There are too many top players in China, and Zhang was not given many chances for international competitions. This was his first WTTC men's single and he was 23. He caught the chance and he was just amazing. He is now the oldest player in the Chinese team. Hope he can overcome the injuries! I wish to see him on the match again. Wish him all the best!
Technical analysis. From the beginning, TB's strategy was to stay close to the table and play fast. This was to avoid ZJK's heavy spin rally. The strategy worked in the first game. ZJK couldn't get ready to launch powerful attack and TB won by superior agility. However, starting from the second game, ZJK improved the return of services with more backhand spin. TB couldn't generate high-speed returns and ZJK's rally strength started to dominate. This lasted to the end of the game. There are several things TB could have done to change the game. First, change the service style. TB tried a couple of time serve long into ZJK's backhand. However, the service quality was poor. The services were not fast enough. Lacking serving variety became lethal in this top players battle. Second, withdraw from the table. After TB lost speed advantage, he could have withdrawn from the table to avoid too many block returns. Block returns are ideal for ZJK's furious attack. Third, TB could have tried to place the ball more to the center of the table. In my view, strategy and coach were the most decisive factor in this game. TB had a good plan at the start but lacks the flexibility to adjust throughout the game. This game reminds me words of my coach. Play the way you feel comfortable. If that does not work well, play the way that makes your opponent feel uncomfortable.
In my opinion Timo should have tried serving with more side-rotation or maybe to his wide forhand so it would be much harder to flick. Also he should changing more tempo plus rotation /easier said than done/ And stay closer to the table as he did in the first game. Unfortunately Timo played generally predictable tennis throughout his whole career.
Its Posible he was the most natural talent table tennis player, yours matchs with Ma Long are legendarys and they will be remembered as the best in the history of this sport
Man that guy Zhang Jike in slo motion spins his racket and it rotates 2-3 times when the ball is coming towards him then he grabs the bat in a perfect position in enough time to hit a topspin forehand back. The natural instinct is crazy imagine how many hours they practice
The fast and furious rallies in this match just show how the game is on a different level now compare to the 80's. I never see fast rally like that in the 80's matches footage that I watched.
I'm a Taiwanese, China's table tennis is very strong. Their player like Wang Hao, Zhang Jike, Ma long, Xu xin, Ma Lin..... can be the top players in the world! But our team, which is called Chinese Taipei, we still have a player called Chuang Chih-Yuan, he is one of the top players in the world, too. ...... Whatever, I just like Table Tennis !
It's true. Taiwan is just a province of ROC. There are two Chinas in the world. Territories claimed by ROC are much bigger than claimed by PRC. And none of them is practical.
You do realise, arguably the greatest player for a long time was a swedish player called Jan Ove Waldner. Before Liu Guoliang became coach, Sweden was the number one country in the world of table tennis. Please don't go all around saying asians always dominate this sport because that's not hasn't always been true. China is just so ahead of the game currently because their coach and their devotion for the sport is almost un parrellel.
I'm American Chinese. China dominated most of the 60s and 80s. The Swedish men team dominated from 1989 to 1994. Overall China dominated since 2000 until now. In the late 90s, China was still the more dominant team compared to Sweden. With respect to basketball, USA men basketball IQ have been falling and the rest of the world are getting better and better.
Shit commentators... trying to make timo ball so good... you dont have to do that, he must show it up in the match... it was great match... but commentators didn't give Zhang his right in the comment
nobody can win CHINA if China Team does not want you to win....Rule 1 China team if they want to win they will win all World Championship ...Rule 2 No other rules...Rule 3
Boll lost the match with the turn arounds. He tried to turn around his backhand too many times and missed many shots. His backhand is not bad, why didn't he used his backhand to play the balls on the table? I'm disapointet about Zhang, he shows that his respect from the opponent is very low.
Maultasche123 45 there are 2 ways you can take his screaming here is an example i would never cho against a player that are weaker than myself but against i player i consider good i would be pumped palying and cho very much ofc not on thinks line a failed push but when i feel i did something good
remember there are always to sides of a story plus its not like its on harimotos lvl screaming on pretty much everything except net; edge or serve fail
the older guy had so much steam in the 1st. his movement matched the exuberance of the youthful athlete. He just lost momentum\stamina (like mike tyson) and i bet its because of the age. I bet if he was 8 years younger this asian player would not stand a chance.
littleAlex44 your 'hypothesis' is that since zhang jike is younger, he has more stamina. zhang jike is probably top 3 all time. he won because this was the beginning of his prime and he was simply better. nobody can touch zhang jike when he's focused, even today. it has nothing to do with youthful exuberance or losing stamina.
FUTURE 2070 trice wRONG, the hypothesis was, if timo was 8 years younger he would have won this match. lets not forget stats on world rankings a decade ago. you loose their too.. also, Ma Long can touch zhange anywhere he wants (yes there 2);-p PLUS+ youthful exuberance has a LOT to with it. take a look at any athletic sport for stats on old vs. young. You clearly do not know wtf you're taking about.
littleAlex44 so if timo boll were 8 years younger he would've beaten zhang jike at the wttc? zhang jike has never lost a single match here. timo boll has never won it all here. what makes you think a younger boll would suddenly win? boll, ma long and almost everyone has beaten zhang jike at some point. but boll was ranked number 1 in the world for 3 months to start off 2011 and lost it to wang hao. zhang jike beat both of them in the same tourney. i'm not saying boll cant beat jike, but simply saying if he'd win if he were 8 years younger makes no sense.
Zazen forever Some people are like that. It's not because he's showing off, necessarily, he just gets so into the game that there's some tension that needs to be released after every point.
Whether he needs to "release tension" (whatever that means) or not, as a great player you should be able to control yourself in these situations. How many times did Waldner scream as much as this. It is just rude and immature.
Zazen forever chill. He was playing in the wttc, which is one of the highest table tennis tournaments out there. They train all their life to get to this level, so who are you to criticize them? You just don't seem to be able to imagine how high the pressure is.
