Although the game between Wang Chao and Bayer had a very dramatic effect, the next game that attracted the most attention this morning was actually the next game: Luo Jiu vs Lin Zijun.
The temporary "Number One Attacker in the World" vs. "The best defense in the world".
Well, not universally recognized, but certainly recognized by a large portion of fans.
This is the fifth and final round of the morning. Since the last game took too long, it is already 11:40 a. m. local time, and it is already time to have lunch.
But no one in the packed venue left.
When Luo Jiu and Lin Zijun came on the stage, the cheers and cheers in the stadium could literally lift the roof.
The fans at the scene were almost all cheering for Lin Zijun. At this moment, the Budapest, Hungary game seemed to have become the home court of Bay Island.
This is naturally not because the popularity of Lin Zijun really crushes Luo Jiu, but because as long as the competition is held abroad, as long as the Chinese table tennis player faces the non-Chinese associations player, the audience will support the player other than the Chinese table tennis player without any suspense.
This is the result of Huaping's decades of continuous dominance. This is not a form of discrimination, but a great honor.
But in fact, when he actually approached the table, Lin Zijun himself was far from as calm as he looked on the outside.
He is very square.
Although he had liberated his mind during his last super evolution, he was still essentially a player whose reason was far greater than his passion. Therefore, when the results of the draw came out a few days ago, he had already realized that if nothing else happened, scoring 8 goals out of 16 would be the most difficult game on his way to the finals - if he had this chance.
Lin Zijun knows very well that the three most difficult players to deal with in this World Table Tennis Championships competition are Wang Chao, Luo Jiu, and Bayer.
The above rankings are not arranged alphabetically, but in order of threat level from high to low.
The current Lin Zijun has a flaw, and this flaw is "insufficient active offensive ability."
He completed the super evolution on German Open and became the table tennis player with the fastest movement speed and fastest neural response in history. His playing style is known as "Super Speed Mode", which is a higher level than the "extreme speed" talent.
At that moment, he thought he was invincible, especially after he used Super Speed Mode to defend Hook to death.
But then he was slapped to death by Wang Chao.
It was then that he truly calmed down and realized that he still had such huge flaws.
"Inadequate offensive ability", these eight words are the unified evaluation of him by the table tennis media around the world after German Open.
The two most fundamental words here are "active".
He can play a super offensive attack, provided that the opponent attacks first and then he can use his strength to attack.
But if the opponent doesn't exert force, he can only exert force himself, and his weakness will be exposed. Because he is thin and lacks absolute strength, Forehand Loop can only have so much power no matter how hard he pulls.
His backhand is more powerful than his forehand because his backhand can at least twist the ball fast enough.
But pure power and rotation are still not enough.
So Wang Chao can kill him easily.
After German Open, Lin Zijun successively participated in some small competitions, including some invitational competitions and exhibition matches within Taiwan Province. He found that everyone was trying to use Wang Chao's playing style to deal with him, but in the end, these people were easily beaten to death by Lin Zijun.
After World Cup in August, Sakura Country and Kimchi Country also took the initiative to invite Bay Island to conduct a joint special training among three places in Asia, trying to find ways to deal with Huaping through this method. Also in this special training, Lin Zijun competes with Zhang Benkuang, Utada Seiya, Hoshikawa Mizuki and others of Sakura Country, and Li Zhengzhi, Zhu Shixian and others of Kimchi Country one by one.
He thought that after exposing his fundamental flaws, he might be targeted badly, but in the end he discovered, oh, it turns out that I seem to be quite strong. It turns out that not everyone can catch the so-called flaws in me.
He didn't really have a clear understanding of himself until the end of August, when the three-place special training was completely completed.
"I'm strong."
"Very strong."
"I do lack offensive power, but relying on placement, rhythm, connection, change, speed and technology, I am enough to kill 99% of professional players in the world."
"The remaining one percent of professional players that I can't beat cannot defeat me so easily, because they can't beat me either."
"So in fact, even if I have flaws, I will still be in an undefeated position in most situations. The victory or defeat depends only on whether the opponent has the ability to penetrate my defense head-on."
"If it cannot be penetrated, then what everyone is comparing is actually the stability, technical comprehensiveness, feel, mentality adjustment ability, adaptability and other comprehensive attributes in continuous combat."
"And in terms of these comprehensive attributes, I am also very strong, very strong, surpassing 99% of the people in the world."
Only then did Lin Zijun really realize it.
It turns out that if a professional player wants to beat himself, then he must have good enough skills, good enough stability, good enough touch, good enough ball control in the table, good enough adaptability and tactical adjustment ability, good enough defensive ability, and - super powerful attack power.
Of course, he must have at least world-class movement speed, reaction speed and connection speed. Otherwise, if he can't even pass the basic skills, then what's the point of talking about tactics?
The question is, how many players are there in the world who meet so many conditions at the same time?
As Lin Zijun can think of, there is only one Bayer in Europe, because Bayer is known as Little Sun Tianlong, which is comprehensive enough.
Bayer's only problem now is that he is old and lacks strength and speed, so in a real fight, even if Bayer uses the most targeted tactics, it is hard to say whether Bayer can defeat himself.
As for South America, North America, Africa and other places, Lin Zijun believes that at least for now, no one is his opponent.
Finally, there is Asia.
Kimchi Country and Sakura Country, as the traditional table tennis powers in Asia, were originally worthy of analysis. However, because everyone had just trained together and played head-on, Lin Zijun was convinced that these two countries were not a threat.
Mizutori Hato may have been a threat at the beginning, but Mizutori Hato has already gone to Germany, and not even World Cup participated.
So the biggest threat still lies with Huaping.
Wang Chao is the absolute number one enemy, because in July Wang Chao had personally demonstrated how to defeat himself.
Then there is Sun Tianlong, who is truly number one in the world. Even when Lin Zijun had just completed his super evolution in July and felt that he was invincible, his mind subconsciously excluded Sun Tianlong.
The charm of Dragon Team is that when Lin Zijun himself doesn't know how to lose, he still instinctively feels that Dragon Team will tell him how to lose - yes, it is such an exaggeration.
The last threat is of course Luo Jiu.
Luo Jiu is so similar to Wang Chao.
They are brothers from the same school, they practice the same tactical system, and they both have the same rich and unpredictable attack methods. Luo Jiu's attack method is even more unpredictable than Wang Chao's due to the change of rubber on the racket.
Lin Zijun is not as good as Unrivaled talent. Even though he knows that his adaptability is pretty good and his feel is pretty good, he never dares to say that he will be able to make a perfect judgment under the dual attack attributes of anti-glue and raw rubber of Luo Jiu.
The reason why Lin Zijun ranks Luo Jiu's threat after Wang Chao is just because he has never fought Luo Jiu, so after all, he still has a sense of luck, that's all.
Entering the court today, Lin Zijun felt uneasy and could only adjust his mentality with long and long breaths. When he walked into the arena, his heart was beating wildly, but when he walked to the table and actually touched the table, his heartbeat had calmed down.
He turned his tension, fear and excitement into motivation, forcing himself into an extremely subtle state.
His whole body was tense, and his concentration was unprecedentedly concentrated. Although his heart was full of fighting spirit, his eyes were exceptionally calm.
He even felt that his spirit was a little withdrawn, as if he was watching his battle indifferently and alienated somewhere. At this moment, he was not lacking in passion, but he remained absolutely rational, like a robot with human emotions but perfectly retaining all functional modules.
The referee tossed the coin, drew a bright silver curve, then dropped it, quickly covered it with his hand, turned his head, and signaled Lin Zijun to guess the coin.
But the referee didn't know that Lin Zijun actually knew the answer in advance.
He knew it was "word", not "flower".
Because when he turned on Super Speed Mode in July, the dynamic capture ability of his eyes also improved along with his neural reflex ability, reaching an incredible level.
He could clearly see the entire process of the silver coin rolling from the bright silver trajectory falling rapidly until the referee's other hand covered it. The state of the silver coin when it actually touched the skin on the back of the referee's hand was clearly discernible, as if in slow motion.
Lin Zijun hesitated for a moment and said softly, "Flower."
The referee let go of his hand, and the camera focused on the words on the coin.
"Luo Jiu serves." The referee raised his hand to signal the start of the game.
At this moment there was a slight commotion in the audience.
European fans have developed a habit. In any competition related to Chinese table tennis players, they will definitely think of "Wang Chao Coin Toss Law" immediately.
Only the weak will be favored by the God of Coin Guessing.
Although everyone was desperately advocating before the game that this was a contradictory battle between "Number One Attacker in the World" and "The World's No. 1 Defense", in fact, everyone still had comparisons deep down in their hearts. They generally felt that the God of Coin Guessing would favor Lin Zijun today.
But in the end it was Luo Jiu who got the right to serve.
Only Jiang Peirong's expression at this moment was a little subtle, because as the most trusted elder of Taiwan Head Coach and Lin Zijun, he had actually known for a long time that Lin Zijun could clearly see the coins tossed by the referee.
Coin guessing is not a random question in front of Lin Zijun, but a divided question.
But Lin Zijun chose to fill in a wrong answer.
"He was still affected after all..." Jiang Peirong sighed in his heart.
Before the game, he told Lin Zijun many times to seize the right to serve, because the world of competitive sports must be objective and materialistic. Those rumors about guessing coins are just memes created by uninformed fans and have no reference value.
But Lin Zijun failed to withstand the pressure. He chose to guess wrong, which meant that he cared about the "omen" of the game.
Many people pay attention to omens before doing important things. For example, before taking a plane, they never say "bon voyage" but only "have a safe journey." They never say "die" during the Chinese New Year, and they never dare to set up any flags when they are about to take a risk.
Jiang Peirong knew very well that Lin Zijun was a young man with very upright views. He did not have any feudal superstitions, did not believe in ghosts and gods, and was an absolute materialist. Therefore, he could not figure out why Lin Zijun made such a choice.
This is because he didn't know that Lin Zijun made a wish before the game.
"I pray that Luo Jiu will use offensive play to deal with me instead of playing like Wang Chao..."
This was not a sign of weakness in his heart, but Lin Zijun felt that it was indeed possible for Luo Jiu to attack him.
Although they are both super geniuses, Lin Zijun has no real contact with Luo Jiu, but he feels that he understands Luo Jiu.
It is impossible for a proud man like Luo Jiu to imitate Wang Chao's style of play according to the script, because this is equivalent to weakening his momentum invisibly. And now, Luo Jiu is constantly building momentum and is about to push this momentum to its peak. At this time, how can he weaken his momentum for no reason?
Even if it's just a little bit of excuse, I'm afraid Luo Jiu won't be willing to do it.
Well, even if Luo Jiu planned to learn Wang Chao's playing style last night, after watching the game between Wang Chao and Bayer this morning, Luo Jiu is very likely to change his mind on the spot.
After all, everyone can see that Wang Chao has officially completed the sword sharpening process.
If in the first half of World Table Tennis Championships, Wang Chao had a lot of bumps and bruises, then now, Wang Chao has been officially unsheathed like a peerless sword, and will show its sharpness in the next three rounds of competition, blooming with a light that will stun the world.
At this time, if Luo Jiu uses Wang Chao's style of play, it is simply equivalent to giving half of the momentum he has worked so hard to accumulate to Wang Chao.
Therefore, Lin Zijun giving up the right to serve is not superstitious, nor is it a good sign, but a practical tactic.
Luo Jiu wants to attack, then simply give him the right to serve, let him get the initiative more naturally, and let him attack quickly.
If you want to attack, then attack.
If I want to defend, then I will defend.
It's a win-win.
Luo Jiu chose short backspin for the first serve in the first game.
Lin Zijun swing short.
Luo Jiu counter pendulum.
Lin Zijun again.
Luo Jiu swings back.
Lin Zijun continues to swing.
Although Luo Jiu wanted to attack and Lin Zijun wanted to defend, the start of the game did not go straight to the point. Both sides played very rigorously and strictly adhered to the procedures of the highest level of professional table tennis competition.
This is also an attitude.
"I allow you to attack, but you have to rely on your ability to get the opportunity to attack."
"Of course I will get offensive opportunities based on my strength."
After nine rounds of this ball, Luo Jiu seized the opportunity first and hit the board with a forehand.
This ball doesn't have much power, it's just very tricky, fast, and has a big angle.
A ball of this level is actually enough to kill someone in a competition at the municipal level or even the provincial level, but in Lin Zijun's case it was just an appetizer. He moved easily, without even having to perform the standard Super Speed Defense Mode, he just brought the ball back with a quick forehand on the table.
Luo Jiu attacks again, with a forehand loop.
Lin Zijun continues to pull the ball inside the table.
Luo Jiu continued to attack and began to change the landing point and the direction of side spin.
Lin Zijun's judgment of rotation is very accurate and is tight.
Luo Jiu attacked again, but directly switched to a backhand bounce. The ball was as fast as lightning. In an instant, it changed from an arc trajectory to a straight trajectory. Even the sound of the racket hitting the ball changed slightly, from a slightly dull "pop" just now to a crisp "bang" at this moment.
However, this level of "turning or not turning" and the subtle changes in the ball's flight path caused by the raw rubber bounce are still not a threat to Lin Zijun. His judgment on the raw rubber hit is indeed not accurate enough, but with his reaction speed, he can make a judgment after the ball actually flies out. What he sees with his eyes will never be fake.
What's more, his abnormal motion capture vision at this moment can even clearly see the specific direction of the ball spinning rapidly in the air.
He had a feeling that given time and practice, he might be able to directly judge the approximate intensity of the ball's rotation through the appearance of the lines on the ball's body being annihilated as it rotated.
So he still adjusted the angle of the racket to perfectly deflect the bounced ball.
At this time, the game had only been going on for less than ten seconds, and the audience had already started bursts of warm applause.
Because the appearance of the game at the beginning was exactly what everyone expected.
One attacks and the other defends. The attacker keeps changing his attack methods, and the defender can always defend. This is the most beautiful large-scale battle.
Luo Jiu launched his double-sided looping ball attack system, which is known as the best in the world, with no blind spots in the entire Taiwan. The trajectory of the ball in the air became more chaotic, flying almost irregularly to any landing point on Lin Zijun's side of the table.
They are spinning, counter-rotating, side-spinning, up-spinning, down-spinning, sometimes turning, sometimes not turning, sometimes going in a straight line, sometimes going in an arc, sometimes the arc is steep, sometimes gentle, sometimes landing at the near point, sometimes falling at the far point, different attack attributes are matched on the Luo Jiu station The various dazzling hitting postures displayed at one end of the table, with almost a dozen attacks without any repetition, made the audience roar with cheers. A large number of spectators stood up and started applauding. The entire stadium reached a climax at the first ball of the game.
And all these attacks were perfectly blocked by Lin Zijun.
At the same time, Lin Zijun has also understood Luo Jiu's plan.
Luo Jiu really did not learn Wang Chao's playing style and completely blocked Super Speed Defense Mode from Lin Zijun.
But he didn't want Lin Zijun to take advantage of it, because his attacks took ever-changing routes, not speed or power routes.
He just poured out all the offensive methods he knew, like a dam releasing water, like the Milky Way upside down. As for the effect of these attacks, he didn't care. He was just venting, superimposing, and showing that in this game, Luo Jiu wanted not only to win, but also to win in the most beautiful way.
This means that from the beginning, Luo Jiu was not thinking about the outcome of this game, but how to win. He wanted to use a beautiful game, a game even more gorgeous than Wang Chao vs Sun Tianlong in March, to directly push his own momentum to the top.
Therefore, Lin Zijun judged that Luo Jiu's current mentality should be. "You have to hold on, but don't be beaten to death by me before I can fully show it."
After understanding Luo Jiu's intention, Lin Zijun did not feel that he was humiliated. He thought this was normal.
He is a very self-aware child. He knows that if Luo Jiu learns Wang Chao's playing style, he will not be able to break it. Therefore, if everyone is rational and objective enough in this game, he actually has no chance of winning.
But since Luo Jiu wants more, people must pay some price for it.
"Do you want a small, safe victory, or a big, risky but hearty victory?"
Luo Jiu Choose the latter.
Then, what Lin Zijun has to do is to keep calm, stabilize his mentality, bite hard, and hold on, just like Dragon Team did when he faced the peak Hook last year, looking for any scoring opportunity from every corner, and holding on until Luo Jiu's attack fatigued.
Hardness cannot be sustained, softness cannot be defended. This is the ultimate principle of heaven and earth. It means that if the attack is too strong, it cannot be sustained, and if the defense is too tight, it cannot be sustained. So now let's compare, when the strongest encounters the softest, who can't hold it first.
(There is another chapter, maybe a little later, still writing)