First of all, let's take a look at the current situation of these three people, Malone is already the GOAT in the history of table tennis, creating countless records that are difficult to break, just won the singles championship at the Tokyo Olympics, is still in the team, according to himself, still wants to play for a few years.
Zhang Jike has been out of the national team for several years, and the last international competition was the Korea Open in July 2018, and finally withdrew from the competition because of protests against the ITTF's lottery rules. At present, it is mainly to receive variety shows and endorse some products.
Xu Xin is already the vice chairman of the Asian Table Tennis Federation, according to his own disclosure, as long as he can play with the players who have just entered the first team, he will continue to play.
Secondly, let's take a look at the current "employment situation", whether it is a meritorious player like Erwang Yima or an Olympic champion like Chen Xuan, he is currently working in the national team and the Chinese Table Tennis Association. Wang Liqin may be a little special, he is also a civil servant of the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau. On the women's side, it is more diverse and will not be repeated. Focus on a sentence, the more concentrated the resources, the more attractive they are.
At present, it seems that Xu Xin is most likely to continue to stay with Chairman Liu and continue to contribute to the national table tennis, after all, the road has been paved for him, and it is foreseeable that the vice chairman of the Asian Table Tennis Alliance will basically enter the Chinese table tennis team as a coach and the management of the China Table Tennis Association in the future.
Zhang Jike will most likely not return to the national table tennis and association, and he can break out of the world by relying on his personal brand. Of course, this also means the most risky and more challenging. Judging from the development of Zhang Jike in recent years, from 2019 to 2021, the number of variety shows has a decreasing trend.
Ma Long currently has the smoothest road, the roots are red miao, whether it is to go to the national team coach - > head coach - the chairman of the > Association, or to take a route similar to Wang Nan and Deng Yaping, to the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League to engage in politics, is a good choice. And judging by Malone's super self-discipline, achievements, and good interpersonal relationships, he will develop smoothly in the future.
In fact, as a table tennis enthusiast, I really don't want these three national table tennis heroes to retire, and I want to see how many more games they play.