FULL MATCH | MA Long vs Alexis LEBRUN | MS SF | #WTTMacao 2023

So seemingly fearless Coming off of the biggest win of his career LeBron starts it off extra spin here He generates so much spin when he wants to he's one of the only players I've seen who's so confident to slow it down in a fast rally Good recovery here by Ma Long bringing it back For Han wise they're fairly similar. I mean Ma Long with the most iconic in the game I'd say the sweet spot of Alexi LeBron's backhand is a little bit bigger than Ma Long's In the post-match interview, which I when I get home late at night after these matches I go on YouTube and check out WTT's footage and all the interviews He talked about his service game and how strong his service game was last night It's gonna be a key factor here for the young French player That was good touch play soft hands kept Ma Long off the attack But Ma Long in terms of soft hands has an answer. It seems for just about anything Long is the master of shutting you down Suffocating you not allowing you to play your game Felix LeBron there Who gave my little great game at the summer series he lost juice in the fall Excellent placement there from that serve and the flick from the forehand side first towel break two points between them We've already seen some crafty creative play from Ma Long to shut down LeBron You talked about this yesterday this Non imposter syndrome like yeah, we're all people you might be the best of all time But yeah, I'm here too for a reason Outstanding recovery this shot here Ma Long had him fooled behind the table I think right off the serve not even bothered just racket high brings it right back into play This is the thing Alexi has the ability to go back and has the French flair But he will come back into the table as soon as he can And as half long as it can be a well-protected serve look at the scoreboard Still early to tell but he's right back in front or he's back and he's in front for the first time. There you go Thing into it with the racket high Ma Long well anticipated Perfectly in position. But yeah, let's talk about the imposter syndrome thing that you mentioned that correctly Adam You just don't seem to be intimidated They're brushing shoulders with players. They would have looked up to since they were young They still are really young and yet they're still fighting against them top edge of the racket Alexi looking for that spinny opening forehand What are you thinking? Alexi LeBron will have been watching this man Since he was a kid and the father is up against him now in the semi-final of the champions. It's just mind-blowing Right. These are all those stories that you read about You know, I remember being a kid looking through the table tennis catalogs, you know looking at all the different equipments and just Watching the matches live this is now reality for Alexi In placement on the serve as wide as can be a little bit more shallow not allowing a comfortable step around from all on coach not more long He's been working with the LeBron the brothers for some time He looked like he was caught in between a little bit of a chop block. He's made these shots He improvises so quickly from all along with the pressure here Fonzie and on watching on Liu hung on the right the young Jin Quinn camera left Interesting there that look mysterious How much do you think Fonzie and on was watching and taking note for future matches against Alexi LeBron That's mostly what he'll be doing. His responsibility is a player to do that Bit of frustration here clever use of sidespin on the receive a whole lot watch how much sidespin he puts on that and then the down the line shot a Little bit more of a drive motion not quite as much arcing spin as he Well, he brings out just about everything. It just doesn't come down to work out for him this time Yeah, is that what you're thinking yeah and also how the burns play through their fingers quite a lot And this time investing in the spin for the down the line shot for the short side with my long waiting to cross-court Expose him on the wide forehand. I mean my long in position, but he can reach that ball LeBron with that perfect serve once again. It's the second time. We've seen Malone completely backspace backspace delete and just have to play passively from the baseline His keyboard has them both. That's why ten serving eight two game points left for my long And he only needs the one eleven to eight ma long takes game number Lee lynched a dong was the practice partner to warm up ma long in the practice hall before this Can you talk to me a little bit about the grip of Alexi LeBron? Yeah, that finger is Quite high his middle finger is very high and it's a unique way of stabilizing in the bar Quite unconventional indeed Right down the line as quick as can be when he's receiving and serving it looks like it's close to falling out of his hand He'll tighten it when it goes into the open play Funny that is typical a lot of people ask questions Sometimes people will even say is he serving penhold? That's a common feeling because they loosen up the back three fingers It's just a modified shake hands grip for a serve I Like it. He's gonna do what he does best He's gonna fire himself up not concern himself about who's on the other side of the table. He's gonna play his best game Yeah, it is unusual looking at that middle finger and even the fourth finger on the receive. It's all just a bit of an unusual grip The only man missing off the top three list of Chinese opponents Alexi LeBron beats in here in Macau Is Ma Long he's beat in front and dong he's beaten Liang Jingquan Ma Long remains and Wang Chuqin, right? I guess so. Yeah world number two Heavy spin a bit slower. Sorry you were saying yeah, I guess I guess won't you change kind of the newer generation in a sense? a little bit younger as Fast as can be straight into the chest. He gets it above the racket. Look at the acceleration on this low long And the follow-up this drive is perfection into the elbow five to three now Alexi LeBron leading He gets a lot of balls back in play and definitely has a lot of funk on his shots Marlon just doesn't give him what he wants there in that last ball Comes around it a little bit more like my cave that he creates to make space for it The touch on the opener shuts down any third ball Takes it right off the bounce surprise placement loaded with spin and takes it early off the push for the rip win There a siren inside the building I'd love to see like a kid with a mini firetruck toy with a giant speaker attached Behind the table. No problem falling back Alexi LeBron up by three You feel like my long service games gonna be it have to be at its best because in the rally Alexi is having the better of him Maybe that was what the siren was So coming into the second towel break you can see they're quite close on serve my long Arguably one of the most underrated servers in the game with only 60% Win percentage on his serves Alexi LeBron just 3% behind So quite tight here still two points in front the young Frenchman Serve my lungs doing that where the first bounce is in his side the second bounces around the middle area of LeBron's is Very suffocating Alexi's gonna have to make his mind up because it's not like it's a clear decision. It was into either side This looked to be a heavy push. The thing is ma long isn't intimidated by heavy spin It's just a question of if he can read it and he caught the net on the way over this ball could have come back It's not the first time you remember his first serve against bonjour dong He served it as wide as can be and it came out at a few other crucial moments in the match It's a very uncomfortable place to receive My allotment for the scar power the venom How does he pull the legs out of the way to create this forehand space Yeah, that was a standout of that shot as well for me Get ready for it right here backing up He's simultaneously removing pulling back his right leg and playing the forehand at the same time Puts him up by two on the receive Comfortable quick and changing it up at the last moment Alexi LeBron down the line opening cross-court switches and Not even touched it is three game points to the talk of the planet Alexi LeBron And he takes the game 11 to 7 the most dominant game anyway, he's got a lot of swag not afraid to switch hands Perfectly jammed into the middle here Malone finding that middle that's been really tough to find on LeBron Yeah, he's gonna have to give himself a little bit more time. So he's distancing himself a little bit further away now, Ma from the back line of the table So what are some of the changes that you see here that Malone has made to shut down Alexi LeBron so far? Malone's playing serves really that limit the options of LeBron on the receive it feels like Alexi LeBron has had so many just I don't know like he can find ways out of almost anything on the receive But it's not the first time we've seen him jammed in the middle Chopper a turn on the defense nearly behind Malone in this rally. I Malone smashes. Oh, it looked like a tomahawk catches the edge Wow Well, if it were 11-9 in the decider Might be better timing for it But this happens again. I think the internet was really good about Giving credit where deserved Alexi LeBron in winning his match over Fon Zhendong on the edge did not Celebrate despite a strong temptation to do that until he apologized shook hands and then turn around Can he turn around the score here Malone controlling at the first towel break? Now it's easy to say fooled because he missed the receive but in all fairness Alexi LeBron's done that long push deceptively well where he comes in plays it right off the bounce and just leaves it baseline So it looked like the attempt This is the thing about Alexi It is really hard to tell whether he is snatching or not What do you mean? Because he makes shots like that He did that on the open up When you say snatching and I mean if he's gonna go for a big attack early a bigger attack than he should Interesting because he plays in such a nature that is so free it's like he approaches each point in a slightly different way, but the damage that it causes is Just as penetrating What did he just do? Was that a strawberry? Let's look at this one more time sure was as fast as can be full of vitamin C a thrilling shot to make it 8-3 And inside the table with the flick on this side as well that turn of the wrist France filled with that sort of fun receive game. Yeah Just gonna say some of the fastest strawberries the world has ever seen if you're on the internet and you're following table tennis You know Roman Ruiz Steady and in position This is the bread and butter of the dictator Ma Long getting that forehand in from a comfortable position. Look at the determination now In all fairness, he missed a few serves against Fong Zhendong and still took the match Right back down the line not bothered by the chop block not at all LeBron's saving game points It's that little flick coming across the ball the surprise factor and then he throws the backhand out like a Frisbee The idea was right World Watch is in anticipation to see what will happen Backhand to backhand. He's strong. I like see LeBron never goes for his big ripping backhand there Everything was sort of an 80% it felt I don't think he had time to rip it But finds the perfect placement gets Ma Long to turn from the middle You thinking what I'm thinking what are you thinking the same thing is you there we go exactly done So Ma Long on the scoreboard with his first point here, I like see LeBron looking to continue the way he started this Getting fired up here Chop block carries long and that look that we've seen on Ma Long's face in the past Rare occasion, I think one of the most effective chop blocks in the game right now I like see LeBron put the shorts there The chop blocker with probably the highest percentage of in shots at least over the years on that chop block That's saying something because you've got tools more guard up there some amazing creation We're seeing from different players Yeah tools and Alexi might have the highest percentage of it, but only let's say all I see LeBron What a year or two as a pro. Yeah tools a few more Alexi wasn't even in the top 1,000 at the start of last season. That's crazy to think about Talk about improving in a year. I mean he was good before French friends were talking about him for some time Look at him go here. That's the ripping backhand that we talked about earlier and he's got my long scratching his head Literally and figuratively The body language that neck roll out there He's in great shape. I mean just the way he twisted his head Slow inside spinny The contact has to be perfect to play that shot. You gotta put your elbow a little bit higher Kind of like a Korean yeah create some space for that racket speed It's not the first time we've seen him go for the shot and it's worked out for him Look at him do that under pressure bounces it off the edge of the racket Hand switches everything else Alexi LeBron has no fear To slow it down after my long comes back off the down the line When you watch Alexi sometimes he's kind of shaking between points people say that a lot Because it's true But it's interesting right at the end of the match people notice it more But I do feel like you can see that in general in this shovel serve Surprise so whip like the way he opens the upper body lets the hand drag behind that finishing forehand is very tough to predict Yeah, that's more of a fair with the body than fed with the racket shown that body fade Try telling your barber you want that four points in front here Alexi LeBron Just long from behind the table a little bit more of an arcing shot at the baseline ma long within three again in terms of belief the fan vote if I remember correctly was Incredibly close looking strong in this rally very few have been able to rally with Alexi LeBron because of his lack of rhythm his constant change That's intentional. It's valuable. I mean it means he can adapt to almost anything Still two in front here big serves to come Surprising for me because he survives the toughest shot in a timeout that I think is the perfect time for a timeout ma long with three in a row Cuff there the touch and control from ma long next level intricacy soft hands awareness around the mat Like a panther ma long, he's just so low got you in his sights Pulls it out ma long in front He started down for eight after the second towel break and through the timeout challenging the heavy spins of Alexi LeBron serious motivation and momentum change here ma long seven of the last eight points The most frustrated I think we've seen Alexi LeBron He felt that he had earned himself an opportunity that he'll make 90% of the time the touch shot was perfect My French lip reading isn't perfect, but my body language reading said he is not happy Although he's played quite. Well when he's angry. We've seen it. Let's see eight serving ten two game points for ma long Only one needed more games to one up one game away a team flag shaking back game five So trying something completely different here on the serve Alexi LeBron, we still haven't seen that windshield wiper the lollipop This forehand to forehand rally how quickly ma long can change it up Can you hit four hands any better than this? It's a joke from ma long 12 of the last 16 points for ma long Seeing the fluid pendulum of ma long slightly different to the other one that he does Nice receive that ma long was surprised by it rushed it rushed into it Man I Mean in terms of identifying an opportunity took it on the rise This is the type of confidence that we've seen from Alexi LeBron, but he's down one three in games It's got to be scarring you can be as confident as you want But when you miss a few shots here and there You see who goalie on having a smile for a bit sort of acknowledging that the opponent on the other side is good It's gonna say there's no shortage of patriotism here and team spirit within China Lou goliangs done an outstanding job of creating the best in the world, but Alexi LeBron right here untouched once again I just can't believe how many winners we've seen So far in this game already Big shot maker on the receive Marlon Almost like intentionally doesn't like to play the backhand too powerfully too early He knows he's gonna get less time as the opponent will use the pace at this level So he wants to set up the forehand Marlon Yeah, that's his more powerful shot. No question And a bit more pace on this backhand and maybe that's exactly what you described it came back quickly didn't have time to reset for the forehand that he loves Was nice from LeBron Marlon trying to touch with the backhand. It's tough to do that. Oh Look at the tricks again Get ready for your serve. Here it is Outright point the windshield wiper has deceived the best in the world Many times watch him contact this Wow Really changes the grip there at the point of contact generates a good amount of underspin which appears to be mostly side subtle variations in that It's surprising with LeBron because Sometimes I'll just lose a game 11-5 and you wonder what happened and then he just all of a sudden wins the next game 11-5 It's crazy to me happened against fun Well, you've used the word reset button quite a lot and I think Hugo Calderano in a post-match interview said something similar This idea that you can't change the past you come to each game with a fresh sense of belief You can't depend on the past to dictate your future Your score last game isn't gonna help you win the next game Somebody just set an alarm here Was it ma long? He's waking up. No question about it No time to snooze now for Alexi. You need this game another windshield wiper to come How can he serve it that fast and long down the line look again top and sidespin that is dangerous We've talked about some of the most creative servers in the game But get ready for videos to be made about all his variation in the service game Alexi LeBron up by two You hear that extra grunt from ma long and he's playing a forehand You don't want to be on the other side of the table. Yeah, there's so a bit of alpha male like coming out of Marla It's that extra 10% that quadri Aruna talks about one point between them It's a must win for Alexi LeBron If he can get this ball back deep it's gonna be trouble for ma long Still not over his serves have been incredibly strong Alexi LeBron. He's got two here Malone has to be worried about a fast down the line serve Another windshield wiper Cautiously played plays for spin. This is what you do if you're not exactly sure what's on the ball You keep yourself in position and you put pressure on with spin The adjustments that you made there with his right leg look at him shimmering ma long the curation You could say to get revenge for fang zhendong But this is gonna be quite personal here a man on a mission ma long. What are you thinking? This is why ma long is still the best player in the world in my opinion He is the most adaptable player Style matchups aside. He always seems to find a way to match points