Profile | Ma Long: biography, playing style, career earnings and is he the greatest table tennis player of all time?
- The 32-year-old tends to keep to himself away from the table, but on it, he is known for his aggressive style of play
- Ma Long can become the most decorated Olympic table tennis player of all time at Tokyo 2020
The Chinese player, who is known for having the sport’s most aggressive forehand, will look to add to his trove of titles this summer. But who is the man so synonymous with table tennis?
Biography
The 32-year-old was born on October 20, 1988 and hails from the northeastern Chinese city of Anshan. He became the youngest world champion at 17 years old when he won the 2006 Bremen World Team Championship, the same year he won the Asian and World Junior Championships.
His talent was cultivated under former Chinese national team coach Ma Kai Xuan and he already had a lot of success in the game before turning 22. Despite his fame, Ma is not one for the media spotlight and tends to keep his private life just that. He did let his fans know a bit about himself during an interview in Shenzhen in 2019 when he said:
“I used to play football, and in the last few years I’ve played some basketball.” He also said he used to play golf, and may have taken up the sport full-time if he hadn’t got into table tennis, but he added that he was playing much less golf lately to reduce the risk of injury.
Ma counts football superstar Lionel Messi, NBA point guard Paul George, and tennis players Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as inspirations for his tireless work ethic and dedication to the sport which he practices for hours on end most days.
