Ma Lin and his boring game delay..

[Michal_Z]

I just watched Ma Lin vs. Ma Long in Chinese Superleague and I noticed one thing..
Ma Lin is just sooo boring!
Everytime between points, what is he doing?
He takes his sweat off, then he comes to the table, rub his hand off the table, then he rubs his shoes on the floor, then he takes his sweat off with his hands, then he goes back to table, rubs the table, then he takes sweat off with hands, then he takes his racked and makes fan from it, then he again rubs shoes on the floor.. This takes for a minute!
I think in rules it is allowed for 20 seconds..
This is too much!
They played like 50 minutes and I bet when someone would make pure game video, it would be around 15 minutes..
Now, what do you say about that?
Is Ma Lin still the great player?
For me after this he is boring.. if he would do this against me in the game, I would lose same like Ma Long did, because I would probably fall asleep while he would do his ritual..

 

[chughtai]

when a person is playing at the top level of a sport it helps a player relax and get back his composure by doing these types of rituals it might be boring to u but it is a lifesaver for them in the end

 

[WiWa]

I don't see the problem. If he needs time between points he can take it. I can understand he doesn't want to go running into Ma Long's knife when they play the points quickly after another.

 

[Michal_Z]

Fine, rules say he has 20 seconds for it..
What he is doing is far more..

 

[MaLinAkAKilly]

if the referee is saying nothing and opponent is not disturbed, i see no problem...

 

[WiWa]

20 seconds is not much for picking the ball up, returning to the table and starting the play again. A good referee knows when a player will delay just to bring his opponent off his game. In that case the referee should say something. But for example the last points of the WTTC were not 20 seconds, but nobody in the TT world would agre with the ref if they would have said something about that.

 

[YosuaYosan]

He has given a card in the past by some referees because of that..

 

[azlan]

Everybody has their own routine. In tennis Djokovic takes eternity to bounce the ball before he serves. Rafael will put his hair behing left and right ears, pull his underwear out of his crack, rub his nose, bounce the ball before he serves. On the contrary, Pete Sampras bounced the ball once and serve.
I mean, which ever works for you. As long as there are no formal complaints from the opponent camps, and it doesn't bother the opponent, I think it's alright.

 

[scylla24]

Yeah, I really don't see that big of a problem with it. If the opponent was smart, he would use that time equally to settle his nerves and prepare and think about the next point. Ma Lin's play style requires a ton of energy so yeah of course he wants a little breather in between point. Judging him on the period in between points seems like a weird way to reach the conclusion that he is a boring player, since during the actual point, which is what matters, he does some of the most amazing stuff of any player. He is the probably the most technically sound player in the entire game

 

[WiWa]

Indeed, it wouldn't hurt Ma Long to settle his nerves every now and then

 

[dici]

Sometimes, those are some little trick that to stop your opponent keep getting on fire. At the same time, it can also let the opponent a little bit more nervous. It is more about a mind game. I have watch some of the old Ma Lin matches that are commentator by the CCTV professional. They said that Ma Lin love to do this when he is being behind the point, or the game is becoming critical.

And I'm sure Ma Lin knows about the baseline of this for how to not getting card from referee after he did it for so many years.

 

sorry but ma long is the king of game delay....
watch "ma long-wang liqin" in "pro tour china open"
at one point wang liqin starts looking at the referees like... "aren't you gonna tell him anything??!!!"
ma long usually plays that game with his opponents.
the problem is that ma lin is willing to play that game too so we end up having to wait lots of time between points.

I just watched Ma Lin vs. Ma Long in Chinese Superleague and I noticed one thing..
Ma Lin is just sooo boring!
Everytime between points, what is he doing?
He takes his sweat off, then he comes to the table, rub his hand off the table, then he rubs his shoes on the floor, then he takes his sweat off with his hands, then he goes back to table, rubs the table, then he takes sweat off with hands, then he takes his racked and makes fan from it, then he again rubs shoes on the floor.. This takes for a minute!
I think in rules it is allowed for 20 seconds..
This is too much!
They played like 50 minutes and I bet when someone would make pure game video, it would be around 15 minutes..
Now, what do you say about that?
Is Ma Lin still the great player?
For me after this he is boring.. if he would do this against me in the game, I would lose same like Ma Long did, because I would probably fall asleep while he would do his ritual..

 

[YosuaYosan]

Conclusion : Ma Lin's getting fat and unhealthy..

 

[Michal_Z]

Conclusion : Ma Lin's getting fat and unhealthy..

yeah, lol
That is what I wanted to say

 

[MrRothhaendle]

Ma Lin is a wise old man
Confucius took his time,too

 

[YosuaYosan]

Its table tennis, not philosophy

 

[sunilcse04]

Ma Lin should retire and give youngsters a chance.. He should not act like an ignorant fool.. His body is already giving signs of retiring.. It does no good if he plays 1 or 2 games fine and remaining he loses like a drunk pig! Schlager did a good thing by pulling off the WTTC. We need to see young talents.. Ma Lin may be the best, but he has lost many games like a pure looser.. Frankly nowadays Ma lin is not showing quality game.. am bit bored by his game techniques!

 

Ma Lin should retire and give youngsters a chance.. He should not act like an ignorant fool.. His body is already giving signs of retiring.. It does no good if he plays 1 or 2 games fine and remaining he loses like a drunk pig! Schlager did a good thing by pulling off the WTTC. We need to see young talents.. Ma Lin may be the best, but he has lost many games like a pure looser.. Frankly nowadays Ma lin is not showing quality game.. am bit bored by his game techniques!

ma lin is just answering to ma long's stupidity.
he doesn't behave that way with other players.
ma long behaves like that in all his matches.
they should just kick him out of the chinese team

 

[WiWa]

Ma Lin won the China Open. He is obviously still in shape. Ma Long has many years to go. Every player takes his time between points if he is not stupid, so please let's not blame a player if it takes a little bit longer sometimes. I'd like to leave that for the umpires to decide, that is why they are there. What's left for us is just to enjoy awesome table tennis.

 

[Ian]

Why all the hate for Ma Lin? Dan wouldn't like you talking about his friend like that

I've watched Ma Lin for many years and yes, he does like to take his time, but I've never felt it was that bad or unsporting. Not everyone can play at the same pace. I'm with the others who have said that if it's not obviously intentional and doesn't affect the game, there's nothing wrong with it.

Ma Lin is still an excellent player. He may not be as young as he used to be, but he can still school most of the youngsters with his experience, trickiness and tactical nous. I also love his variety (the same reason I'm a big fan of Werner Schlager).