Possible reason on FZD not performing

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He made some technical changes to his game. End result? FZD is not FZD anymore. Even LGL criticized him for that.
 
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He made some technical changes to his game. End result? FZD is not FZD anymore. Even LGL criticized him for that.

So he made changes without the guidance of the coaches, or against their wishes? That would be odd. The CNT coaches are, you know, pretty good.
 
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As to these technical changes, where do we see most of these? I think I see the BH getting used differently, and there's a bit less consistency there as well. But that might well be just a matter of different tactics rather than a technical change.
FZD become a traditional chinese player forehand oriented. We can observe that in his old and current matches. I think that he made this changes in order to beat Ma Long and of course improve his game. In addition there are online some interviews where he said that he prefered backhand to forehand and other interviews (after 2017) where he said that he prefered forehand. I think that the main point for him was to beat Ma Long moreover after 2017 wttc final. Now he plays more with the forehand, even in the receiving game, before he used a lot chiquita or in general backhand openings. Now he is not the beast that he used to be, he prefers play saftier with spinnier but slower loop than before.
Wang Chuqin now resemble what FZD used to be.
 
i don't think so.
Recent FZD's play is slower, but not spinnier at all.
His reactions are slower too. And his footwork is slower too.
He is slower in all aspects.
Maybe its just a decline period, or maybe its a style change, but if its a style change I don't think its because of ML.
Wang Chuqin seamed to be like FZD before 2-3 years. Then he started to change with periodic declines and what we see now is something very different from FZD ever.
In fact we can see a lot of the top players changing, some with success, others not.
 
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I have seen several youtube comment (so not a very reliable source of course) saying he's might be addicted to video games and lack motivation to train now. I don't know if anyone knows more about it ?
This is the same thing that happened to Song Hongyuan, he won wjttc in 2010 but he was sadly addicted to video games and didn't even want to practice. He was kicked out of the team and to make things worse, his addiction increased since there was nothing he needed to do. It was reported that he on average played 16 hours of video games per day and sometimes he would play overnight for two to three days. Eventually in late 2017, he decided to get rid of his addiction and participated in some Chinese local matches organized by non-pros. According to the news, he still kicked ass but obviously the competition was really low for him. There was no more news on him since then. I hope he could really get rid of his game addiction.
 
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I just think he's going through a slump, just like many many other top players have. Isn't it pretty normal?

This is all seems like speculation. Do we really have a clue as to what's going on with FZD? It would be interesting to hear what technical changes he made, does anyone know?

Indeed. It seems like his slump started a few months ago, and he has not recovered yet.
 
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http://www.sohu.com/a/310898816_114977
(搜狐体育 郭健4月29日发自布达佩斯)2019年世界乒乓球锦标赛单项赛以国乒包揽五金而落幕,中国乒乓球协会主席刘国梁在赛后总结时表示,男线方面对手崛起得很快,年轻球员必须向队长马龙学习。

“马龙的三连冠创造了奇迹,”刘国梁开门见山地说,“赛前没有人敢想这个成绩,特别是在他受伤这么长时间之后,能不能正常参赛都不知道,但我觉得马龙是非常伟大的运动员,这不只是说他的成绩,也包括在面对伤病的时候,他付出了多少努力、做出了多少内心的挣扎,这些是大家看不见的。”刘国梁坦言马龙的技术实力上已经不如从前,在封闭训练期间又连续参加了卡塔尔公开赛和亚洲杯,结果获得了一个冠军和一个亚军,期间艰苦可想而知。“这次世乒赛他参加两个项目,决赛之前我觉得是他压力最大的时候,因为那时候全世界都在盯着他,都在看他是不是能创造奇迹,我以此来激励他,他确实也做到了。”刘国梁透露男单决赛赛后曾问马龙压力大不大,马龙回答说太大了,大到胃都感觉难受,一早起来就想干呕,但也呕不出来,“他打完以后我挺感动的,因为这种精神不只帮助他赢得了比赛,也可以带动乒乓球运动向前发展。”

与马龙相比,本届世乒赛樊振东的表现有些差强人意,刘国梁也一针见血地指出,弟子到了痛定思痛的时候,“这次他必须要疼在骨子里了,不要再被捧杀,或者把自己摆得很高。我以前就说过,樊振东的眼中不能只有马龙,他的眼中一定要有世界和未来。”刘国梁坦言虽然樊振东在之前的亚洲杯战胜了张本智和,但自己对那场球非常不满意,“我知道他准备了很长时间,也准备了很多东西,可是打成那样球虽然赢了,但球路和风格、打法上的先进性完全没有体现。本来樊振东是领先很多的,但现在他就在控制了,这已经脱离了他应该有的东西。”刘国梁强调此次世乒赛梁靖崑战胜樊振东一役,前者完全控制住了场上的局面,胜利是压倒性的。“我觉得樊振东需要有一个重大的改变,最主要是人的内心和气质。如果气质不改变他将很难突破,他必须拥有冠军气质,因为冠军的球他已经基本上具备了,”刘国梁语重心长地说。

谈及男线形势,刘国梁认为对手崛起速度很快,比赛对抗性也非常强,可以说每一个人都具备了杀伤力。“我们只能一方面在技术上有一些创新和引领,另一方面在人的强大上做得再好一些,像樊振东、梁靖崑、林高远、王楚钦包括许昕都要向马龙学习,学的不是他的技术,而是他对比赛的阅读能力、抗压能力,”刘国梁说,“因为不断的换球,马龙在技术上并没有显示出像以前那样大的优势,但现在他的人强大了,对比赛的控制做得很好,把每个人的每个点憋得死死的。像捆大闸蟹一样,他能够把对手捆住,这些是只有马龙能做到的,他强就强在有这根‘绳子’,”刘国梁最后说。
Compared with ML, FZD’s performance in this WTTC is somewhat unsatisfactory. Liu Guoliang also pointed out that the time has come for him to learn his lesson. "He has gotta feel the pain in the bones. Don’t feel flattered anymore, or think too high of yourself. FZD can’t just focus on ML only. He must focus on the world and future.” Liu Guoliang expressed that even though FZD defeated Harimoto in the Asian Cup, he was very dissatisfied. "I know that he has been preparing for a long time and has prepared a lot of things. However, he might've won the match, but the way, the style and the bleeding edge of his playing style are nowhere to be found. Originally, FZD was leading by a mile, but now he is all about control, which is far from what he should be." Liu Guoliang stressed that when LJK defeated FZD, the former was in total control of the match, an overwhelming win per se. "I think FZD needs a major change, most importantly his inner-self and temperament. If his temperament does not change, he'll have a hard time to break through. He must have the temperament of a champion, because he already possesses the skills of a champion," said Liu Guoliang with a heavy heart.

 
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Great read. Thank you Zeio.

To me it reads like a slump, especially since Lou Guoliang says "because he already possesses the skills of a champion".

For sure it will be difficult for him, but I believe he can make it through. Seems much more like a mental battle to him than a technical one. Where are all these video game addiction speculations coming from? Is there any truth to them?
 
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Zeio is probably subbing something or translating some article now. I’m waiting :rolleyes:

http://www.sohu.com/a/310898816_114977

Compared with ML, FZD’s performance in this WTTC is somewhat unsatisfactory. Liu Guoliang also pointed out that the time has come for him to learn his lesson. "He has gotta feel the pain in the bones. Don’t feel flattered anymore, or think too high of yourself. FZD can’t just focus on ML only. He must focus on the world and future.” Liu Guoliang expressed that even though FZD defeated Harimoto in the Asian Cup, he was very dissatisfied. "I know that he has been preparing for a long time and has prepared a lot of things. However, he might've won the match, but the way, the style and the bleeding edge of his playing style are nowhere to be found. Originally, FZD was leading by a mile, but now he is all about control, which is far from what he should be." Liu Guoliang stressed that when LJK defeated FZD, the former was in total control of the match, an overwhelming win per se. "I think FZD needs a major change, most importantly his inner-self and temperament. If his temperament does not change, he'll have a hard time to break through. He must have the temperament of a champion, because he already possesses the skills of a champion," said Liu Guoliang with a heavy heart.

Dude never disappoints :cool:
 
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Fan Zhendong's game has drifted towards Tomo's style. He's using a lot of softish blocks, carefully placing the balls rather than going for power. He values the dominant close-to-the-table position a lot more now, recognizing the time of loop rallies may be gone for good. Basically what Liu Guoliang said, he's become more control oriented under the pressure of the plastic ball adepts. When the game becomes flatter and faster, you can't afford to take your time and prepare for a kill shot. The only player still getting away with that style is Xu Xin, thanks to his unconventional loop technique and spin choices. Ma Long has also changed his game drastically - in that same direction - and I don't know why people aren't discussing that. Maybe his change is attributed to his injury accommodation.
 
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My feeling from watching him play is that his play has become more conservative (too conservative for my taste).

The changes feel very "by the numbers" to me. He is backhand flicking returns a lot less now, opting to short push an absurd amount. He almost never runs around the forehand to flick receive the serve from the forehand side now.

In general, he barely ever tries to seize the attack with over the table play anymore, opting for short pushes instead.

Even when looping close to the table, he seems to be trying to control the point through placement and consistency rather than the raw power he used to generate.

And up until the Swedish open, he seemed also to be very forehand dominant from a bit further back behind the table.

In general, there seems to be some good reasoning behind these changes, he has cut out some riskier, more error prone parts of the game for lower risk, more consistent alternatives, the forehand is inherently stronger from behind the table, and flick returns don't quite finish the point as much as they used to. But the sum total of these changes seem to result in a philosophy of play that is just... worse, so conservative as to not fit into the modern game anymore. IMO he needs to just take those risks and accept that sometimes there will be errors, accept that his opponents might return his flicks and have the confidence that he will be able to return that even harder.

I don't know why he's changed his whole philosophy of play, whether it's loss of motivation, or just because he wanted to improve his control game to beat Ma Long, and just kept going. But it's really not working out for him.

He plays like FZD trying to play like Ma Long now, and he just doesn't have the same feel for that style of game. He's better off playing like FZD just trying to play like FZD.
 
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FZD has lost his killer instincts. My theory is that he lost too much weight and lost the penetrating power of his BH/FH. That has him going for a control game but that is not the game style he has grown up with and is a huge adjustment that isn't easy to do, especially in an Olympics preparation year.

He needs to go back to beast mode all the time and bludgeon his opponents into submission and not worry about Ma Long who is rapidly approaching the end of his career. FZD still has many productive years ahead of him if goes back to beast mode.
 
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