off course he can ! im not saying that he cannot do it im just saying that if i was liu guoliang and saw his past results , my faith to ma long wouldnt be so strong , in decisive moments he couldnt handle the pressure thats all . if he works on that then he will be trully no1. but right now for my perception of a "great player" he isnt a really great player . He is just a tremendous talent that needs to work on mentality to be the best ever . Great players handle pressure and play like they dont care about the result , thats a great player...balance and peace of mind
question : when was the last time u saw ma long make a great come back against a strong opponent ? zjk won 4-2 after losing 2-0 in the world cup against wang hao . wang hao WLQ ma lin and ZJK even xu xin have made great comebacks , but not ma long ! another important thing for the olympic singles is that wang hao hast lost only once to a non chinese player since 2010 (loss to RSM and then loss to ovtcharov @ team world cup)
Sorry, but the discussion sounds a little stupid. I watched Zhang Jike play Joo Se Hyuk who he normally destroys and I watched Zhang Jike get beaten 4-0. Was that something other than mentality that Zhang Jike forgot to show up to the match? In that same tournament, Ma Long beat Joo in the finals and won the tournament. I also watched a tournament where Zhang Jike and Ma Long played in the finals and Ma Long won 4-0 and Zhang Jike's mental stability was so elsewhere that he forgot to shake hands after he got thrashed. Is that somehow not his mental strength.
Come on. Everyone has their good days and bad days.
By the way, in their last 6 meetings, Ma Long is 5-1 against Zhang Jike. Some people might say that is absolute domination.
It is unfortunate that, in the Olympics we will not see the two best players in the world going against each other.
It is also unfortunate that Ma Long was not at the World Cup but it is hard to complain that he did not win it in 2011 when he was playing great, because he was not there. 2009 was a long time ago.
Personally, I love Zhang Jike. I love watching his game. I don't love Ma Long but I like him. However, I still have to give him the credit he deserves. And if anyone deserves to go to the Olympics based on the past 9 months of table tennis play, it is definitely Ma Long.
But again, the thing that is a shame about the format for the Olympic games for Table Tennis is that, many of the greats will be excluded. There will not be one player there who has ever won an Olympic gold in Singles before who has qualified for the singles event. There are legends who are not being invited to play, who are still in the top 20 in the world.
You can argue about who has a better mental attitude between Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Wang Hao all you want. I have seen all of them play great and I have seen all of them fall apart. Remember at the end of 2010 when Wang Hao all of a sudden gained a ton of weight, got fat, could not move and could not beat anyone? Or was dropping off training and getting fat something other than mental strength? I remember seeing Waldner not play well in some big tournaments and fall apart. It happens to everybody.
And I have to be honest with you. I would much rather see Ma Long and Zhang Jike play in the finals of a tournament like the Olympics and see who comes out on top, than have one of them win without having had him go through the other. It would mean much more if Zhang Jike wins the gold medal against Ma Long, and for you Ma Long fans you can just flip the names around because it would mean much more for Ma Long if he won a big tournament like that and had to go through both Wang Hao and Zhang Jike.