I'm cheering for Ma Long. I think that this may be the last big tournament that he is favorite. Next year probably FZD will take #1 spot
It seems non chinese players are much closer now. Especially ladies Hirano Miu gave hard Times and beat all chinese girls, besides LSW.
Also all chinese men besides FZD lost lately to lower ranked players. At the same time Jun Mizutani is in superb form destroying timo boll in easy way. It seems he developed his game and his fh sidespin is really something I like to watch.
Everything depends on the main draw but I would love to see non chinese finals.
There seems to be hope for non-CNT players after the upsets at the recent Asian Championships. Perhaps because of the enormous pressure CNT puts on itself and the recent coaching changes? So the time for more upsets seem ripe with other nations seeing cracks in the armor.
On the other hand, CNT has tremendous resources and time to prepare. And no other players are as prepared as China. So my predictions are:
men: Ma Long/Fan Zhendong
foreign dark horse: Hugo Calderano (Why not? No one expected Jeong Sangeun to reach the finals at the Asian Championships. Whoever rises to the occasion is not always who you would expect. I'm just making a random guess.)
women: Liu Shiwen/Ding Ning
foreign dark horse: Miu Hirano (Of course she's not really unknown to the CNT, is she?)
I wonder if FZD is strong enough mentally to be world champion. If Dima is in good shape we might see him challenging the chinese since his playstyle is good against them.
The biggest problem for non chinese is that I don't see anyone beating Ma Long. I see that someone can upset ZJK, XX, maybe even FZD but I don't see anyone beating the dragon
Nobody can beat FAN Zhendong this time I think.
This tournament is in Germany. I think there will be a few surprises and some Chinese players will be upset. Hirano has seeded some doubts among all Chinese players and given some courage to their opponents. However there are five Chinese in both singles events so difficult to see a non Chinese winning.
Among Chinese I think FAN is too strong.
If ZJK is not injured he can also fight for the title
i think you guys underestimate ma long.
I think the same.
this guy lost not one game against non cnt in the last 5 years until asian championchips just because he lost one game and maybe 1 or in the preparation (and won about 10) people think fzd is the favorite now. I don t say he isnt able to win wttc he definetly is and if fzd fails it wont be because he was too nervous or ready for the title this guy is training against these guys everyday won the german open at age 16 just became asian games champion and is multiple national champion and a pro for life, this is not a guy who is to anxious or too nervous for a title like that not having this title makes him just more dangerous. but all in all if we look at the results even at the results 5-6 months ago ma long is still the better player one failed tournament in advance wont change that, and besides of that they didnt even meet in one of the tournaments.
but we will see a clash between the cnt and even xx might have a chance or zjk. I hope for a non CNT player but being realistic i would be very happy to see a german/european/non cnt player beat one of those guys just once at wttc.
The big difference is that in internal tournaments, they have coaches by their side. In international tournaments, they do not. That is why FZD struggles against ML internationally, he doesn't have a coach to reassure him on the tactical and psychological front. Whether this tournament or the new balls is the tipping point is hard to be sure of in advance. But against every other player, FZD is unbeatable.