Ma Long (table tennis)

Ma Long
Ma at the 2013 World Championships
Native name	马龙
Nationality	China
Born	(1988-10-20) October 20, 1988 (age 28) Anshan, Liaoning, China
Playing style	Right-handed, shakehand grip
Equipment(s)	(2016) DHS Hurricane Long 5, DHS Hurricane 3 NEO National (FH, Black), DHS Hurricane 3 NEO National (BH, Red)
Highest ranking	1
Current ranking	1 (February 2017)
Club	Shandong Weiqiao
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)

Ma Long (simplified Chinese: 马龙; traditional Chinese: 馬龍; pinyin: Mǎ Lóng; born 20 October 1988) is a Chinese table tennis player. As of February 2017, he is ranked number 1 in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), a ranking he has held for a total of 54 months, tied for most by a male player with Wang Liqin. Ma was born in Anshan, Liaoning, China. He won a record total of 5 straight ITTF World Tour tournaments in a row, including a streak of 35 sets. He has held the #1 ranking since March 2015.

After a clean sweep victory in the Men's Singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ma Long became the fifth player to complete a career Grand Slam (winning the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup), joining Sweden's Jan-Ove Waldner and China's Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, and Zhang Jike. Additionally, he became the first male player (and second overall) in the world to have won every singles title in table tennis.

Ma is arguably the best two-winged looper in table tennis history. His serves appear to be traditional pendulum serves, but are some of the most visually deceptive in the world. Ma's playing style is that of the modern strategy of close-range third ball play. At the beginning of his career, his play strategy was primarily forehand-oriented, dominating play with powerful forehand loops, only using his backhand for controlled returns and to set up the forehand. He still plays a forehand-oriented style, but his backhand has become more consistent and stable as his career has progressed. Ma uses his backhand mainly to aggressively block incoming loops, but will occasionally loop himself. Opponents are usually caught off guard when he suddenly loops with his backhand, which he can do near the table or away from it. Compared to when he was younger, he is much more confident using his backhand to attack and defend. He is also the most prominent employer of the chop block on the Chinese National Team, which he uses to cross up his opponents when he is out of position or to counter slow loops with heavy side spin.