As China's national ball, national table tennis has created countless brilliants. So far, there are only 10 Grand Slam winners in the world representing the supreme honor of table tennis, and the Chinese team accounts for 9 places. They are Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Deng Yaping, Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning.
Each of them is a player who has gathered the three singles champions of the Olympic Games, the World Table Tennis Championships and the World Cup, and its glory can be imagined.
In addition to these Grand Slam athletes, there are many excellent players in the history of national table tennis, who have also won a lot of world championships, but they lack a champion and ultimately fail to achieve a Grand Slam.
Let's take a look at the quasi-Grand Slam players who lack a champion in the three major competitions and have no chance to achieve a Grand Slam.
One, Marlene
Marlene's career can be said to be very successful, unfortunately he was infinitely close to a Grand Slam, but helplessly did not complete his dream in the end.
Only because in that era of "two kings and one horse" (Wang Liqin, Wang Hao and Ma Lin), he and his teammates were very strong, but the playing style was mutually restrained and mutually restrictive, and in the end, the three did not achieve a grand slam.
Wang Liqin has won the World Table Tennis Championships singles championship three times, but has not made a breakthrough in the World Cup and the Olympic Games.
Wang Hao has won three World Cups and one World Table Tennis Championships singles championship, but he has always been difficult to reach the top in the Olympic Games, leaving regrets.
Marlene, on the other hand, has won four World Cups and one Olympic singles title, but has missed one World Table Tennis Singles title.
For this World Table Tennis Championships singles champion, Marlene fought for 16 years. He was runners-up three times, all of which were lost to their teammates in the final.
In 2013, Marlene's status declined as she grew older. But in order to impact the Grand Slam, he chose to play the World Table Tennis Championships again. He did not want to be swept out by The Japanese players 1-4 in the end, so he set his worst result in the World Table Tennis Championships.
Soon after, Marlene announced her retirement, and her dream of a Grand Slam was shattered.
2. Wang Hao
As we all know, Wang Hao is most famous for winning the World Cup men's singles championship three times, the results are very bright, there is strength, but bad luck, has missed the opportunity to win the Grand Slam three times in a row.
In 2009, Wang Hao defeated Wang Liqin in the World Table Tennis Championships and won the singles championship of the World Table Tennis Championships. At this time, he was only one Olympic champion away from the Grand Slam, so he had to make people.
Wang Hao has participated in the men's table tennis singles events of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2012 London Olympic Games three times, and is also the only table tennis player in the history of Chinese men's table tennis who has had three Olympic singles experience.
Unfortunately, in these three Olympic games, he lost to Liu Chengmin, Ma Lin, and Zhang Jike, and each time he won silver, and he was unable to achieve the Grand Slam he longed for.
3. Liu Shiwen
Not winning a Grand Slam is the biggest regret of Marlene's career. After retiring from the army, he vowed to train a Grand Slam himself.
After Liu Shiwen won the World Table Tennis Championships in 2019, Marlene put more energy into her, hoping that Liu Shiwen could win the championship at the Tokyo Olympic Games, achieve a grand slam, and make up for her regrets.
Contrary to her wishes, Liu Shiwen has been the absolute main force in the Chinese women's table tennis team for more than ten years, and after all, she has not won the opportunity to compete in the Olympic singles competition.
So far, Liu Shiwen has won a total of five World Cups and one Women's Singles Championship of the World Table Tennis Championships. If Liu Shiwen was only one step away from the Grand Slam in 2019, now the distance is even farther away.
In the latest world rankings, Liu Shiwen has reached 98th, and she has hardly been seen in some recent national table tennis competitions.
Today's national table tennis women's team singles have formed a pattern of sun Yingsha, Chen Meng, Wang Manyu, Wang Yidi four giants to compete, so Liu Shiwen has obviously been ranked outside the main lineup, the opportunity for Olympic singles is getting smaller and smaller, coupled with the impact of injuries, it may eventually rub shoulders with the dream of a grand slam.
Fourth, Chen Meng
Chen Meng, as Ma Lin's second disciple, was naturally expected by master's Grand Slam.
But in fact, before 2019, no one was optimistic that Chen Meng would have the opportunity to complete the dream of a Grand Slam, after all, Chen Meng was not in the top three absolute main forces in the Chinese women's table tennis team at that time, but more in the role of the marginal main force.
But as Ding Ning Liu Shiwen gradually grew older, and the contemporary Zhu Yuling began to fall behind, coupled with the rise of Japan's Ito Mimachi, Chen Meng ushered in his own excellent opportunity.
Fortunately, Chen Meng seized these opportunities and, at the age of 26, won the first chance to participate in the World Cup, defeating Sun Yingsha in the final and winning the Women's Singles Championship of the World Cup.
In the Tokyo Olympic Games, Chen Meng once again defeated Sun Yingsha in the final and won the Women's Singles Championship of the Olympic Games, and At this time, Chen Meng also domineeringly announced that his time had arrived.
For the Grand Slam, Chen Meng also made no secret of his desire, once Chen Meng returned to Qingdao on vacation, a friend asked, you have won the Olympic women's singles championship, then what is the goal of the struggle? Chen Meng replied firmly: Grand Slam!
Next year's World Table Tennis Championships in Durban, South Africa, is Chen Meng's last chance to achieve a Grand Slam, others can lose, because they still have time, but Chen Meng is like Liu Shiwen, who stormed the women's singles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships in 2019, standing on the edge of the cliff.
After all, she is 28 years old, for female athletes, already belongs to the old athletes, if you lose the opportunity next year, it may be more difficult to win the championship again.