Ma Long serves for the men's singles first round match against Hou Yingchao at the 2021 WTT (World Table Tennis) Grand Smashes Trials and Olympic Simulation in Xinxiang, central China's Henan Province, May 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)
Grand Slam winner Ma Long talks about how he came back from knee surgery and returned to the top.
XINXIANG, China, May 4 (Xinhua) -- "It feels like a dream," Ma Long said before standing atop for the ITTF Finals award ceremony for his record-extending sixth title at the traditional year-end table tennis competition.
Last November, Ma won the men's singles crown at the ITTF Finals, which was his first in 15 months after undergoing knee surgery in August, 2019.
Earlier, Ma has become the first male player in over half a century to win three straight World Table Tennis Championships titles with the latest in Budapest in April 2019. To be fully fit for the Tokyo Olympic Games, he decided to have surgery on his knee.
Ma Long poses with the trophy during the awarding ceremony of the men's singles final at 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest, Hungary on April 28, 2019. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
Before the surgery, Ma shaved his head bald, in line with a Chinese saying that represents starting from scratch.
The route back to the top was not smooth for Ma. After the surgery he suffered a singles title-winning drought for over a year, arousing the doubt if he still has a shot at the Tokyo Olympics representing the Chinese team.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the sports world, and the Tokyo Olympic Games was postponed by one year.
"Athletes can be affected more or less after being out of action for a long time," admitted Ma. "But actually it's the same for everyone."
Table tennis is no exception. Several international competitions including the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan, South Korea were either postponed or canceled. This led to long-time training behind closed doors for every player.
Ma Long hits a return during the men's singles first round match, May 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Jianan)
"Besides training, we have a goal of competing. We haven't relaxed in our training. When we have a chance to play, we would go all out for it. Not just for testing our feel, touch, and physical shape in training, but also for keeping us more focused. There is a huge difference between competing and training," Ma noted.
Ma said the players kept training in the first half of 2020 and had no idea of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
"As some tournaments were canceled, players might not be able to keep their concentration at a certain stage. As there were no matches, and we trained in an isolated environment every day, we might lose our sharpness," he said.
Like his fellow paddlers, Ma was desperate to return to the court and play.
"The Chinese Table Tennis Association told us there would be tournaments in the second half of the year. When we heard the news, we were confident that we would have our focus back."
Ma Long returns the ball during the men's singles final against Wang Chuqin of China at World Table Tennis (WTT) Macao 2020 Tournament in Macao, Nov. 29, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)
Tireless efforts to come back paid off, as Ma managed to stand on top of the world again at the ITTF Finals before becoming the WTT (World Table Tennis) Macao champion one week later.
For Ma, the pandemic did not have a big impact on his career trajectory.
"It was not like all competitions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but every sports federation tried its best to offer facilities and matches to athletes. We trained to compete," he said. ■
