Xu Xin (table tennis)

Xu Xin
Xu Xin at the World Championship 2010
Nationality	China
Born	(1990-01-08) January 8, 1990 (age 27) Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
Playing style	left-handed, penhold grip
Equipment(s)	Stiga
Highest ranking	1
Current ranking	3 (December 2016)
Club	Shanghai Guanshengyuan
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb.)

Xu Xin (simplified Chinese: 许昕; traditional Chinese: 許昕; pinyin: Xǔ Xīn; born 8 January 1990) is a Chinese table tennis player and is currently the No. 3 ranked player in the world, as of July 2016.

Xu Xin is a STIGA sponsored athlete. He uses a STIGA Intensity NCT as his blade, a custom made DHS Hurricane 3 NEO rubber for his backhand (red), and a DHS NEO Skyline 3 TG3 (Blue Sponge) for his forehand (black).

Xu Xin is one of the few penhold grip players in China, especially among the younger generation who are mostly shakehand players. He follows the footsteps of other penhold champions such as Wang Hao and Ma Lin.

With his long arms and frame, he is able to more easily reach balls hit wide. His long arms enable a graceful, unique forehand loop, with his arm almost fully outstretched. He has also adopted the reverse penhold backhand grip, a recent development for China's backhand penholders, allowing a two winged attack. He still uses a traditional penhold backhand to lob and push the ball with the forehand side of his racket.

Xu Xin's main strength is his shot variation and blazing forehand loops at mid to far distance. He is also a good lob defender, with great serves and decent footwork. However, his preference to play at a far distance is also one of his main weaknesses. While giving himself more time between shots, it also gives his opponents more time to react and he can be tamed by skillful attackers with good shot selection and neat placement. He is also somewhat of a 'crowd entertainer' often coming up with wild, and sometimes inappropriate shots. This is perhaps due to his playful nature and confidence in playing. He admitted that he hopes to try to be more efficient and effective with his shot selection as he matures and carries more responsibilities.

In January 2013, he reached the No. 1 spot in the World Rankings thanks to the points obtained by winning the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in December 2012.

In January 2014, Xu Xin defended his title by beating world No. 1 ranked Ma Long in the finals match of the 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals held in Dubai.

In 2016, Xu Xin defeated world No.1 ranked and current World Champion Ma Long 4-2 in the semi-finals match of the 2016 Japan Open, but then was beaten by world No. 2 ranked Fan Zhendong in the finals. One week later after the Japan Open, Xu Xin won his third Korea Open title after beating Ma Long again 4-3 in the finals.