Tactical Board | Why did Fan Zhendong lose 0-4 to Wang Chuqin? Playing more tactical balls is the solution

In the just-concluded WTT Finals men's singles finals, the two famous national table tennis players Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin met in a narrow way, but the battle situation showed a rare "one-sided down" - the world's No. 1 Fan Zhendong not only failed to win the championship, but also did not win a game, and was swept away by a 0-4 defeat, which surprised many fans and even felt a little incredible.

After all, before this, Fan Zhendong's record against Wang Chuqin was more wins and fewer losses, and the advantage was relatively large, although he also lost in the last meeting, but it was only a 3-4 defeat, so why was he defeated by the opponent with a clean sheet this time? In my opinion, the reasons for Fan Zhendong's loss come from many aspects, let's take a closer look.

First of all, a key problem is that Fan Zhendong's backhand speed has clearly lagged behind Wang Chuqin.

Objectively speaking, Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin are both athletes with comprehensive skills, and they are players with backhands as the main killer feature, but Fan Zhendong's backhand style is closer to his former head coach and Wang Hao, who plays straight shots, that is, relying on continuous offensive holdings, and the stamina is endless.

But because of this, Fan Zhendong also has the same problem that Wang Hao had in his career, that is, the speed of the first board is not top, and the speed advantage is not obvious, on the contrary, more attention is paid to the follow-up behind, but as we all know: everyone has the first board, and then there are second, third, fourth, and fifth boards.

One of the two most important reasons for Wang Hao's continuous loss to Zhang Jike at the end of his career was that the quality of the first backhand was not enough, and he was very passive when encountering Zhang Jike's extremely domineering backhand twist and pull (another reason was that he could not catch Zhang Jike's serve well, especially the counterspin).

In recent years, Fan Zhendong in addition to losing Ma Long is tightly controlled by the opponent, most of the other defeats are also due to the problem of insufficient backhand impulse, on the other hand, Wang Chuqin, Lin Yunru, Zhang Benzhihe and others' backhands are very focused on speed, although the ability and continuity of the back are not as good as Fan Zhendong, but whoever can occupy the first board of the opportunity, who can quickly grasp the initiative on the field.

Secondly, as he grew older, Fan Zhendong's physical function declined, which directly led to a decline in the lethality of his sideways forehand.

Fan Zhendong is older than Wang Chuqin and is about to turn 27 this year, although he is at an excellent combination of body and experience, but it also means that his body is beginning to decline and his experience is maturing. On the other hand, Wang Chuqin, although his experience is not as good as that of his senior brother, his body is in the year of fighting, which also allows him to expand his advantages even faster.

The biggest impact of body decline on table tennis players is actually in the legs, that is, it affects footwork. When fighting against Wang Chuqin on the backhand, Fan Zhendong used to use the advantage of the forehand to break the defense, but this requires flexible footwork to protect, but recently Fan Zhendong has been a little difficult to run, no wonder many fans have put forward that old advice on the Internet - lose weight.

In the end, as Wang Chuqin himself said, mentality is the key to influencing the game.

Although the age difference is not particularly large, Fan Zhendong is currently the men's singles champion of the World Table Tennis Championships, World Cup, Asian Games, Asian Championships, National Games, and National Championships, and he also won the runner-up in men's singles at the Olympic Games, while Wang Chuqin's best result stopped at the men's singles championship of the Asian Games.

On the other hand, Fan Zhendong was suppressed by Ma Long for a long time in his early years, and now Ma Long's state is declining, and he has won two men's singles gold medals at the World Table Tennis Championships, ranking first in the world for a long time, and it is normal for him to be lax in his thinking. However, competition is like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat, and the comparison of your own strength with your opponent has been changing, and you must not look at it with old eyes.

So what changes should Fan Zhendong make in the future?

First of all, in terms of skills and tactics, Fan Zhendong must start to change more and play tactical ball, after all, he is no longer the fledgling, unfamiliar with the opponent, and mainly a new star who fights others, but a famous player who is entering the ranks of veterans, gradually declining in physical fitness, and has been studied by countless people, so we must minimize the dependence on high-quality balls and play more tactics.

Secondly, in terms of mentality, Fan Zhendong has to lower his stature, not only to accept the impact of young people, but also to fight young people - Wang Chuqin, Lin Yunru, Zhang Benzhihe, Alex, Felix...... The younger generations are constantly improving, and it is only a matter of time before they replace the seniors, and this point in time may come at any time, so Fan Zhendong must have a sense of crisis!

In the 2024 Paris Olympics, Fan Zhendong will usher in the ultimate test of his career, so I wish him can get out of the slump as soon as possible and realize his dream of a Grand Slam!