In the just-concluded WTT Macau Championship men's singles quarter-finals, the Chinese table tennis men's singles broke the biggest upset! Lin Shidong, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, fought hard for seven games and finally lost to Danish player Linde 3-4 and missed the men's singles semi-finals. Linde has undoubtedly become the biggest dark horse in this Macau Championship. So who is Linde? He can eliminate the top players in the table tennis world and enter the semi-finals.
Linder was born on December 14, 1998 in Hosholm, Denmark. He is a left-handed horizontal slap player. He has been known as a table tennis prodigy since he was a child and has performed very well in domestic Danish competitions. He has won the Danish domestic singles championship, 5 mixed doubles championships and 2 men's doubles championships.
However, in March 2021, Linde encountered a serious car accident while preparing to go to training. A driver stopped cardiac arrest on the highway and the car suddenly turned, causing Linde to break two vertebrae. Doctors say it has a 70% to 80% chance of being paralyzed and almost loses the possibility of walking again. Even if you can walk, it is difficult to return to the top level of exercise. However, Linde did not suffer from disability. After implanting a metal rod on his back, he actively carried out rehabilitation training through a corset and a walker.
Three months after the car accident, he picked up his racket and returned to the field. In September 2021, after half a year, Linde returned to the Denmark national team and participated in the European Championship with the team, finally winning the men's singles bronze medal. His inspirational performance also won the Anything Possible Award from the Danish Sports. In addition, Linde also participated in the Paris Olympics and advanced to the top 16 men's singles.
Linde is truly well-known to fans at the WTT China Grand Slam last year. In the second round of men's singles, Lin De, ranked 50th in the world, defeated Wang Chuqin 3-1, and Lin De became a hero in this battle and became a strong rival of the national table tennis team. After the game, Lin De said that Wang Chuqin was a top table tennis player. In that game, Wang Chuqin did not perform at his best, and he worked hard to reduce the rhythm of the game, forcing Wang Chuqin to make mistakes and become more psychologically resilient to win.
Linder's performance was still outstanding in this Macau Championship. In the first round, he upset the world's fifth-ranked Slovenian player Dako and won the game 3-1. In the second round, the Chinese table tennis player Chen Yuanyu was eliminated 3-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals. Unexpectedly, he defeated the world's number one again today.
Before the game, Lin Shidong and Lin De won all the two previous matches, and Lin Shidong has maintained good condition recently. They are optimistic that Lin Shidong can easily advance, but the result is unexpected.
In this game, Lin Dejing completely grasped Lin Shidong's shortcoming of serving. Frequently change the serving landing point to limit Lin Shidong's retreat. In the second game, Lin De scored 6 points in a row by serving. In the fourth and fifth games, he used a long ball on the serve and the mid-range and long-distance stage combination to break through Lin Shidong's defense many times. Even in the sixth and seventh games, Lin De still insisted on the same tactical style and eventually reversed and defeated Lin Shidong.
After winning the game, Lind said: The game process was difficult, but I never gave up. Moreover, I have studied Moregard's game against Lin Shidong in the European Grand Slam, which gave me a lot of inspiration and made me realize that some seemingly powerful things are not indestructible.
I know that when facing an opponent like Lin Shidong, you must be fully prepared. I carefully analyzed his game style and found that he was sometimes not prepared when facing changes, so my game strengthened the changes in the top three boards, especially serving, giving him a lot of different spins and landing points. In terms of key points, I also told myself to be more decisive and not hesitate
It is worth mentioning that Lin De also had a sparring experience with Fan Zhendong. During the closed training of the 2024 National Table Tennis Table Tennis Games, Lin De was invited to the Chongming Island Training Base in Shanghai to conduct targeted joint training with Fan Zhendong. Because Lin De's left-handed playing style and fast-paced assault style were highly similar to the technical characteristics of the main opponents of the Chinese table tennis team at that time (such as Zhang Benzhihe and Lin Yunru), he became the best candidate for Fan Zhendong to simulate his opponent.
Lin De not only observed Fan Zhendong's technical details up close, but also said: Fan Zhendong's forehand explosion power and landing point control have learned a lot. The training intensity and tactical analysis of the Chinese table tennis team are completely beyond my imagination. This experience also made up for Linde's technical shortcomings and the offense and defense connection became more comprehensive.
In a recent interview, Lin De talked about training with Fan Zhendong: I trained with the team in Shanghai, China, and each training was amazing. They have many top players. I was lucky to practice with Fan Zhendong. Those two training experiences were great, the pace was very fast. He put a huge pressure on me. I was struggling for a while, but I felt that even when facing the best player in the world, as long as I play my own rhythm, he would feel difficult to serve.
In the next Macau semi-finals, Linde will face the winner between Brazilian star Hugo and Francesco.
So with Lin Shidong's upset, Wang Chuqin, the only six players participating in the national table tennis men's singles competition, successfully entering the semi-finals and becoming the only seedling of the national table tennis men's singles. Next, Wang Chuqin played against German players Du Da and Zhang Yuzhen's winners in the semi-finals.
For Wang Chuqin, he cannot lose every game in the next game. As a key player in the Paris Olympic cycle of the national table tennis men's singles, I have to withstand the pressure this time, otherwise the national table tennis men's singles may not win the championship in the Macau Championship.
