Xu Lijia, Chinese Olympic gold medalist in sailing, runs a radio program interviewing athletes in different sports. She interviewed Ma Long in May. Ma Long reviewed 2018 World Team Championships, answered questions about his daily life and Team China and talked about his future goal of the athletic career.
Part I – 2018 Team World Championships
Xu Lijia: Hi, everyone. This is Xu Lijia. In today’s episode, we have a distinguished guest. He is the Full Grand Slam winner who has won every table tennis title that we can think of and the sport can offer, and the Captain of Chinese National Table Tennis Team, Ma Long. Welcome, Ma Long!
Ma Long: Hello, everyone! I’m Ma Long.
Xu: First of all, congratulations to Ma Long again on winning World Team Championships in May. He helped Team China win the ninth consecutive team champion. Could you share with us your experience in Sweden?
Ma: I feel really happy that with the efforts of the whole team, we won this champion and achieved our goal. It’s my great honor to take the responsibility again to play the semifinal and the final, especially to play the first set. Winning this champion is an important moment during my career, so I’m really happy.
Xu: What are the differences between World Team Championships this year and the previous ones? I’ve heard that you have already attended seven World Team Championships.
Ma: Surely every World Team Championships is different for me mentally and in other regards. This time I’m the oldest player in the team. Well, not old, senior. The players and coaches this time are mostly young and new. The attention we’ve got is also quite different from before. Now we not only prepare techniques and tactics for the tournament but also how to face the pressure from the media and general public.
Xu: Everyone in China has higher expectations of National Table Tennis Team than any other sports team. Your team has no choice but to win. You are the captain and serve as ‘Player A/Y’ in this tournament. Although you are highly experienced, I suppose that you’ve still got great pressure. Have you ever got sleeplessness because of thinking about the past or coming matches during the tournament?
Ma: I have hypersensitive nerves. There is usually a stage for me before the tournaments or even during the closed training, when I am filled with all sorts of thoughts. For me, it is important to adjust myself to a comfortable form. Xu Xin is my roommate during the recent three World Team Championships. I’m quite responsible and cautious while Xu Xin is more outgoing and optimistic. Our personalities are quite opposite, sometimes complementary. Actually, we both feel nervous and great pressure during the tournaments. Anyways we’ve got used to it after these years. The most important thing is to perform during the matches in whatever form you are.
Xu: Let’s say if you got sleeplessness at night and the only thing you could do is staring at the ceiling, how would you cope with this?
Ma: I think this is a normal situation. Maybe it is not my own issue as other players may also lose sleep. You may get sleeplessness for a few days during tournaments or training, but you have to adjust yourself to the best form to play matches or attend training. “I am not in a good form” or “I haven’t slept for 24 hours” can never be excuses for not performing well or not trying your best. You cannot forgive yourself for missing the chance because the World Team Championships is only held every two years. I think for athletes or just average people, we have the potential to exert our best in major events if we don’t sleep for one day or even three days.
Xu: Do you mean that you just have to cope with it and adjust yourself to the best form even if you couldn’t fall asleep?
Ma: Yes, I think sleeplessness cannot be an excuse. Surely it may affect your performance, but you won’t be thinking too much about how much sleep you had the night before or what happened outside the court if you are focusing on your match.
Xu: Actually I want to ask if you have any tips to cope with sleeplessness. For example, when I cannot fall asleep, I will get up and start doing such things like reading, eating snacks or drinking water, in order to get sleepy before I get to bed again.
Ma: No, I won’t do that. I will just lay in my bed and leave enough time to fall asleep. I guess that I can get at least 10 minutes sleep per night. I usually need a long time to fall asleep so I just stay in bed and wait.
Xu: Besides sleeplessness, distractions may also affect the performance. We know that the matches between top players are mentally demanding. At certain point, you might get distracted or think about the outcome. How would you get rid of distractions on the court?
Ma: I think the match is fast-changing. Many thoughts may come to your mind at the same time. When you think about the outcome of the match, or you play conservatively, you have to remind yourself of doing the right thing, such as focusing on techniques and tactics, or thinking about the team spirits. Don’t panic. Every player may suddenly feel negative during or before matches, despite of the desire to win. Just let it go. It is more important to quickly adjust your mindset by thinking about right and positive things. I think it works.
Xu: Ma Long seems really experienced and has his own way to cope with sleeplessness and distractions.
Xu: Let’s come back to the topic of 2018 World Team Championships in Sweden. Do you have any traditional way to celebrate the victory?
Ma: After the final, Chinese Ambassador in Sweden came to Halmstad and invited us to dinner. We just celebrated with Chinese food.
Xu: So you guys didn’t bring any chef to the tournament?
Ma: No, we didn’t. Halmstad is a pretty small city and there are very few Chinese restaurants. We ate a lot of Thai food. Two days of Thai food, two days of Japanese food and Chinese food on the last day.
Xu: So when you don’t bring chef, you guys will prefer Asian food over Western food.
Ma: Yeah, Asian food. Noodles or rice, anything similar to Chinese food is fine.
Xu: What’s your favorite cuisine?
Ma: I am not a picky eater. Anything edible is fine for me.
Xu: How many times have you been to Sweden?
Ma: Five or six, maybe seven or eight. We mostly went there during winter and barely saw the sun. It’s summer this time and it did not turn dark even at 9pm.
Xu: Sure, I’ve been to Finland during summer time and I feel like it never gets dark.
Xu: Team Sweden has rich history in table tennis. What are your impressions on Team Sweden?
Ma: Yes, Team Sweden used to be very strong in last century. Their team was the best when Coaches Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui were still players. They won three consecutive team champions from 1989 to 1993. Jan-Ove Waldner is possibly the most famous Swedish in China. No matter people play table tennis or not, they know Waldner. He may be more famous than some Chinese players and I watched him play when I was young. For a while, Team Sweden might not have enough young talents and suffered from difficult times. This time they were able to reach the semifinal again. I would say they will be one of the best teams in Europe or even in the whole world.
Xu: I think our audience is quite familiar with Waldner and it’s really amazing that he still played in his 40s and 50s. How old is he now?
Ma: He should be a little over 50 now. He got retired one or two years ago.
Xu: So he does not play anymore?
Ma: No.
Xu: Do you want your career to be as long as his?
Ma: I’m trying to extend my career but I don’t think I will play as long as he did.
Xu: Is this because the competition within Team China is too intense?
Ma: Yeah, the competition within Team China is extremely intense. I think I can only play World Veteran Championships on behalf of China if I continue to play at the age of 50.
