Following the trend from my last post, let’s look at another match between Ma Long (“The Dragon”) and Fan Zhendong.

A Different Match for Fan Zhendong

In my last post, I mentioned how Fan Zhendong seemed to have all the answers against Ma Long. In this match, which came before the match that was reviewed in my previous post, this wasn’t the case. Even though Fan won relatively comfortably with a 4-2 scoreline, Ma Long clearly held an advantage early on. In the first 3 games, Ma Long took away Fan’s strong backhand by serving half-long to the forehand. This serve handcuffed Fan into using his weaker forehand opening or baited him to move across to use his backhand. Ma Long aggressively attacked the next ball into Fan Zhendong’s backhand, and thus got the advantage early in the rally.

Fan Zhendong, from game 3 on, made subtle changes that unnerved Ma Long. How did “Xiao Peng” (a nickname for Fan from Chinese fans, this translates little fatty) turn the match around?

Fan Zhendong Showed Maturity

Fan is renowned for his fast-paced and powerful game. He usually has enough power to blow anyone out of the water, but not Ma Long. Ma often likes to wait for the counterattack off of his opponents, . However, as the match went on, Fan started to play with better placement, abandoning the backhand to backhand exchanges, his bread and butter. Instead, Fan started to place the ball wider into Ma’s forehand. Instead of aggressively attacking every ball, Fan opted to block Ma Long’s powerful shots. Once Fan was able to absorb a few forehands from Ma, Fan got the opportunity to attack and finish the point decisively.

In my opinion, Ma Long often tries to counterattack because he prefers to use the force from his opponents. This is not as common in the Men’s game as in the Women’s game. Ma Long doesn’t want to play long rallies, but it is difficult for him to finish the point with his opening attack. This explains why his serves are always attackable. With Fan Zhendong changing the placement of his shots, slowing his shots down, and then attacking when he needs to, he took way the rhythm Ma had built up in the first 3 games.

What should Ma Long have done?

What Ma Long should have done, in my opinion, was to play more towards the elbow and middle of Fan. Fan Zhendong anticipated all of the shots wide to the wings, and he got all of them back. However, when Ma Long pinned Fan on his middle, Ma almost always got back a weak ball to finish. To set this ball up, Ma Long must serve shorter to Fan’s forehand. If Fan is able to use his trademark backhand flick, the sidespin makes it extremely hard for Ma to place the ball to the middle. A short serve would limit the amount of power on this shot, as well as the amount of spin, making it easier to attack the middle.

Next, I believe Ma Long has to take the chance and attack first. Letting Fan open up like he did is just too risky. Put pressure on Fan’s wide forehand as early on in the rally as possible, and then pressure the middle and then lastly the backhand. I felt that Ma Long let Fan move him more than he should have, making it hard for Ma to maintain control in the rally.

Parting Thoughts

Overall, I remained puzzled by Fan’s current record over Ma Long. From watching Ma Long play for years, I know he has more gears than Fan. However, when watching him play Fan, Ma Long looks monotonous, one-dimensional, which he absolutely isn’t! Maybe it’s a slump, but I hope Ma Long finds his winning ways again soon.

We at FTTC hope that you and your families are safe and well during this difficult time. If you like this blog, you can read all of our posts here.