What happened to Ma Long's backhand the last six months? His bh loop is suddenly so much better than before, teamed with he's beautiful fh he IS definately becoming a legend in TT.
Kayres9 ! Thanks ! probably someone desimformed me in Hungary .I heard many,many times this word "CHO,or SHOlEUH"from many many players. Greetings every ping pong fan,Herold008
@MultiOlimac Xu Xin is also the one I am looking forward to seeing becoming #1. I believe he has THE best forehand and THE best footwork in the world but he is in a transition to balance his forehand and backhand. A star for sure.
@chengqu1964 the advantage of xu xin is his age, if you realize, ma lin and wang liqin had their time some years ago, they were the kings ,now they are getting old and slower with the passing of the time, this is new rising rivalry, xu xin and ma long, penhold vs shakehand, i hope xu xin keeps training hard, he is gonna achieve something special in the near future, thats for sure
ShottySniperz401 ! In 1970-1980 the Hungarian World champions called Gergely Jónyer ,Klampár,and many other Hungarian great players after a winned point they said "JÓÓÓ !!!! " Jó means good in english .The whole world takes it in different way ,because it is a short word,and easy to say after a winning point !
@Herold008 not really. they are saying a chinese word similiar to "sholeuh", in short just "cho". if you listen to ma lin closely he often shouts out the long form, "sholeuh"
When I watch Ma Long play in this forms, I find it really hard / impossible to believe that the great Jan Ove Waldner in his top form was better then this. I don't think he would handle Ma Longs power/consistency. But thank god we will never know, because at the top should be an artist like Walder/Federer and not a Ma Long/Liqin/Nadal
@MarcoDWZ At this current point of time, Timo Boll is in fourth place. Just check the ittf rankins website Just bare in mind that the rankings change every few months.
Wang Hao shouldn't be ashamed despite his straight defeat, he was pretty solid but he was just weaker than an extremely powerful Ma Long. At least, he has proven that we shouldn't burry him even after his defeat against Yan An in the previous pro-tour.
he's been practicing it a lot. zhang jike has the best backhand atm and he used to pin ma long with speed using the bh. so ma long improved it to a point where the difference is negligible. zjk still has a better bh overall but at least ma long won't lose in an extended bh rally - it's more 50-50 now.
Ma Long beat Wang Hao and Zhang Jike like a cat beat up a mouse then eat it. If you seriously look at his style and compare to any other top players in the world. He, the racket and the ball are so seamlessly integrated into a stylish and intelligent power machine. I predict if he ever loses, it must be injury or fatigue, since no one in the world is very close to his level. The world #1 is a mile stone in TT history.
@chengqu1964 and for last, taking up the xu xin's topic, he needs to practice a lot more i think his RPB, if he really wants to make a good competition to ma long in backhand shots, his forehand is almost perfect and his classic penhold backhand is also good, it would be awesome if he can develope an rpb like wang hao does, something wang hao has improved to the perfection was that, the RPB, he has the BEST RPB in the world. :)
que bien que estuvo en ganarle 4-0 a wang hao, por haberlo eliminado en el mundial gritando todos los puntos, queriendo intimidarlo. arriba ma long es un idolo
@chengqu1964 also, wang hao is a current star, but know he is 28 years old, at this age is when you start not to develope your skills, just to decrease them i think, there are exceptions like boll, but now boll is gettin older as well, my unique european hope was boll and its starting to banish, i hope to see soon a new european legend like waldner or at least a nice player who can do something nice against the chinese army :)
Did anyone notice how many Chinese faces there were in the crowd at the SWEDISH Open? No wonder the Chinese play so much better than everyone else, there is simply a lot more interest in the sport in China than in other countries.
@Vladimir1354 Regarding "barely beat Zhang Jike", I have three comments: 1) In games, most points ML lost are due to his own mistakes, not because Zhang is better. Zhang seldom win a power rally against Ma Long. 2) In record, Zhang lost majority of the matches against ML. 3) If you further study ML, you'll see he is much more advanced. He attacks attacks from both wings with power and ease so that his opponent loses confidence quickly. Need to be an advanced TT player himself to see my point 3.
@Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh i tried to put myself in the place of Liuguoliang, but I still don't see any good solution for deciding who going to Olympic single lol
Ma Long tried to save face for Wang Hao in the 4th game by those long serves. Good grief. Not exactly close in this one. Ma Long still no. 1 by a mile.
if ma long and the rest of the chinese top player in top condition and top form play against each other.i bet ma long will win.ma long will be "lonely"if he continue to play like this.haha
@chengqu1964 Ma Long barely beat Zhang Jike, could have lost aswell. Wang Haos FH was not that impressive this time. May be nervous. Nevetheless exellent perfomance, Ma Long my be one the best at moment and very close to be the best.
@tshirttime84 i do admit that even zhang jike world champion in 2011..i think still Ma long is better than him a little bit..there will be a qualification for 2012 Olympic all the player will fight till the last blood.he..only 3 men singles spot available...guess who??
Wang hao is good enough, but Ma long is still better than Wang to win the game. This game shows that China's technique in table tennis is far away from other countries on earth.
@tyoungos The current number one tennis player is Novak Djokovic, not Rafael Nadal, and by quite a margin at that. Also, your comparison is a disgrace to Ma Long. Nadal is a defensive moonballer who hardly ever hits winners and relies on his opponents to miss to win points. Ma Long is a through-and-through power player, creating most of his points himself. I too am confident that he'll win the Olympics, but he is in no way, shape or form similar to the disgusting moonballer Nadal.
