One of the biggest table tennis news in 2024 is Fan Zhendong's return to Weibo. And Fan Zhendong's Weibo profile picture is that he is wearing a Real Madrid team jersey, and everyone knows that he is a professional table tennis player, but he also has his own hobby, that is, a football fan. How much does Fan Zhendong love Real Madrid? On his social media profile picture, he is wearing a Real Madrid jersey, which is a strong performance.
In the 2023 Frankfurt Championship, although Fan Zhendong was eliminated in advance, he still took advantage of his free time to watch a Dortmund game. And Real Madrid's football players also maintained a good interaction with Fan Zhendong, and Fan Zhendong's Real Madrid jersey was full of the autographs of those stars.
Fans still hope that Fan Zhendong will focus on table tennis, because it is a critical period for the Paris Olympics. Fan Zhendong still has the dream of winning the Olympic Games has not been realized, in this critical period Fan Zhendong should be unshirkable, now Fan Zhendong has been strongly challenged by foreign players, is should focus on international competitions.
The men's finals are about to be held, and it is still a question whether Fan Zhendong can win the singles championship. The gold content of this finals is very high, and Fan Zhendong will inevitably face the challenge of foreign players. In 2023, Fan Zhendong will be defeated by Lebrun, Zhao Dacheng, Zhang Benzhi and these post-00 young players in a row, and his connection speed in the competition is indeed not dominant.
If Fan Zhendong wants to increase his dexterous tactical changes, he must be the first to launch and must not fall into the opponent's offensive rhythm. Some fans also see that Fan Zhendong should increase his flexibility, and it is difficult to deal with increasingly complex challenges simply by fighting hard power. Throughout 2023, Fan Zhendong encountered the most obvious challenges, and in 2024, the challenges will be even more intense.
Although fans are optimistic about Fan's future, some rational fans feel that it is becoming more and more difficult for Fan Zhendong to maintain his current dominance, because the young players are rising too quickly. The impact of national table tennis teammates Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin on Fan Zhendong is obvious, and this year's Lin Gaoyuan also defeated Fan Zhendong to win the championship.
Therefore, Fan Zhendong faces the biggest challenge in 2023, and he is relatively passive in terms of competition results. Fans also hope that Fan Zhendong will start over, and perhaps Fan Zhendong is also aware of this. Although Fan Zhendong has closed his Weibo since 2021, he won the runner-up in the 2021 Olympics, and it is a pity that he is one step away from winning the championship.
In the first half of this year, Fan Zhendong's hotel accommodation was broken into by strangers, which shows that Fan Zhendong hates that kind of black fans, he doesn't want fans to pay too much attention to his personal life, and he wants fans to pay attention to his performance on the field. It can be said that Fan Zhendong has an original intention, and he wants to be a pure professional athlete.
Despite this, it still did not stop fans from loving him. Although he is the leader of the national table tennis, Fan Zhendong does not attend many public activities of the national table tennis. Now that Wang Chuqin and Ma Long attend these public events, Fan Zhendong still enjoys private space.
Therefore, Fan Zhendong is a clear stream in the table tennis world, although he once closed social media and kept his distance from fans, but some fans think that it is still doubtful whether Fan Zhendong can win the championship in the Paris Olympics. Some fans speculate that the main reason for Fan Zhendong's ups and downs in results is that he may be looking for the other half of his life, and his game energy has also been scattered.
After all, Fan Zhendong is of age, and he really doesn't need others to disturb his personal life. This will cause too many distractions, and now both Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin are disturbed by many fans wherever they go, which once affected their mixed doubles results.
At the mixed team World Cup held in early December, when Sun Yingsha sat on the bench after the game, she sat with Fan Zhendong at first. Seeing this, Fan Zhendong immediately changed seats with Lin Gaoyuan and asked Lin Gaoyuan and Sun Yingsha to sit together. Seeing this scene, many fans were unhappy, thinking that Fan Zhendong did not respect Sun Yingsha.
In fact, Fan Zhendong did this as a last resort to avoid suspicion. Because Fan Zhendong knew that Sun Yingsha was particularly popular with fans, he was mainly worried that there would be a misunderstanding with Sun Yingsha like Wang Chuqin. In particular, there should be a distance between male and female players, and Fan Zhendong is very aware of this sense of proportion.
In fact, Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha are teammates, but fans always think about something happening between them, and they always think about other aspects. Fan Zhendong is more sensitive to the reaction of fans, which also shows that Fan Zhendong is clean and self-conscious to a certain extent. Fan Zhendong is a player full of positive energy, and of course he doesn't want to be haunted by some false rumors.
This also shows Fan Zhendong's self-discipline, if there is no spirit of self-discipline, I believe that Fan Zhendong would have retired long ago. However, whether Fan Zhendong can win the singles championship in the Paris Olympics is anyone's heart. The next half a year was very difficult for Fan Zhendong. Fan Zhendong will have to face a variety of competitors, especially France's Alex Lebrun.
In 2023, Lebrun defeated Fan Zhendong, and at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lebrun is the host player, and the advantage is obvious. There are two singles candidates for the Olympic national table tennis, and Fan Zhendong should be ready to defend the half of the region alone. Therefore, the next year-end finals are the best test for Fan Zhendong.