2014 Men's World Cup.

assiduous wrote: In all honesty, ZJK did not play well in any of his matches, even in the 4:0 vs Adrian Crisan. This is the worst footwork he s had in a tournament in his life. He was not sharp, not aggressive, no yelling, he REALLY struggled with Timo and was hesitant on half of the points. I have never seen him that hesitant either. Of course the last game was Ma Long was a toss up, though I don t think it was a 50:50. Even at 10:10 i liked his chances slightly better. Last two points pretty much summarize the two players: When down to the wire, ZJK will go to his BH, and when in a corner vs Ma Long, he will go long to ML s BH. I am hoping this was because of this decease and he gets healthy for 2015 because he will have to work hard to earn a spot for the olympics. I frankly don t think he s gona win the next WTTC, he doesn t need it, and ML is about to commit a suicide, and will be really bad for everyone if ZJK gets 3 in a row and blank ML, and in China these things just don t happen.

+1

ZJK was caught flat-footed or wrong-footed numerous times.    In the past, I think he would have muscled it out.      Also, I didn t see him do any of those amazing bounces in between points.

On the one hand, it shows how dangerous he is as an opponent.   Even without being 100% he knows how to pick his spots and out-smart you.    Back him into a corner, he will show you a different game that you can t handle.    

On the other, the biggest obstacle for ZJK is his injuries.     At some point certain treatments stop being effective and do more harm than good.    From now on, I am not sure if ZJK can actually get any better in physical terms.    Therefore I also agree it is a tall order for him to win another grand-slam title.    In fact, he won t waste any efforts to win another Pro Tour or even World Cup.

zhang jike s celebration is making its way to mainstream media. it s in yahoo usa

https://gma.yahoo.com/table-tennis-star-zhang-jikes-victory-celebration-costs-171746048--abc-news-entertainment.html

Did anyone see Timo s impossible backhand flip against Zhang Jike, the backhand flip master himself?  It was an absolutely unreturnable shot at an incredible angle that left Jike completely frozen.  It was my favorite shot of all the highlights I ve seen of this tournament:

http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=54Jv3GeP8j8&p=n#/238;249

Put it in infinitelooper for your enjoyment.


Edited by Ringer84 - 10/29/2014 at 12:09am

Edited by zeio - 10/29/2014 at 12:32am

he just wants people "to see it for what it was" (as a spontaneous release of pent-up emotion, not malicious)

This is the correct interpretation.

How can t be???The number one and number too, know very well that when they return to China, the Chinese goverment will take the 50% from the price!Despite the fact that the number one will take nothing :(

I think ITTF flucked up twice here. 

Can there be only 1 single nominated coach per player for the whole tournament? 

There is something bigger now going on in China.  A conversation with LGL in a recent TV program has gone viral.  It is about how LGL "coerced" Wang Hao into treating the Olympic singles final as lost, which was meant as a way to take some of the weight off of him and also to serve as a buffer so that he wouldn t break down during the teams event in case he lost.  LGL and WH had both spoken multiple times to the media about this right after the Olympics.  Now the media has gotten the wrong idea and interpret that as a team order to fix the match.

Agree

mg wrote: Funny, nobody mentions that ZJK had to play a bit dirty this time in order do win it. I mean cleaning his side of the table with the towel during the sets was quite intentional and there was quite a bit of stretching and walking around at certain points of the game. I mean OK, pressure, maybe an injury (ML also had his waist wrapped around so you never know) but it was intentional. I m not saying he didn t deserve to win but ML had been slammed for less theatrics between the points. I agree that ML lost the last set because he became predictable when serving at the end, same goes for Boll who had a real chance to win. IMO ZJK had always won against ML with some mind games, that s OK -if somebody has a weakness you just exploit it. But ML has really improved mentally recently and ZJK knew it and didn t hesitate to go further in order to break his rhythm. Anyway. About the pressure - it is just the same for ML or XX (actually even worse -they haven t won anything in singles yet). So this can t be an excuse. If somebody likes his action on Sunday, that it his personal opinion. I don t. It was just totally out of place and stupid. And it didn t seem then he has any kind of injury. That being said I still think that these two are just the best players in the world right now and every encounter between them is a real pleasure for the fans.

Can you please stop being a sour loser and take the loss gracefully like Ma Long did? What do you mean Zhang Jike had to play dirty to win? Each player wants to control the game so that it would play out the way he likes it. Some like it fast paced and others prefer slow paced, depending on their playing style. There s nothing wrong with what Zhang Jike did on court; otherwise, he would have received a warning from umpire. Both guys played well and either could have won, it was that close. Please do not put down what Zhang Jike had achieved, that s unfair to him for what he had gone through. He injured his back during practice back in China and had an injection to stop the pain before coming to the World Cup. He still felt numb in his back after arriving in Germany, and Liu Guoliang had to call doctor in China to seek advise on his conditions. The doctor said that if he s still not improving then maybe he should not play at all. But he persevered. Also considering that he had to play two 7 set games (a total of 14 sets) against two of the best players in the world on the same day within a few hours. So, please show some respect to the guy who had given all he has to win.

Furthermore, it s true that Ma Long had dominated over Zhang Jike in the past, but in 2014 the head-to-head record between the two were even prior to the World Cup final. The two met four times this year, and the win-loss ratio were 2-2, including:

Grand Final: Ma Long 4-3 Zhang Jike
Tokyo Trial: Zhang Jike 3-1 Ma Long
Tokyo Warm Up: Ma Long 3-1 Zhang Jike
CTTSL: Zhang Jike 3-1 Ma Long

So, now on any given day, either could win over the other. If Ma Long still thinks he could walk over Zhang Jike like his fans do and does not take him seriously as a dangerous opponent, then I won t be surprised if he looses again. Why did Zhang Jike react so "violently" after the win? Because he had tremendous respect for Ma Long as an opponent, and he knew that it s not an easy win and luck was on his side that day. Although Zhang Jike has four major titles under his belt before the World Cup, people still have no respect for his achievements just because he did not win any of his titles on route to beat Ma Long, the best player in the world in a lot of TT fans eyes. He has to prove he is worthy of his achievements by beating Ma Long, his nemesis, in a major tournament and he did.

mg wrote: Funny, nobody mentions that ZJK had to play a bit dirty this time in order do win it. I mean cleaning his side of the table with the towel during the sets was quite intentional and there was quite a bit of stretching and walking around at certain points of the game. I mean OK, pressure, maybe an injury (ML also had his waist wrapped around so you never know) but it was intentional. I m not saying he didn t deserve to win but ML had been slammed for less theatrics between the points. I agree that ML lost the last set because he became predictable when serving at the end, same goes for Boll who had a real chance to win. IMO ZJK had always won against ML with some mind games, that s OK -if somebody has a weakness you just exploit it. But ML has really improved mentally recently and ZJK knew it and didn t hesitate to go further in order to break his rhythm. Anyway. About the pressure - it is just the same for ML or XX (actually even worse -they haven t won anything in singles yet). So this can t be an excuse. If somebody likes his action on Sunday, that it his personal opinion. I don t. It was just totally out of place and stupid. And it didn t seem then he has any kind of injury. That being said I still think that these two are just the best players in the world right now and every encounter between them is a real pleasure for the fans.

Watch 2013 Kuwait open. zjk is much faster and activer.He beat ml 3:1 in the final.