Waldner or Ma Long?

Who is Greatest?

  • JO Waldner

    Votes: 90 50.0%
  • Ma Long

    Votes: 90 50.0%

  • Total voters
    180
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I don't think this question has a solid premise. Ma Long is really just starting the prime of his career. He is my favorite Chinese player but you can't answer this question fairly until after the fact, so I voted Waldner, who is king until dethroned. Not many people active on TT forums actually remember farther back than the last 5-10 years or so, but WLQ was even more hyped than Ma Long coming up and had insane results, pretty much having the #1 spot and the majority of important tournaments on lockdown for a solid 8 years or so. I don't think the internet tt community for the most part have demonstrated an understanding of just how decorated WLQ's career was, which in turn pales in comparison to Waldner, who competed at the very top for THREE entire generations of Chinese players, including one generation where he led European domination. Think about that. Top Chinese pros competing against him in the late 70's early 80's were retired by the time he led the European uprising, and those players were retired by the time he was playing the likes of LGL, KLH, LGZ, and he was even still going on at a reduced (but still world class) capacity after those players retired. Its insane. Ma Long as much as I like him, is completely unproven in comparison, and needs to exceed WLQ's record of success before he can even entertain the thought of going after Waldner. Even the structure of the Chinese national team makes superceeding Waldner difficult. Ma Long will probably have to face pressures of retirement long before any EUropean player has to.
 
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I don't think this question has a solid premise. Ma Long is really just starting the prime of his career. He is my favorite Chinese player but you can't answer this question fairly until after the fact, so I voted Waldner, who is king until dethroned. Not many people active on TT forums actually remember farther back than the last 5-10 years or so, but WLQ was even more hyped than Ma Long coming up and had insane results, pretty much having the #1 spot and the majority of important tournaments on lockdown for a solid 8 years or so. I don't think the internet tt community for the most part have demonstrated an understanding of just how decorated WLQ's career was, which in turn pales in comparison to Waldner, who competed at the very top for THREE entire generations of Chinese players, including one generation where he led European domination. Think about that. Top Chinese pros competing against him in the late 70's early 80's were retired by the time he led the European uprising, and those players were retired by the time he was playing the likes of LGL, KLH, LGZ, and he was even still going on at a reduced (but still world class) capacity after those players retired. Its insane. Ma Long as much as I like him, is completely unproven in comparison, and needs to exceed WLQ's record of success before he can even entertain the thought of going after Waldner. Even the structure of the Chinese national team makes superceeding Waldner difficult. Ma Long will probably have to face pressures of retirement long before any EUropean player has to.

Well spoken, Amen!
 
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i think waldner just won 4 ittf pro tour titles in his career. ma long won 5 in 5 month :D

But Ma Long is yet to win the big ones, Olympic and WTTC! Waldner is for now, the best player in his prime. But if Ma Long can win alle the big ones, even several times, then he is the greatest.

Btw, just because China didn't have the greatest players in the world, it doesn't mean that he didn't have competition. The Euopean players where the chinese of that era ;)
 
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LOL are you volunteering to do that coz I'm more than prepared to admit that's out of my realm :p haha. Waldner is like the Hendrix of the electric guitar, he may not be the best technically or best sounding anymore but he revolutionised the way guitar is played and he's an icon ;)

That is so true!

BTW, Waldner is maybe coming to Norway this autumn, I'll try ask him if I get the chance.
 
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Guys guys guys. STOP!!!! Waldner has beaten all of them, jiang jialiang, teng yi, wang liqin, liu guoliang, ma long, ma lin, you name it! Waldner has won the olympics, world championships (without loosing a set 1997), European champion. No one is close to what Waldner has done! And remember, he is old old old and still plays in bundesliga.. Ma long is good now but have only been that for a couple of months, not for 10 years!

Sweden <3 ;)

10 years? say 30!! haha :D

And don't forget, the Norwegian giant Tom Johansen beat Waldner 3 times... Once upon a time, Norway had decent players too ;)

Scandinavia <3
 
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excellent well put
I don't think this question has a solid premise. Ma Long is really just starting the prime of his career. He is my favorite Chinese player but you can't answer this question fairly until after the fact, so I voted Waldner, who is king until dethroned. Not many people active on TT forums actually remember farther back than the last 5-10 years or so, but WLQ was even more hyped than Ma Long coming up and had insane results, pretty much having the #1 spot and the majority of important tournaments on lockdown for a solid 8 years or so. I don't think the internet tt community for the most part have demonstrated an understanding of just how decorated WLQ's career was, which in turn pales in comparison to Waldner, who competed at the very top for THREE entire generations of Chinese players, including one generation where he led European domination. Think about that. Top Chinese pros competing against him in the late 70's early 80's were retired by the time he led the European uprising, and those players were retired by the time he was playing the likes of LGL, KLH, LGZ, and he was even still going on at a reduced (but still world class) capacity after those players retired. Its insane. Ma Long as much as I like him, is completely unproven in comparison, and needs to exceed WLQ's record of success before he can even entertain the thought of going after Waldner. Even the structure of the Chinese national team makes superceeding Waldner difficult. Ma Long will probably have to face pressures of retirement long before any EUropean player has to.
 
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Anders, with Tom Johanson's physical presence, I am not surprised even if he beat up Waldner to a pulp hahahaha

Haha Azlan, yes. He is a BIG man! So tall :p

But he is cool, lovely humor and also not so happy about the speed glue ban.. haha ;)
 
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well ma long got one big title. he won the junior worldchampionship. its not the major title we spoke about, but has this title no value? :(
in fact ma long is still to young. we could compare him and zhang jike. that would be useful ;)

No one below the age of 30 can be compared to J.O Waldner... Yet!

And just for saying none over 30 either, haha :p
 
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oh sorry ,he s won the world junior title.. awesome..lol..,has he won the worlds?.has he won the olympics?,has he won the asian ?,has he won china nationals, has he won the world cup? dont think any of these but you can put me right,,,,he is the best at the min but its no good being the best and not winning the big ones...best players are the ones who win the titles, boll and samsonov won shedloads at euro s and have incredible records but not in the big ones.players like, wangliquin, guo, kong,jiang, liu, he s not in their league, yet....
 
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oh sorry ,he s won the world junior title.. awesome..lol..,has he won the worlds?.has he won the olympics?,has he won the asian ?,has he won china nationals, has he won the world cup? dont think any of these but you can put me right,,,,he is the best at the min but its no good being the best and not winning the big ones...best players are the ones who win the titles, boll and samsonov won shedloads at euro s and have incredible records but not in the big ones.players like, wangliquin, guo, kong,jiang, liu, he s not in their league, yet....

use as much sarkasm as you want, but to win the world junior championship is a world champion title...
and ma long won china nationals this year i think. won the asian games, the asian championship and the asian cup three times.
okay he never won a major title till now. but are you just a good player, if you only win these titles? imagine zhang would win the olympics 2012. then he won all three major titles within 12 month. thats great. but imagine he get a low after this. falling out of the top ten. never win an tournement again. do you think, he is greater than ma long, because he just won this three titles? ...
olympics, wttc, world cup ... to win them is great. but dont push this tournements. they are the same as a pro tour tournement or something. its just a tournement. you play and you will win or lose. and to be honest .. its a little bit luck to win a major title ;)

i dont know what a real great player is. for me it could also be a player, who is #1 for 5 years in a row without winning a tournement :D its waldner for winning every major tournement. its ma long for having the best win statistics ever. over 90% .. show me one, who is better ;) for sure waldner is great, but ma long also joined all time greatest in his young age. he was #1 for one solid year. was injured, fall down to #5 and came back to #1 with an amazing run and state of mind :) thats the power of a champion :)
 
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