In the finale of the 2023 season in the men's table tennis world, that is, in the men's singles 1/8 finals of the WTT Doha men's finals, Chubby Fan Zhendong and Slovenian men's table tennis brother Darko Judzic fought fiercely in five games, and finally Fan Zhendong narrowly defeated Darko 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 17-19, 11-8) to advance to the quarterfinals.
This game made the fans very nervous, especially after Fan Zhendong was forced into the tiebreaker, the men's table tennis coach Wang Hao who was sitting outside the court was frightened, even more nervous and scared than when he played the Olympic men's singles finals three times that year! Darko's performance in this game is simply amazing, in the first half, his backhand twisted to the chubby forehand position, almost super high quality, coupled with the smoothness of the conversion of the forehand and backhand and the awareness of handling the right half of the billiards with the forehand are all top level, so that the audience can fully feel the atmosphere of the men's table tennis finals, it is really classic!
After the game, Fan Zhendong, who almost missed a round of travel, still had palpitations in an interview, he said that he was a little slow to heat, and the score was also very tight, and he had been trying to find a way in the face of difficulties. Moreover, Fan Zhendong admitted that his opponent played well in the game, and many unexpected balls were hit, which put a lot of pressure on himself! In the most fierce fourth game, Fan Zhendong once led 9-6, but the opponent was too entangled, and was finally forced into a tiebreaker 17-19! Fan Zhendong admitted that he once had a chance, including a lot of match points, but when he hit such a critical moment, a sudden shout affected him very much, especially when he had taken the initiative but was completely disrupted the rhythm, it would be difficult to win the game later!
Fan Zhendong specifically pointed out that in some key points of this game, the cheering of the fans on the scene caused some interference to himself. To this end, Fan Zhendong appealed after the competition to everyone to return the competition to the athletes: "I still hope to be able to abide by some rules of the arena." "Let the athletes dominate the game!" The fans have a good heart to cheer for Fan Zhendong, but it is better to cheer civilly between the two rounds and not cause unnecessary trouble to the players.
Fan Zhendong won a tough match, and he will next face Aruna, who beat Brazil's Hugo 3-2. Fan Zhendong said that the opponent already has such strength: "I will definitely pay attention to preparation, and I hope that I can play better!"
It is worth mentioning that at the welcome dinner held the day before the start of the competition, the organizers of the tournament just presented Fan Zhendong with an award to congratulate him on winning the first place at the end of the year for four consecutive years. I hope that Fan Zhendong will finish his warm-up, play better and better in the next games, and strive to continue to win the championship in this year-end finals and create a new record for him!