On the evening of May 28, Beijing time, the 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships ended the men's singles final, and finally Fan Zhendong defeated Wang Chuqin 4-2 and successfully defended his title.
Before the competition, Ma Long received his own World Table Tennis Championships replica trophy. The ITTF stipulates that only those who win the World Table Tennis Championships singles championship in three consecutive competitions, or win the championship in four consecutive competitions (non-consecutively), are eligible to win the replica cup of the World Table Tennis Championships trophy. And Ma Long is the only winner of men's table tennis since Zhuang Zedong for half a century. The 34-year-old veteran once won the men's singles championships three times in 2015, 2017 and 2019, but today's men's singles final belongs to the juniors, and he has become a bystander.
This is Fan Zhendong's sixth singles journey to the World Table Tennis Championships, and the third time he has advanced to the singles final of the World Table Tennis Championships - from the runner-up of the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships in Dusseldorf, to the personal first title in Houston in 2021, and then to today's successful defense of the title.
In Paris in 2013, Fan Zhendong participated in the World Table Tennis Championships for the first time, when he was only 16 years old. Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao have not yet retired, through two rounds of selection and a number of test matches, Fan Zhendong successfully shortlisted for the roster, but in the third round met Zhang Jike, who was still at his peak, and lost 0-4.
In Suzhou in 2015, Fan Zhendong defeated Ma Long 3-1 in the team direct match and was the first to win the men's singles World Table Tennis Championships. But when he came to the semifinals of the World Table Tennis Championships and met Ma Long, Fan Zhendong was obviously unprepared, losing 1-11 in the first game, and finally losing 1-4 - and Ma Long also opened his own road to consecration after this.
In the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships in Dusseldorf, Fan Zhendong went out as the second seed, and met the big brother Ma Long again in the final, and the two sides fought to the decisive game, but in the end, it was Ma Long who laughed last. The Dragons, who were thrilling to defend their title after the game, also said, "There is an element of luck in winning in the end, and the future is fat." ”
Budapest in 2019 is Fan Zhendong's Waterloo in the true sense of the World Table Tennis Championships. The team won all the trials to get the ticket, but in the round of 16, he unexpectedly lost to the team's newcomer Liang Jingkun. He then lost the mixed doubles and went straight to the bottom.
In the final of the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, facing 19-year-old Swedish teenager Moregaard, Fan Zhendong completed the sweep 4-0 and finally won his first World Table Tennis Championships.
Back in Durban this year, Fan Zhendong also made it all the way to the final. In the face of Wang Chuqin, who eliminated Ma Long and was in hot form and pointed to the triple crown, Fan Zhendong did not panic after losing a game first, but played a stronger performance - a detail is that in the last two points of the second game, when Wang Chuqin has played a high-quality ball, Fan Zhendong can also turn passive into active and beat the game back abruptly.
Throughout the game, although Wang Chuqin played well, Fan Zhendong was the one who played more consistently. All kinds of stalemate balls, the last laugh is often Fan Zhendong. Even Deng Yaping praised. Although he lost several match points in the fifth game, he quickly adjusted his form and won the game, and the title was well deserved.
After successfully defending the title, Fan Zhendong once again consolidated his position as the leader of the new generation of national table tennis men's singles. When Malone is getting older and is already opening a new era, what can he achieve in the future? Let's wait and see. At least, with him in the Chinese table tennis team, we can rest assured in the next few years.