Ma Long (Chinese table tennis player)

Ma Long (born 20 October 1988) is a Chinese table tennis player. The current Olympic and World Champion, he is ranked number 3 in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). He has held the ranking of number 1 for a total of 64 months (and 34 consecutive months from March 2015), the most by any male player in the history of table tennis. He won a record 5 straight ITTF World Tour tournaments in a row, including a streak of 35 sets, and a record total of 28 ITTF World Tour titles. Since 2014, he has been the captain of the Chinese National Table Tennis Men's Team.

Arguably the best forehand attacker in table tennis history, Ma has a playing style conforming to the modern strategy of close-range third-ball play. At the beginning of his career, his play strategy was primarily forehand-oriented, dominating play with powerful forehand loops, with Ma using his backhand only for controlled returns to set up the forehand. He still plays a forehand-oriented style, but his backhand has become more consistent, stable, and powerful as his career has progressed. Compared to when he was younger, he is much more confident using his backhand to attack and defend.

Chinese teammates have remarked that he is a very tactical player and is always searching for a solution. His serves appear to be conventional pendulum serves, but are some of the most visually deceptive in the game, with very subtle differences in spin and service motion. He is very quick on his feet, making it very difficult to get him out of position and allowing him to track down balls and recover from situations that most other players couldn't.

After a clean sweep victory in the Men's Singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Ma Long became the fifth player to complete a career Grand Slam (winning the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup), joining Jan-Ove Waldner and Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, and Zhang Jike. Additionally, he became the first male player (and second overall) in the world to have won every singles title in table tennis. These records have led many to consider him to be the greatest player of all time. 

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