FULL MATCH | MA Long (CHN) vs FAN Zhendong (CHN) | MS F | 2019 ITTF Grand Finals

...and redirected back until Fan Zhendong couldn't keep it up. A test here for the first point. Both players with a softer pace. Fan Zhendong spins to take the first point. It's a best-of-seven, so it could be a long road. Again, the improvement that Ma Long has made from the start of his match against Zheng Yongshik to get through Xu Xin last night. It seemed like he was cautious for two games. Destruction that he uses so regularly to dominate the rest of the world. The one man on the other side of the table with his second serve. Side-out forehand here. The serve is strong, but if it comes back on the table, the serve is only as good as the person taking the third ball attack or as good as the third ball attack to follow. Three serving one. Change in depth on the table. Hat on push with heavy rotation from Ma Long. Short side, but he can't... Very tested. In terms of footwork, in terms of trusting himself, Ma Long is going to have to depend on the backhand a bit more. He'll step around, but only when he thinks that he can finish the point. Earlier on in this, the wide forehand was the clear weakness for Ma Long. Not because he doesn't have an outstanding wide forehand, simply because of, well, the trusting of the knee. A little bit of hesitation, a little bit of caution. Two months now, he's been unstoppable. No one has touched him. Challenged him, yes. No one's beaten him. Now, head-to-head, they've played 17 times. Ma Long has won 14 of those 17. Long with the short strokes. Comfortable to counter back. The thing that makes Ma Long a mastermind is that he always finds a way. Somehow, I've seen him in very uncomfortable positions manage to just wiggle something out, something that most people wouldn't even think of. Has to go very wide on this one. Now, the respect that the entire world in table tennis, the entire stadium here has for Ma Long, is unrivaled. But Fang Zhendong, considering he'll be 23 in January, has a bigger fan club than probably any other 23-year-old on the planet. Ma Long changing it up. You can hear them chanting for Fang Zhendong. Many Fang Zhendong fans waiting for the throne to be taken over. Ma Long has been on that throne since 2015, and there's been a little falter in late 2017. Since then, it's been a bit of back and forth, question about Ma Long's health. He became a father right around that time. Things changed a bit. But in over the table, Fang Zhendong using the legs to propel him forward. Three-point lead here for Fang Zhendong. Now, something I haven't mentioned to you, I've been so excited about the match itself. TTR, Table Tennis Review, is here. While serves are not as strictly enforced right now as I think they will be in the future, they're slightly more strictly enforced than they were before. A lot of players tossing the ball so that it falls behind the head. Not here. And umpires, assistant umpires, will only call it if they think that it's so blatant that it must give an unfair advantage to the server. Back edge of the table, and that push rally, you're just waiting to see Fang Zhendong when he explodes on the ball. Did your eye go to the red jacket in that crowd shot? It's very peculiar. Sometimes somebody wrapped in a blanket catches you off guard. Behind the table on the backhand, Ma Long will be thinking very carefully about the position. To do so well throughout his career is change the pace and hit different parts of the table. Slightly more shallow in the mid-rally. As the rally opens up, just changing it constantly. Left hand! He goes for the left hand! After getting the second shot back, Ma Long saving his body on this one. I've seen him make the left-handed shots before, but a hand switch under pressure, the flick comes back to the exact opposite corner. Footwork, and just too closed on the racket. How much time can you possibly spend practicing that shot, really? Four game points for Xiaopang. And he takes game one 11-6. World number two in the lead. With the serve to start off game two. Love all. And that serve, tough to receive. Ma Long with some time, spins it down the middle of the table. Again, it's rare to see Fang Zhendong looking off-balance in a way where he doesn't regain his balance. Lin Gaoyuan in the background watching closely as well. Second time we've seen it come back fast. That forehand flick of Ma Long was fast, but using the length of the table allows the forehand counter. Making the adjustments quickly. I think Ma Long is going to have to try to find new places on the table, whether it's wider to the forehand, a bit more into the middle, slightly shorter lengths on the table for that forehand flick. Now I mentioned that the last time they played, Fang Zhendong won. That was the Japan Open 2019, four games to one. Fang Zhendong actually won two of the last three that they played. The time before that was the Asian Cups. I apologize yesterday for saying Asian Championship, Asian Cup. It was a four to two victory. That was the one where Ma Long was up one, zero, ten, seven. Fang Zhendong twisted fate. The last time Ma Long won was the China Open quarterfinals, four to one. Just goes to show you how much power, the explosive factor from Fang Zhendong, how much there is on that backhand. Second ball, barely even moves, very stable base. And Ma Long in his reaction time trying to cover the middle with the forehand just can't get up quick enough. What a cool frame of mind to know that anything is possible. To constantly believe that really to the core. Ma Long seems to have that since 2015. When he had taken massive titles before 2015, but when he became world champion in singles in Suzhou, everything changed. Investing in the spin instead of the speed. A rhythm breaking shot. You can see the frustration on Fang Zhendong's side. Right down the line. Again, very little backswing like the Bruce Lee one inch punch. Fang Zhendong, so much power in such a short space. Placement so important on that. He's opened up a few times now that we've seen Fang Zhendong expose the open forehand. Trying to get in a little bit late on the push. Use the length of the table to shut down the attack. That was the one. Fang Zhendong, over the table. Full racket speed, tuck the block. And the spin game as well. Again, with the consistency that Fang Zhendong has brought out. Game number two. Pretty close to even here, but just a reminder that throughout this tournament, Fang Zhendong has been quite deadly, quite unstoppable. Ma Long playing in combinations here. Never just hitting one shot. Always getting ready for the next quickly. And here, as soon as the long push comes out, he's already getting ready for the big backhand coming in. Very few can play passively against Fang Zhendong. Just a little bit of a guide, little bit of a forward motion, but percentage-wise, very calm shot with the speed that these two are used to. That's the wizardry of this man right here. After a few backhands in a row from the corner, it's natural, even for a player with Fang Zhendong's backhand, to turn to play the forehand. Different trajectory on the shot. Three-point lead. Big point here for Ma Long. Chance Ma Long will reach this. You're 31 years old, you've come out of surgery, you're battling injury, and a chop from down near the ground. Flat hit the other way. Ma Long doesn't miss by much. 10 centimeters at most. Spectacular point. When you fool professional cameramen in the mecca of table tennis, you know you've done something crazy. I mean, what do you really do anyway? You look at the frame of the camera here, Ma Long had run out of it to save the ball. So that point that I was talking about at 8-5 ended up being quite a big point, bigger than I could have possibly known. As Fang Zhendong dries off the face to make sure no sweat drips on the racket that he just cleaned. He's down by one. It's easy to imagine anything in this match in many ways. Just based on condition alone, the form that Fang Zhendong has been in, a 4-0 victory would not be out of the question. It's tough for me to imagine he would not give everything he possibly has to win this match. Because he's got to rest for a while after this. It's the end of the world tour. I don't know where Ma Long will be needed next. His level, there's very little rest. Just back to training. And that long heavy underspin served right to the baseline. Two game points after three in a row were scored by Fang Zhendong to tie it up. Fang Zhendong with the serves. One big backhand off the bounce. He refuses to back off the table. Fang Zhendong with the quick timing. Saves game point. Second serve here. Action right now is Ma Long stirring up in that table tennis laboratory above his neck. Once again, good side angle view here. Things didn't go according to plan. So deuce in game number two. Ma Long with an individual serve. Fast and long and burned on the line forehand side. Three points in a row for Xiaopang. To react the way he did and keep the ball in a shing shot. My goodness was that beautiful. Side spin with the top spin and it was already on the line as wide as can be. Again, the receive was good enough for me to be impressive. But to do what he did, well, he's sitting on game point. Oh, and the missed contact Ma Long from an eight. He might be able to take game number three. View from this angle. Makes Fang Zhendong look way further behind the table. Way farther behind the table. Thank you, middle school English teacher for that one. Then Ma Long in that rally. Ma Long needs to shorten up the stroke, play the timing on the bounce. I'm always hesitant to say anything related to what Ma Long would need to do. But simply knowing one, the way Fang Zhendong is playing and two, Ma Long's speed is still not fully back. Confidence might be the question too. It's a fortune for the drag. Ma Long up here on his second serve now. Very close to the back edge of the table. The ball that sits up a little bit. No coaches in the corners. Both players representing the Chinese national team of course. But again, it's one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. It's a coming of age story. And as time moves on, the story only gets better. Long poster there. Dictator in the sign. In case you're curious where it comes from, well, he's been dictating the results, the outcome of the matches since Suzhou 2015. Oh, right down the line. Fang Zhendong tying it up. Ma Long very selective about when he chooses to turn the corner. And as smooth as his backhand is, as fast, as effective as his backhand is, Fang Zhendong is too versatile and powerful with his backhand for Ma Long to consistently pick that fight. Use of side spin here to make the ball jump. Fang Zhendong with the Chiquita at the back of the table. A banana flick. Watch one more time. High toss serve. Heavy side spin. He makes it look so fluid. The way he just snaps around the ball. Again, that could send many players, even high level players, into injury. Fang Zhendong with the ice cream cone flip as well. Racket head straight up as he brushes sideways on the ball to leave it floating with side spin deep in the backhand corner. I guess if I were Ma Long I guess that's what being Ma Long had. Forehand flick again when it comes wide to the forehand. Time again it's been trouble. Here a bit of help from the net and not a lot of time to react. Three point lead for world number two Fang Zhendong. Now many believe that if these two are chosen and rightfully so it might even seem likely that they would be for singles. If these are the two that play the Olympic Games in singles this will be the Olympic gold medal match. Short side but no table top here for Ma Long. Now it would be likely that these two would make the final. I've talked about the world rankings before but as far as I know from reliable sources players will not be on the same side of the draw in the singles event. So that means that in theory if Ma Long's world ranking was not let's say let's just say he wasn't one of the top two seeds before. Now again I'll get clarification on this as it gets closer but if they were seeds number two and three they could face each other in the semifinals. That would be a nightmare nightmare for the Chinese Table Tennis Association. Where does this come from? Near the hip Fang Zhendong to even get his body out of the way somehow manages to find the short side of the table and plays it with side and top spin to the corner. A limbo master Gumby out here as flexible as can be a slow-mo Chou Lei. The mantra of modern table tennis soft and spinny tempting Fang Zhendong just brings him in over the forehand side and then deep to the backhand side of the table. Fang Zhendong normally quite strong in that drill but still it's a tougher drill really tests the opponent's strength. A fast short serve to the forehand. I don't know it's an uphill battle right now. Long moving in the right direction. Last game had 10-8 that could have been the deciding factor in the match. Again that ice cream cone flick the racket head up and the side spin on it. Fang Zhendong four game points for a 3-0 lead. Two of those games were quite one-sided the last one included. Starting strong in the backhand-to-backhand rally we saw the stats between games. Ma Long picking a lot of backhand battles. Now while I mentioned before that'd be difficult to do because Fang Zhendong just so strong on the backhand side it takes longer for the injured player. Here it is on the body. That clamp and right back. I mentioned last night that Jin Zhijian had said I'm told Ma Long has never lost a match after being up 3-0 I imagine that since he became a professional. A touch shot after him to slow down the rally. Both players not missing a point on their serve yet. Pays off 78 kilometers per hour. That's quite high on the scale I think other than someone smashing a lob in a rally. We don't see shots that fast very often not on the radar not here. Wide enough and very tough to recover from. Out of the first towel break Ma Long leading 4-2. Well he's definitely done with caution for now. He'll slow down the rally from time to time but knows that he needs confidence that he needs some firepower in the rallies from time to time just to keep Fang Zhendong uncomfortable. That chop block was so smooth nearly straight side spin from Ma Long off that backhand and see the nerves in the crowd as they watch cautiously. Fang Zhendong bringing back every shot covering the middle the wide forehand last shot and Ma Long with a hooking forehand as much spin as can possibly be. Hurricane absolutely a wind whirl of spin from the dragon the captain the dictator what a point. In play turns the corner the ball goes the other way. Down the line again the place the wide forehand and if Fang Zhendong has throughout this match he leans back and keeps it so low. Again for Ma Long there's always a way anything's possible. Fang Zhendong stepping up right now a little bit slower not spinnier thinking of all the biggest matches all the biggest titles that Fang Zhendong has taken the biggest wins he's had over Ma Long. Asian Cup earlier this year Japan Open with anything like the world championships World Tour Grand Finals it's been Ma Long. For the next time around when you think he's maxed out he still has even more power. There it is once again just wide enough to be out of three in a row for Ma Long from down 5'6". The place on the scoreboard again the overwhelming majority of everybody in the crowd supporting. But there's still Camp Ma Long and Camp Fang Zhendong here. The one thing that makes Ma Long marvelous his ability to learn quickly. The mastermind four game points serves on his side. Heavy spin to the short side does it. Ma Long on the scoreboard. on the table. Gives him a little better angle. Fang Zhendong with a quick reaction gets the racket up to counter back. One thing that I love is the crowd that's watching right now. Not just in the stands but the VIP seats the Japanese coaches. Everybody knows this is the pinnacle of the sport. To miss this you're missing an opportunity of master class. Can't exchange Ma Long dishing out that backhand with his free hand up as he does creating that triangle for the backhand that many coaches talk about. Again Ma Long's backhand a bit different than any others though. Still the explosive backhand power on Fang Zhendong's side. From down comes back to be up by one. Guides it forward. Now I talk about sweet spots a lot. Fang Zhendong has one of the biggest sweet spots on the backhand side. He's not puckering up because I said that. A rye look clearly. But that sweet spot means that he's dangerous even if you don't hit it right into the zone. See how strong the opening backhand was to put the pressure on Ma Long with the follow up forehand on the chase. That's the real trouble that sidespin as he pulls the racket in towards the head. 79 kilometers per hour. From the side angle it actually looked like a more clear decision. Swat back but still as you saw from the other camera angle it was an uncomfortable ball. Push comes out. It's like an alarm goes off when Fang Zhendong presses the red button. That's when the WMD comes out so fast. Still Ma Long gets a racket on it. Most players would just still be running towards the barrier having not contacted the ball at all. At the top level everyone else would just be watching laughing with their jaw dropped. The way he moves forward as he contacts that ball eliminates time and rushes Ma Long to try and react and also helps Fang Zhendong create that angle. So he's multitasking. He's doing two things at once here. By moving back into the table to play that shot. Very clever in and out game of Fang Zhendong. But a long push as Fang Zhendong tries to move in for a third ball over the table. You can see the weight coming in and Ma Long quickly shuts it down. That's a I like you but I don't like your plan. I vote that we do something else on this point. Usual serve deep on the table into the middle. Third ball nearly is off base. It's the serve itself. Up by two. He's thinking back to Ma Long in terms of a few years ago and how he used to serve down the line fast to the forehand for aces more than anybody in the modern service game. Today that would be incredibly gutsy considering his condition on the wide forehand. Oh wow! On both sides! Ma Long's changed it up now. That forehand flick he says up cross court just from the other side. And it leaves open the other side of the table the reaction time of Fang Zhendong in this. Again it's measured by time as times are. I'd love to see what that one clocked in at. If you're Ma Long Fang Zhendong has got to be probably the toughest. Especially the way 2019 has been going for these two. Five serving nine. Still trying to read the bottom. I've seen go into exhibition mode on a very rare occasion. Again Xu Xin when he was way down in the decider I think or maybe what ended up being the last game of the match. But this is no time for exhibition and Ma Long knows that. Six serving nine. Forehand in the middle! He chose where he wanted to go he picked the spot that should be uncomfortable for most. Fang Zhendong does in turn he waits braces himself and with a short stroke counters back has three championship points. Sweat right now should be a plenty. A little shallower on the first one and that last a break. Fortune for the dragon. Eight serving ten two championship points left. And it's Fang Zhendong to get the best of Ma Long he gets the play.