Two of the most prominent Chinese players, Ma Long (“The Dragon”) and Fan Zhendong, have battled against each other on numerous occasions. Let’s look back at their most recent match at the 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.
A One-Sided Match
Previous matches between these two players were always tight, but this match was the complete opposite. Fan Zhendong proved too strong for Ma Long, winning 4 -1. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember a time when Fan Zhendong won against Ma Long so convincingly. Something to keep in mind though is that Ma Long had taken a long hiatus at the end of 2018 due to injury. Let’s explore the strategies both of these players used
Ma Long looking to Counter-Attack
A noticeable strategy that “The Dragon” took throughout the match was routinely giving Fan Zhendong the chance to attack first. Ma always seemed to serve longer than he usually does to bait the backhand flicks from Fan Zhendong. The flick would then give Ma the chance to counterloop the ball into the wide forehand, a weak area for Fan. Fan took this opportunity on most occasions, which played into Ma’s game to some extent. So even though Ma got what he was expecting, Fan Zhendong still came through to win, why?
The Power of Fan Zhendong
While Ma predicted correctly that Fan would aggressively flick his serves, I think the power and consistency of Fan took him off guard. In my eyes, Fan Zhendong was a glass cannon. His attacks are powerful and explosive, but he lacked consistency and variation. This match to me was a testament to just how much Fan has improved. The flicks from Fan were sometimes fast and aggressive, but were placed so well. Sometimes the flicks were slow and off-paced, and placed well too. This variation and spin control from Fan Zhendong took away “The Dragon’s” powerful forehand counter loop. Ma had to respond generally with weaker attacks, and Fan ate them up for breakfast. Instead of moving his opponent to the wide forehand, Ma found himself chasing balls in his wide forehand instead. Instead of imposing his incredible counterloop, he found himself blocking Fan’s attacks instead.
Ma noticed this and then shifted into trying to take the first attack himself. He served short more and more as the match went on. Sadly for Ma, this played into Fan’s game too much. Fan Zhendong’s touch play was absolutely perfect, dropping every short serve so gently over the net. Ma Long never had the opportunity to aggressively attack the ball on a consistent basis, and thus he was never able to get the ball past Fan. Fan ate up Ma Long’s attacks in counterloop rallies. “The Dragon” could not get over the aggressive attacks from Fan Zhendong. The match looked almost like one way traffic.
What can Ma Long do next time?
First and foremost, I think “The Dragon” should have served more to the forehand side. The half-long serve to the forehand side would either force a more passive forehand receive or a backhand flick. The difference with the the backhand flick from this position is that the placement of the shot is more predictable, with the most obvious target being the forehand side of the table. Ma could easily attack this ball aggressively since he would have had a better idea of where the ball was going to go, and so he could have prepared the shot earlier. If the shot went back to the backhand of Ma, then he could have easily played the ball wide to Fan’s deep backhand, forcing him to move back quickly and thus taking away the Fan’s advantage on that side.
Secondly, Ma could have tried to stay away from the backhand to backhand exchanges. Ma’s serve almost always invites the backhand to backhand rallies, especially when he isn’t fast enough to turn the corner. Anticipating this, Ma could have redirected the ball out to the wide forehand of Fan after the flick. This would have forced Fan to move off of his comfort zone, along with making him use his less dominant forehand.
Parting Regards
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