Ma Long: Then (16 yrs) & Now (24 yrs)

[H4ks3lR]

What similarities and differences do you find? Ma Long must have accumulated a hell of a lot of hours of TT

Ma Long - photo by: skysports

Ma Long at 16 years of age against Vladimir Samsonov at the German Open!

Ma Long at 24 years of age against Yan An at the recent Qatar Open!

Leave your comments below

 

[Tom]

Wow I think he plays with almost exactly the same technique now!

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Ma Long is slower now, but his footwork is more precise. His forehand has more spin now but less speed. But his backhand has improved so much since back then. His backhand back then is not so good and does not have very much spin. Now his backhand has a lot more power, spin and speed.

 

[kevin septian]

He absolutely become more beastly and stronger than before...

 

[hipnotic]

The technique is the same but he improved is consistency. He matured as a player and doesn't play every ball to win the point. He now relies more in control shots to build up the point and counter-attacks close to the table. The backhand also improved and he doesn't need to pivot all the time to win the point with the forehand.

 

[abhay]

Ma Long back than was 95% perfect...now he's 97%. As hipnotic mentioned, he's more consistence now.

 

[sunilcse04]

Ma Long is still confused at times.. He is getting slower.. Zhang Jike does not get confused like Ma Long and Xu Xin.. Zhang's response is almost perfect.. even when he is caught unawares he blocks the shot perfectly.. like Ma Lin used to do..

 

[Idiot]

Ma Long is still confused at times.. He is getting slower.. Zhang Jike does not get confused like Ma Long and Xu Xin.. Zhang's response is almost perfect.. even when he is caught unawares he blocks the shot perfectly.. like Ma Lin used to do..

According to Liu Guo Liang, Zhang Jike has more trouble adapting during games than Ma Long:

"Why does Zhang Jike always lose in critical matches? It's because of his mistakes on those times that he shouldn't have any. The outcome of their competitions will depend on who has lesser mistakes. There is certainly one area that Zhang Jike is not as good compared to Ma Long and that is the understanding of table tennis: what should be his style of play." Liu Guoliang said.

Source: http://tabletennista.com/2012/7/zhang-jike-is-not-as-good-as-ma-long-video/

Zhang Jike, during an interview said that he believes he has more natural talent than Ma Long, but Liu Guo Liang thinks that Ma Long has a higher table tennis IQ.

Zhang Jike has the most power in all of the players on the Chinese National Team. Sometimes, it seems that he gets mentally lazy and relies too much on brute force and athleticism, instead of deception, placement, and variation. I think this is why he sometimes loses to speedy close to the table players who just feed off and redirect his power.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Ma Long is slower now, but his footwork is more precise. His forehand has more spin now but less speed. But his backhand has improved so much since back then. His backhand back then is not so good and does not have very much spin. Now his backhand has a lot more power, spin and speed.

I realize, back then, Ma Long was using speed glue which might account for some of how savage his forehand looks back then even though it does not have the same amount of spin and arc that it has now. The speed of those forehand shots is crazy back then. lol

 

[mrrybnik]

I don't really know why, but I still have a match, where Ma Long defeats Timo Boll, stuck in my head, when he was just 16. Did that really happen, cause in can't really tell but somehow i remeber it. Weird

 

[Trismegistus]

I don't really know why, but I still have a match, where Ma Long defeats Timo Boll, stuck in my head, when he was just 16. Did that really happen, cause in can't really tell but somehow i remeber it. Weird

 

[MildSeven]

I think he was best in his late teens. Then something happened...I think it is the coaching staff of the national team. I think they wanted to adjust his play style to dial back on the aggression slightly and achieve more stability, which has worked out well results-wise, but at a little cost to us spectators.

 

[Idiot]

I think he was best in his late teens. Then something happened...I think it is the coaching staff of the national team. I think they wanted to adjust his play style to dial back on the aggression slightly and achieve more stability, which has worked out well results-wise, but at a little cost to us spectators.

I think that might be more a result of the speed glue ban. It really forced players to play closer to the table, and attack from both wings.