In the second game, Kong Zhendong's physical strength decreased significantly, but he and Waldner's style of play and ball control had relatively low physical requirements.

Waldner, as a Nordic man, is only 1.75 meters tall, and in Europe, he is considered a dexterous athlete.

The traditional method of Chinese fast attack is to run more by yourself, change the attack arc and landing point, and reduce the quality of the opponent's return.

Kong Zhendong and Waldner's game and ball control tactics are to use the landing point and rhythm to mobilize the opponent to cut the ball, so that the opponent cannot be in a comfortable position, and receive the ball with a comfortable hand shape and feel.

For chippers, the shape and feel of the hand are extremely important, and the slight deformation of the movement will make the return quality of the ball very different.

It's a pity that Chen Zhiping is a traditional chipper, if he is a perfect combination of attacks like Jin Song or Zhu Xianhe in later generations, Kong Zhendong will not be able to easily control the rhythm.

In the end, Kong Zhendong defeated the representative of the chipping ball 2:0, Chen Zhiping in southern Zhejiang.

At the end of the game, Chen Zhiping came over and patted Kong Zhendong on the shoulder with great grace, and said with a smile: "Young man, you are very good, you have found a new way to play chipping, and it has also allowed us chippers to find new weaknesses that need to be solved!" ”

Although Kong Zhendong is competing with Chen Zhiping with a physical strength saving style of play, the confrontation of the top chipper has already emptied his physical strength, and he is completely supported by his will.

Kong Zhendong took a breath and reluctantly replied: "Brother Chen, I won you by the competition system, if it is a best-of-five system of international standards, I will lose." It's not just physical exhaustion. I used two very varied styles of play to catch Brother Chen off guard, and with Brother Chen's experience, from the beginning of the third game, I was able to adjust the rhythm and targeted tactics. ”

Kong Zhendong didn't mean to be modest, he racked his brains in this game, and he could only play two good games. Chen Zhiping is a traditional chipper, with the traditional weakness of slow entry and slow adjustment, but the Chinese players are very tenacious in international competitions, and it is common to lose two games first and then counterattack.

At the end of the game, Li Jun immediately ran over and hugged Kong Zhendong excitedly: "Zhendong, you have entered the top 16, the top 16 of the Table Tennis Association Cup, how many national players will not be able to enter the top 16 once after participating in the third or fourth sessions!" I found that in you, no matter how big an upset is, it will be shattered by the magic of the next one! ”

Li Jun did not deliberately exaggerate Kong Zhendong's achievements. Because of the large number of players and the number of rounds of competition in each Table Tennis Association Cup, national players often need to play five or six rounds to enter the top 16.

Once you meet an unfamiliar provincial team player in five or six rounds, who has a strong impact and just happens to play the same style, it is normal to be killed. Of course, these upset provincial team underdogs often only have one good game, and the next game is killed by other national players who are crushed by their strength. In the final top 16, it can be said that there is no upset.

The top 16 are basically flag-bearers of national players and relatively strong provincial teams.

Kong Zhendong asked while packing up his belongings, "Who is my next opponent?" Are you sure? ”

Li Jun said: "Confirm that the opponent is Yan Sheng of Northern Jiangsu, although he is very young, he is already a fierce general in Northern Jiangsu, and his left-handed straight board play style should be fierce and weird." If you win him, you will be able to enter the national table tennis assessment list! ”

Yan Sheng? Northern Soviet people? That is Wang Dali's doubles partner Yan Sheng!

Kong Zhendong remembered that Yan Sheng and himself in his previous life were both 75 years old, but the straight style of play was not easy to achieve quickly, and he was a late bloomer and did not enter the national team until he was nearly 20 years old in 94.

Unexpectedly, in this life, Kong Zhendong would compete with Yan Sheng for a place in the top eight.

On August 21, the Table Tennis Association Cup 16-8 knockout round officially started. Because the quarterfinals are highly anticipated, the competition is held at the central table of the Capital Table Tennis Hall, with four games a day and two days to determine the quarterfinals.

Entering the top 16 stage, the audience is not only reporters and experts, but thousands of fans from the capital, Hebei and Tianjin come to watch each game.

The match between Kong Zhendong and Yan Sheng was arranged in the first game in the afternoon, at two o'clock, after practicing and familiarizing himself with the new ball, Kong Zhendong served, and the game officially began.

This is a match where Kong Zhendong and Yan Sheng both feel very awkward.

First of all, Kong Zhendong's backhand twist and pull forehand burst straight line can't be used, because the opponent is a left-handed general, Kong Zhendong's backhand pull slash is just someone's straight forehand position, which can be very comfortable to return the ball and pull the arc circle with the forehand.

Kong Zhendong's backhand is strong, but it is not strong enough to use his backhand to pull the arc circle with his forehand in the small-ball era.

Yan Sheng is also very depressed, under normal circumstances, the left hand will restrain the traditional right-handed players, but Kong Zhendong is a weird guy with a stronger backhand than the forehand at this stage, and this kind of left-handed surprise opponent's backhand advantage ball can't be played.

Kong Zhendong is very grateful for the experience that this game has brought him. This is a game where neither side can show their respective strengths, so how to use their relative shortcomings to win the game is a new topic.

In this game, neither of the two can use the strongest scoring means, and the second scoring means chosen by Kong Zhendong is a forehand strong pull and a big slash to control the ball. This kind of forehand strength ball is not Kong Zhendong's strength at this stage, but Kong Zhendong's forehand big slash is just Yan Sheng's backhand loophole, Kong Zhendong does not seek to kill vigorously, only pursues landing point control. As long as the point is hit, with the now 16-year-old Yan Sheng, if the pace has not improved, he will not be able to save the backhand corner.

Yan Sheng's strongest scoring method can't be used, and the second method is to use the weird serve of the left hand to hope for a surprise victory.

It's a pity that Yan Sheng didn't know that in his previous life, as the main doubles competitor, Kong Zhendong was already very familiar with his self-righteous left-handed serve.

Yan Sheng's left-handed high toss serve, a lot of deceptive feints, and opponents who follow the ball with their eyes are often beaten to the point where they can't find north. Kong Zhendong stared directly at the front of his racket hitting area.

The rotation of the ball is judged by the shape of the plate before the racket serves, and the degree of friction is sufficient.

In this way, when neither side's strongest killer weapon could be used, Kong Zhendong's second scoring method completely defeated Yan Sheng's weird serve.

Finally, Kong Zhendong got this place in the quarterfinals. If Yan Sheng wants to enter the national team, he still needs to strengthen himself in the next few years in terms of pace and scoring diversity.

Entering the quarterfinals, all the glory and praise came one after another, but Kong Zhendong was extremely sober.

Tomorrow there will be another four quarter-finals, and Kong Zhendong will be able to take a day off.

Li Jun was busy and used the Capital Television Station's interview car to take Kong Zhendong back to the training base of the Capital Team. In the name of beauty, I stopped by the car to interview.

In the car, Li Jun saw that Kong Zhendong did not have a complacent look, and said with confidence: "I am very happy that you are not carried away by the victory." Have you carefully read the selection notice for the national team? The original words are that the top eight of the Table Tennis Association Cup, the newcomers who have obtained the priority selection qualification and won the top three are the ones who have no threshold to enter the national team! ”

Kong Zhendong was thorough: "Brother Jun means that my age will be an obstacle?" Even if I made it to the quarterfinals, I was too young to be a hard injury, and the priority selection was not 100% committed! ”