt players due to rank point, money, olympics
6- individually, it seems Korean team studies CNT, especially ML, even his backhand serve tactic is used.
7- FZD & WCQ and maybe others don’t want to push much to avoid injuries before Paris.

I don’t think any equipment issue, others have been already using same hybrid rubbers at least for over year.

IMO it’s temporary, Even they screw up series of tournaments, CNT will continue to dominate for seen future because no other country invest as much as them.

 

[Robin0910]

Reasons:

1. 09C
2. K1
3. A1
4. Rakza Z
5. some Europeans start to use boosted H3 ( can't beat em? Join'em then )
6. Taylor Swift

Franziska was using D05 in Singapore this year but he’s using D09c on FH in this tournament. Even he switched

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

I think best of 5 could be a possible reason. During ITTF era, it's best of 7 which really test the mental resilience of a player and the player with good mental resilience can make a comeback. Like the recent Macau finals, Ma Long flip a 0-3 and win with 4-3. With best of 5, games are more fast paced and the leading player will have an advantage in the mental aspects of the match.

Patrick case is quite amazing and hope Germany reconsider their singles entry.

during best of 7 days, they used to win 4-0
in teams, it would be 3-0 3-0 all day long

 

[NextLevel]

They are playing way too much. Has been covered elsewhere, but this year, there are too many events.

 

[pingpongpaddy]

the rest of the world is closer to China no doubt about it. And because of media like Youtube there are no longer any secrets about tt technique.
Japanese women have even briefly led in technical innovation, forcing china to adapt and raise their standards again. This was possible because most of the time Japan's talent pool of players was not able to maintain the progress made in 2017. Hayata is not enough, they need a squad of Hayata's
I think that China's system is still the. strongest and has shown the ability to respond. The main thing is that the government should not lose faith in them just because of some brilliant individuals in Japan, Sweden and Korea.
Some titles will be shared more than before
Which is great for the sport as a whole

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

well, there are rumors, which I can't validate, but some CNT players are also not happy with the full house events/scheduling going on
so the feeling is like team moral is not that great too

the world catching up, we know already, but the dominoes are falling way too quickly in recent months and something is not normal

 

[pingpongpaddy]

ITO LEADING WYD 6-4...
WYD 4-3

 

[Attitude]

well, there are rumors, which I can't validate, but some CNT players are also not happy with the full house events/scheduling going on
so the feeling is like team moral is not that great too

the world catching up, we know already, but the dominoes are falling way too quickly in recent months and something is not normal

Official validation is not needed. There are more than enough events of which the cnt doesnt even bother to participate in.

They usually bring their B-squad to the main events too, so even those players dont play that many contender or even feeder events.
Long time no see Zhou Qihao, Xiang Peng, Yuan Licen and so on.

 

[TTHopeful]

during best of 7 days, they used to win 4-0
in teams, it would be 3-0 3-0 all day long

This is my point there was a time when China rarely lost a set!

 

[General_Specific]

While Europe and the rest of the world are, overall, improving a little; it's important to recognize that China is at a lower level than previously. Ma Long is getting older and is on the brink of retirement. The newer generation (lgy, ljk, wcq, etc) just aren't as good as ML, ZJK, XX or even previous generations. FZD is getting worse in large part due to this lack of competition that he used to have that kept him at that high level. Younger Chinese players are also looking even worse than this current generation.

 

[dingyibvs]

The world is just more connected these days. Look at the top non-Chinese players, the Harimotos from Japan are from Chinese parents. Arguably 2 of the top 4 players in Europe play Cpen and undoubtedly have had significant training from Chinese origin coaches. Then top Koreans are now all playing with W968 with H3's, most likely due to Chinese influence. Knowledge is spreading from China, and the whole TT landscape is better for it.

Now we just need management from the rest of the world to spread to WTT....