Zhang Jike Is the 2013 WTTC Champion

Sun Tzu said:

Carl although I do agree that the Wang Hao tactic theory is true, I believe Zhang Jike isnt able to play it at the same level.

Wang Hao has the better short game due to his penholder grip. You can see in this match that Ma Long is still able to attack most of the services or the ball after that. I think Ma Long engaged in to much BH to BH rallys, which Zhang Jike is the best at. At the start of the game Ma Long immediatly went for Zhang Jike's FH which worked much better.

You can see in the end hes making to many errors, again a loss because of mental weakness, im sure if there was coaching in china vs china matches, Ma Long would do alot better.

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You may be right. I actually think that some of what you are talking about is that Zhang Jike wants to go head to head with Ma Long and beat him at his game so he does not want to just rely on the short game. I think Zhang Jike has one of the best reverse pendulums, he gets a ton of spin and keeps it really low. I think there are times when he wants to let Ma Long attack. I think he wants to hit those counter loops back at Ma Long after Ma Long's opening loop. But, 4-1 is a pretty strong win. And after losing the first game in Kuwait, he won 4 straight and Ma Long definitely gave up in that last game.

Also, in the WTTC Semifinal, in games 4 and 5 Ma Long looks mentally pretty strong as soon as Wang Hao stops using those tactics that won him the first 3 games. In the 6th game when he goes back to those tactics, Ma Long falls apart again. So I think it is as much technique as it is that he falls apart. He falls apart because he does not have the technique to handle those tactics.

I agree that the service of Zhang Jike is unmatched, however this is not the most important factor in my eyes. Both Wang Hao and Zhang Jike are able to serve in a way that Ma Long is unable to attack it. The most important factor is the ball after that, Wang Hao can keep it short until he gets the oppurtunity to open up or force ma long to try open up on a ball thats to difficult for Ma Long.

On the other hand Zhang Jike NEEDS to play the thirth ball since Ma Long is able to attack the pushes from Zhang Jike, which aren't as short/good as Wang Hao's.

So where Wang Hao is always in control since he can either push or attack the thirth ball, Zhang Jike needs to attack.
I think Wang Hao is a harder opponent for Ma Long because of that.

If all played a perfect game to their potential, which Wang Hao did this WTTC imo.
Wang Hao being best in the short game, Ma Long the best FH, Zhang Jike the best BH.

I think the results would be:
Ma Long beats Zhang Jike but loses to Wang Hao
Zhang Jike beats Wang Hao but loses to Ma Long.
Wang Hao beats Ma Long but loses to Zhang Jike.

However I do think Ma Long will have close matches to both of these players, maybe a 60/40 match against both players, being the favorite in one and the underdog in the other.

Sun Tzu said:

I agree that the service of Zhang Jike is unmatched, however this is not the most important factor in my eyes. Both Wang Hao and Zhang Jike are able to serve in a way that Ma Long is unable to attack it. The most important factor is the ball after that, Wang Hao can keep it short until he gets the oppurtunity to open up or force ma long to try open up on a ball thats to difficult for Ma Long.

On the other hand Zhang Jike NEEDS to play the thirth ball since Ma Long is able to attack the pushes from Zhang Jike, which aren't as short/good as Wang Hao's.

So where Wang Hao is always in control since he can either push or attack the thirth ball, Zhang Jike needs to attack.
I think Wang Hao is a harder opponent for Ma Long because of that.

If all played a perfect game to their potential, which Wang Hao did this WTTC imo.
Wang Hao being best in the short game, Ma Long the best FH, Zhang Jike the best BH.

I think the results would be:
Ma Long beats Zhang Jike but loses to Wang Hao
Zhang Jike beats Wang Hao but loses to Ma Long.
Wang Hao beats Ma Long but loses to Zhang Jike.

However I do think Ma Long will have close matches to both of these players, maybe a 60/40 match against both players, being the favorite in one and the underdog in the other.

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Okay. You may be right. I know that Zhang Jike loves to attack everything so it is very rare for him to push when he can use his over the table backhand.

But, I think Zhang Jike does want to prove to people that he can beat Ma Long consistently, since, I think, he knows this whole thing, where people think Zhang Jike cannot, is out there as the general opinion of sooooo many people. I think that Zhang Jike has sorted out how to take care of Ma Long. But, I may be wrong and time will tell. I know Wang Hao can beat Ma Long when ever he really wants to. And why he does not do it in regular pro tour events seems to me to be:

1) It takes a lot of work and energy.
2) It would reveal his tactics if he just did the same thing every time. This would make it easier for those players susceptible to these tactics to work on an answer.

I also am confident that in games 4 and 5 of the Wang Hao v Ma Long semi-final in the 2013 WTTC, Wang Hao stopped using the tactics that were working so well in games 1-3. I think he was still trying to win those games. But he was not using the same tactics. It gave Ma Long a fighting chance to play well in those games. But then in game 6 he went back to what worked in games 1-3 and Ma Long went back to not being able to handle it.

But one thing we can say, in his 2013 WTTC semi-final match Zhang Jike beat Xu Xin, who many thought might break through and beat everyone, including Ma Long, Zhang Jike won 4-0.

Well we both might be right, sadly enough we will never know.
Xu Xin is missing that killer instinct that the other 3 do have. Xu Xin is more playing to have fun and enjoying himself it seems.
This might be enough for pro tours which other chinese dont really care about, but for OG and WTTC you need to have that "Over my dead body" attitude.

Sun Tzu said:

im sure if there was coaching in china vs china matches, Ma Long would do alot better.

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Funny thing about this though, since neither player has a coach, one thing that would clearly show, if it is, in fact, true, is that Ma Long cannot think for himself and cannot adjust to his opponents changes in tactics. He cannot think like a table tennis player. If he needs a coach to save him, like he did against Timo Boll, and cannot figure out what to do on his own, when his opponents are using tactics that are causing him trouble, that says something big about a major flaw in his game.

Yes indeed, I dont think Ma Long needs to improve technically, just mentally (as in tactics). Actually Zhang Jike and Ma Long remind me of my teammate and myself. He can beat me on trainings, but when we face eachother in tournaments, I win 49/50 times. Im better in tactics and have a bigger variety of shots, but when my teammate is on fire, its hard to get a points. Luckely I prevent him from going there by using my tactics. Something which you think Zhang Jike learned to do vs Ma Long now aswell

My late congratulations to Zhang Jike - he really seems to dominate everyone else!