I am disgusted!

[UpSideDownCarl]

That part of his game actually reminds me of a women's playing style, especially the BH haha. Maybe it is superior to men's style after all

Yep. I was thinking the same. Except he does spin the ball more.

 

[MrCrispy]

I said it in chat, I'll repeat it here - Fan Zhendong is the epitome of everything that's wrong with modern table tennis. So much raw power, so much insane speed, it's getting less and less pretty to watch. The Chinese dominance pretty much killed the interest for the sport here in Europe too.

I think it's about time ITTF did something. Raising the net for a centimeter or two should be the first step.

Are you seriously suggesting that Chinese players should be punished for being good? They spend their whole lives, literally giving away their childhood, to train, work hard and become this good. And because other countries can't compete, they should be punished?

I'd rather watch the best in the world, not have artificial limitations so that my favorite country has a benefit. Its upto Euro players to get better - work harder, train harder, stop being lazy. Otherwise they'll lose and deserve to lose.

 

[M51]

Are you seriously suggesting that Chinese players should be punished for being good?

I made no such suggestion. I'm in favour of slowing down the game in general. Conditions would still be equal for all.

Its upto Euro players to get better - work harder, train harder, stop being lazy. Otherwise they'll lose and deserve to lose.

Not being willing to sacrifice your childhood (which is a once in a lifetime period, and should be the best, most care-free part of anyone's life) equals being lazy? Sh1t, how the hell did Europe ever got out of the dark ages? Or stone age, for that matter.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

I'm in favour of slowing down the game in general. Conditions would still be equal for all.

Oh no. Every attempt to slow down the game so far has made it so that the ball could be hit harder, faster. Now I get why you want to raise the net. But why would raising the net make the game slower. Sorry, as I see it, anything that makes the ball go slower is an opportunity to let the person hitting move to the ball better and hit it harder-faster. Also, higher net would mean more mid-distance looping and the need for more spin. All it would do would be mess up the players with funny rubbers and lower level players who cannot generate enough spin. Higher net would also mean that you could not get your serves as low and so they would be more easily flipped. Pushes would also have to clear a higher net and therefore would have to bounce higher making them more easy to attack. A higher net, once the higher level players adjust to it, could make the opening attack end even more points and mean that there would be less rallies.

Why not just make everyone play with sandpaper and hardhats?

No, please, don't do that! That would be boring. The game is fine how it is. Leave things alone. ITTF has done enough to mess up the game with larger balls not to mention the plastic ball that will be coming soon.

 

[craniumburn]

well...most of the time if we want to be more than good we have to sacrifice...michael jordan did rack up a lot of hours playing till late evening when he was a kid. not only in sports but those really great musicians devote a lot of time up to 12 hours to practice their craft.Its not about what nationality or race or breed you have but how you really want to succeed in your chosen field. anyway no matter how you slow the game down its always the one with the best mindset who will win

 

[TT Guru]

I don't see how this is new, Ma Long was just as dominant when he was that age and everyone was excited not in depression mode. The European's and other non-asian countries know exactly what they are up against, I'm sure they don't regard Fan Zhendong as 'just a 16 year old boy' or for that matter even care if he's young, he's trained hard and deserved to win. The professionals can handle it

That's absolutely true, and let's not forget Marcos Freitas beat FZD 4-0 earlier this year. He's beatable & has flaws, Samsonov came close to exploiting them. Dima however didn't play well tactically in that final, it could have been closer. Would have been interested to see how Timo handled FZD...