So there are probably a lot of people out there who wish Zhang Jike had to play Ma Long because they are Ma Long fans and believe he would win.
I wish they could have played but I am not sure who would win nor would I care. If they played and Ma Long did win in a big tournament like this one, it would settle whether Ma Long can win the big matches.
If Zhang Jike lit up and came off, as he seems to when it really counts, and if Ma Long got nervous and fell apart under the pressure or simply did not elevate his game enough to win, it would also answer that issue.
At some point Ma Long will win a few of the Majors. He is too good not to. But Zhang Jike does elevate his game when it counts.
On an NYC email list after the Samsonov match people were saying that ZJK was not going to win. My response was:
ZJK is a notoriously slow starter and that he usually needs one of those wake up calls to actually start playing.
Liu Gouliang even had ZJK play 3 and 1 game matches trying to get him trained up to get a faster start.
But once he has one of those wake up calls, in a big tournament, he usually kicks his game up a few notches.
And he definitely seems to cranked it up even more in the big MEANINGFUL tournaments.
So we will never know what would have happened if they played each other, and that is why I wish they had.
Would Ma Long have come through?
Would Ma Long's nerves have gotten the best of him?
Would it have been an epic battle with Ma Long pulling it out?
Would it have been an epic battle with Zhang Jike coming out on top against the one player he usually does not take down?
And we will never know.
