Ma Lin vs Quentin Robinot (VIDEO)

Quentin Robinot is a rising star. He is quite popular and is considered the future Timo Boll. Heard this in an interview if I am not mistaken.
Look at his graph below (from ittfranking)


Ma is getting old and his style requires lots of speed and power, which is diminishing in his body.
Maybe Ma is descending in his career. Maybe..

I don't know about being the next Timo Boll as he's a righty, but it seems that this situation was very similar to the Liventsov game. I'm thinking that Ma is no longer able to counter the stronger BH players anymore. With them attacking his services all the time he's just not able to get to his wide forehand the same as he used to. Hopefully he'll be able to fix it, but it's not looking too good for him as this is the second time he's not put forth his full effort nor his best game. I wonder if his ZJK match up was making him nervous as well.

Mr. RicharD said:

I don't know about being the next Timo Boll as he's a righty, but it seems that this situation was very similar to the Liventsov game. I'm thinking that Ma is no longer able to counter the stronger BH players anymore. With them attacking his services all the time he's just not able to get to his wide forehand the same as he used to. Hopefully he'll be able to fix it, but it's not looking too good for him as this is the second time he's not put forth his full effort nor his best game. I wonder if his ZJK match up was making him nervous as well.

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When Timo is referred, it is his achievements.
You don't refer an athlete to another mostly to his/her handedness.

Saddest video of my life ! Y.Y

France have so many good junior players its a joke really and this guy is just 1 of em. I can see france becoming the best european country in tt in the coming years!

Quentin Robinot has a long way to go. Really nasty serves he has...look at part 1 1:56....Aside from Wang Hao's serve in the Olympics, I've never seen Ma Lin misread serves which have them fly 1m out of the table! He got so many points directly off his serve that it's amazing! Also he moves really fast and has really short recovery times. Reminds me a lot of Gatien's style, who plays really low balls and is very speedy on his feet. The only thing he lacks is the power and spin right now. He doesn't really have the finishing power in both his FH and BH. Otherwise his amazing serves would be even more dangerous.

But I bet you that this style doesn't work on the top men players like Wang Hao, Ma Long, ZJK, Timo Boll or WLQ who have very solid rallying skills. They would just destroy him in the rallies due to his lack of power. But rarely we have players with such solid basics and good skills with the 1st 3 balls. Someone to watch out for.

I just don't think Ma Lin has the drive to really bother training anymore. He has very little chance of participating in the olympics, and then the world championships are another 2 years away, by which time, his game will have suffered alot because it requires the reactions and speed of a very young player. So for Ma Lin, I feel like he is transitioning away from placing TT as the center of his life.

On a side note, has anyone seen any videos between Zhang Jike and Wang Liqin in the swedish open? I have yet to find one.

I agree with Scylla in part. I mean that's the second pro tour event in a couple of months in which Ma Lin has been defeated in the first round. He's definitely losing out where he wouldn't have before and with all the stronger Chinese players rising through the ranks I can't see there being a place for Lin in future major events, I'd be interested to know what he's thinking to be honest!

PingPongPom said:

I agree with Scylla in part. I mean that's the second pro tour event in a couple of months in which Ma Lin has been defeated in the first round. He's definitely losing out where he wouldn't have before and with all the stronger Chinese players rising through the ranks I can't see there being a place for Lin in future major events, I'd be interested to know what he's thinking to be honest!

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As long as you never give up, you will always have a chance." -Ma Lin

Oops did I post it in the wrong thread

I have seen now the whole match and its kinda shocking, but well done!

2nd you Yosua!! ... otherwise one of the classic playing styles will become extinct in the world stage

YosuaYosan said:

As long as you never give up, you will always have a chance." -Ma Lin

Oops did I post it in the wrong thread

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well i think it's funny to see how the ma lin tries to stall time between the points. And ofcourse it's good that the young guy is winning because ma lin is weiring shorts that are too short . Why did the frenchy get a yellow card at the end of the video?

It does look like Ma Lin is off to me though. He is putting his own serve into the net. That is not something he often does. And he is missing a lot of balls, ones that he would normally get. It looks like there are brief periods in the match where he plays well but then there are a lot of balls he gets his racket on and does not get back. His shots also look like they lack the pace they normally have. I think his head might be elsewhere.