On 26 October 2021, the ITTF announced its world rankings for October (week 43). Since no one from the Chinese table tennis team participated in the ITTF competition in September and October, there was no real change in the world rankings for Chinese players in this edition. There has also been no change in the position of the top ten players in the world men's singles. Fan Zhendong continued to remain in the first place. Malone is still second in the world.
However, the Chinese table tennis team does not have Ma Long in the list of the Houston World Table Tennis Championships, which will put the 2019 World Table Tennis Championships men's singles champion Ma Long in a disadvantageous position. Once the Houston World Table Tennis Championships points are updated, Malone's 2019 World Table Tennis Championships men's singles championship points will be invalid, and the points are likely to be reduced by more than 1,000 points at once. Coupled with the increase in points scored by other World Table Tennis Players, Malone is afraid that his ranking will fall to three places later.
ITTF Men's Singles World Ranking Top 10 October 26 (Week 43):
1. Fan Zhendong (China) 12494 points
2. Ma Long (China) 12212 points
3. Xu Xin (China) 10356 points
4. Zhang Benzhihe (Japan) 8709 points
5. Hugo. Calderano (Brazil) 8464 points
6. Lin Yunru (Chinese Taipei) 8375 points
7. Lin Gaoyuan (China) 8034 points
8. Ocharov (Germany) 8024 points
9. M-Falke (Sweden) 7357 points
10. Bol (Germany) 7086 points
Other top 20 players in the world are: 11, Jang Woo-jin (Korea) 12, Leung Jing-kun 13, Jeong Young-sik (Korea) 14, Pichfford (England) 15, Francesca (Germany) 16, Aruna (Nigeria) 17, Wang Chuqin 18, Niwa Hyo-hee (Japan) 19, Simon Gautz (France) 20, Lee Sang-so (South Korea)
Other Chinese players in the top 150 in the world's men's singles include: Zhao Zihao 25th, 4650 points; Xu Chenhao 103rd, 2214 points; Sun Wen 107th, 2076 points; Yan An 109th, 2040 points; Xiang Peng 111th, 2022 points; Xu Yingbin 112th, 2016 points; Xu Haidong 119th, 1968 points; Zhou Qihao 123rd, 1920 points; Zheng Peifeng 130th, 1836 points; Yu Ziyang 137th, 1791 points Xue Fei ranked 146th, 1710 points.
With the beginning of the Chinese table tennis team's Paris Olympic cycle, Ma Long and Xu Xin will gradually fade out of the main layer. The fact that the Houston World Table Tennis Championships did not compete is proof. This time, Ma Long and Xu Xin's world rankings will gradually decline. The biggest beneficiary of this will be Japan's Zhang Benzhihe, who is now ranked fourth in the world rankings closely behind Ma Long and Xu Xin. Ma Long and Xu Xin's world rankings have slipped, and Zhang Benzhihe has almost no effort to raise his world ranking to the second place in the world.