ITTF WTTC Finals Doha 2025, 5/17-25

[KiwiPong]

Both Felix and Harimoto have lost to An Jaehyun in R16 of a world championship. Clearly they've both peaked too early and will never achieve anything substantial in their careers.

Speaking of peaked too early...what about Hirano? Clearly something mentally was going on with her. I've never seen an adult pro crying before the match is over. Any insider(s) know what is going on? Many are talking she will definitely retire after this. JTTA is apparently very strict about not showing that emotional weakness (during the match). Will she be "punished"?

 

[ivangle]

Yeah, beating Hugo and was it LYJ or Dima is a walk in the park.

felix counters lyj, got lucky against dima and hugo was probably on a mental down period. again these are just my opinions so feel free to correct me 😁

 

[zeio]

Saying stupid things to deprecate achievements you never had is not teaching, it is the privilege of anyone who has never won anything. I don't interpret their comments as you do, but one should appreciate the limitations of speaking authoritatively on what one has never done.

Go convince Harimoto who pointed out Hayata didn't get through all the way and preferred ZJK over ML and that ML is amazing but it is simply the result of working and playing diligently.

What has he achieved in WTTC to say all that?

 

[NextLevel]

felix counters lyj, got lucky against dima and hugo was probably on a mental down period. again these are just my opinions so feel free to feedback me 😁

Opinions are like but-oles, everyone has at least one. We are all allowed to rationalize away anything we refuse to accept. Homecourt advantage is part of the game, they invest more money in you and your training to win medals when an Olympics is in your country. Felix won his medal, losing one match by minimum margin to An a year later, An who is a very strong player and already a WTTC medallist, is a sad way to find a gap to question Felix's medal.

 

[NextLevel]

Go convince Harimoto who pointed out Hayata didn't get through all the way and preferred ZJK over ML and that ML is amazing but it is simply the result of working and playing diligently.

What has he achieved in WTTC to say all that?

Absolutely nothing. As is his prerogative, in the immortal words of Magic Johnson when Anthony Edwards said NBA players before Jordan didn't know how to play basketball with skill, "when he wins a ring, I can respond to him." Because he sure won't have that opinion when he does.

 

[zeio]

Speaking of peaked too early...what about Hirano? Clearly something mentally was going on with her. I've never seen an adult pro crying before the match is over. Any insider(s) know what is going on? Many are talking she will definitely retire after this. JTTA is apparently very strict about not showing that emotional weakness (during the match). Will she be "punished"?

It's hard to say she peaked early when she just made history 7 months ago, renewing a 50-year record with Miwa in WT at ATTC 2024. Her win over WYD at WTTC 2024 shouldn't be ignored if we insist Hayata's wins over WYD at WTTC 2023 and Asian Games 2022 are worthy of respect. Also her win rate against the CNT players in the Paris 2024 cycle was highest among the JNT players and she ended SYS's winning streak against foreign players at WTT CT Zagreb 2023, after beating 3 CNT players (LWS, KM and SYS) in a row, whereas Hayata lost to SYS and Harimoto lost to KM.

As for the other issues, wait it out.

 

[Dr Evil]

He is working on changing his game, these things take time and patience, but fans only care about results so...

This. Just like Harimoto did, Felix is working hard to upgrade his forehand, and in the process the rest of his game and especially his consistency is going to suffer for a while. He's also grown 6 cm (over 2 inches) since the Olympics. So a little patience might be in order. Or maybe the fans are right and he should retire.

 

[zeio]

Absolutely nothing. As is his prerogative, in the immortal words of Magic Johnson when Anthony Edwards said NBA players before Jordan didn't know how to play basketball with skill, "when he wins a ring, I can respond to him." Because he sure won't have that opinion when he does.

That's a weird example there. Mizutani could also argue, does Hayata have an Olympic gold?

 

[zeio]

2-3 against Duda, 2-3 against Franziska, 2-3 against Kao Cheng-jui, 2-3 against Lee Sangsu and now 3-4 against An Jaehuyn. Felix has lost too many deciding games since last year after olympics.

Hate to say it but yours truly had started foreshadowing from 10/2024, specifically after ETTC 2024.

 

[Metaxa]

Both Felix and Harimoto have lost to An Jaehyun in R16 of a world championship. Clearly they've both peaked too early and will never achieve anything substantial in their careers.

What I wrote here a few weeks/months ago, despite Harimoto being a great player he will never be No1, Olympic champion or individual world champion, ever!
This is slightly different for Felix, who I can definitely see individually standing on the top step in one of the major championships one day.

 

[Egon]

Hugo has won 2 ... sets against Ma Long in 6 matches. Not a great achievement tho.

Let's see how the young generation of chinese players will play against Hugo. If they lose again, then Ma Long will probably have to take off his official suit and show a master class.

 

[Egon]

Lin Shidong looks unstoppable. Not sure if he will be 2013 Ma Long or 2015 Ma Long when he meets Felix or Hugo.

It will be fun if he is defeated in the quarterfinals by Liang, who has a secret weapon - a signature blade from Loki

 

[NextLevel]

That's a weird example there. Mizutani could also argue, does Hayata have an Olympic gold?

Does Mizutani have a WTTC medal? Yet you argue he is entitled to tell someone else what it takes to win one and that it was the least they could do? If he was criticizing Hayata for a bronze in Olympics singles, that is a bit different, but he didn't do better than that.

 

[Persistence TT]

Poor analogy. WH was out of the picture by 2015 (retired in 2014).

Like WH said in a recent interview, it took the likes of them (WLQ, MLin, WH, ML) multiple tries to win the WTTC title.

yes but in terms of experience and character, non of the CNT member is anything special right now.

wang chuqin proved to be mentally unstable in the olympics/asian champs and lost to hugo

lin shidong is too young and lost to hugo

lin gaoyuan chokes and liang jingkun is a beast but he is not the smartest guy out there


In the wang hao wang liqin ma long era, none of them lost to a foreigner in consecutive tournaments in the same year. So the analogy is not so poor.

 

[Persistence TT]

It will be very hard for Felix to win. Below 30%. He practiced with these Korean guys before WTTC, that's a mistake. Koreans are very good in studying players.

It is never a mistake to practice with other players, after all , it is practice not a match. No incentive to play 100 %

 

[Egon]

It is never a mistake to practice with other players, after all , it is practice not a match. No incentive to play 100 %

However, @baotran prediction came true.

 

[baotran]

It is never a mistake to practice with other players, after all , it is practice not a match. No incentive to play 100 %

Sorry for making confusion. If it just practicing together then it is simple. But in this case it is not. French TT team and Korean TT team cooperated one or two weeks before WC (or even before WTT Incheon?) and let Felix played regularly with Korean players. I do not know how deep the cooperation was, but it seems unsual because they can be rivals in big tournaments such as WC or WTTC. Normally, only some small countries with poor facilities and low level coaching plans need to send their players to stronger countries for advanced training.

 

[mikeytt]

an jaehyun is really fun to watch, some of the back table forehands today were crazy! im happy to see him succeeding , hope for a good match versus hugo

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Doha: Shonen bullies Ojisan!

Meanwhile somewhere in a small rice village in South East Asia: Ojisan bullies shonen.

 

[NextLevel]

an jaehyun is really fun to watch, some of the back table forehands today were crazy! im happy to see him succeeding , hope for a good match versus hugo

I'm skeptical, he has never beaten Hugo before. He might have done Hugo a favor by eliminating Felix.