 Zhang at the2013 World Table Tennis Championships, Paris | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Native name | 张继科 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Chinese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1988-02-16)16 February 1988 (age 37)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Table tennis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Shandong Luneng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing style | Right-handed, shakehand grip | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Equipment(s) | Butterfly Viscaria FL, DHS Hurricane 3 National (FH-Black), Butterfly Tenergy 80 (BH-Red) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | 1 (June to December 2012)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Zhang Jike (Chinese:张继科;pinyin:Zhāng Jìkē; born 16 February 1988) is a retired Chinesetable tennis player.[2][4]
Zhang became the fourth male player in the history of table tennis to achieve a career Grand Slam when he won gold in men's singles at the Olympic games in London 2012.[5] The first three areJan-Ove Waldner (in 1992),Liu Guoliang (in 1999), andKong Linghui (in 2000). Zhang won the Grand Slam in only 445 days. He won, consecutively, firstWTTC 2011, thenWorld Cup 2011, and then London Olympics 2012, which made him the fastest player ever to win a Grand Slam. After the first Grand Slam, he wonWTTC 2013 andWorld Cup 2014.
On February 16, 1988, Zhang was born inQingdao,Shandong Province to Zhang Chuanming (张传铭) and Xu Xiying (徐锡英). His father is a table-tennis coach.He was named after the Braziliansoccer player and coachZico.[6]
According to his father, the first time Zhang played table-tennis was on March 5, 1992, aged 4.[7]
In 2011, Zhang first played in the singles event at the WTTC and won the gold medal by defeatingJoo-Sae Hyuk,Wang Liqin,Timo Boll andWang Hao, making an epic celebration by ripping his shirt after winning the final.[citation needed] After a few months, he won the 2011 World Cup in Paris by defeating Joo-Sae Hyuk 4–0, Wang Hao 4–2 in the final. After the final point, he took off his shirt and threw it to the audience and thanked them for their support. During the Olympic Games in London 2012, Zhang played a terrific match against European legendVladimir Samsonov where he was 2-3 down, but still managed to win the match. In the semi-final, he defeatedDimitrij Ovtcharov 4–1. In the final he met his teammate Wang Hao again. But this time Zhang proved he was too strong and dominated Wang Hao. By 4-1 defeating Wang Hao, he achieved a careerGrand Slam. Zhang Jike also won the gold medal in the team event but on the way lost to Timo Boll in the semi-final against Germany. Later that year he won against Ma Long 4–3 in final of the Slovakia Open.
In 2013, he had a bad start after losing toChen Chien-an at the Asian Games. Later at the WTTC, he once again proved he was undefeatable. He won the Gold Medal beatingFan Zhendong,Robert Gardos,Gustavo Tsuboi, Patrick Baum,Xu Xin andWang Hao in the finals. This time Zhang jumped over the barriers and ran towards his parents. The same year, he defeatedMa Long 4–1 in the final of the Kuwait Open.
In 2014 he won the World Cup in Düsseldorf/Germany by defeatingTimo Boll in the semi-final and Ma Long in the final by 4–3. He was appreciated for his amazing backhand-banana at 10-10 and took a service point to win the gold.
At the 2015 WTTC, he lost toFang Bo 1–4, but partnering with Xu Xin he won the gold medal in the doubles event. In August, he was upset byStefan Fegerl of Austria in the men's singles semi-final of the Polish Open. He lost to Ma Long 3–4 in the final of the German Open despite having a match point in the 6th game.
In 2016, Zhang Jike defeated Ma Long easily 4–1 in the final of the Kuwait Open.[8]During the Rio Olympics, Zhang defeatedKoki Niwa in the quarter-final and Vladimir Samsonov in the semi-final. In the final he lost to his teammate Ma Long 0–4.
In 2017 at the Asian Championships Zhang defeatedYuya Oshima andLin Gaoyuan before taking the bronze medal. At the WTTC in Düsseldorf/Germany, Zhang lost toLee Sangsu of South-Korea 1–4. He could not play to his full potential as only the previous month he was under treatment for a hip injury. Next month in the China Open, he conceded his match versus Masaki Yoshida as he was again suffering from a hip injury. After 5 months being absent, Zhang appeared on the World Tour again. He participated in the German Open but lost toTiago Apolonia 1–4. His world ranking dropped to 176 due to his absence from the World Tour. 6 months later he participated on the 2018 World Tour again. He first lost toMaharu Yoshimura, 3–4 in the Hong Kong Open as it was his first match after a long break from competitive play. Later that year at the China Open, he easily defeatedQuadri Aruna but couldn't survive the speed ofTomokazu Harimoto. At the Japan Open, he was back in form again and defeatedLin Yun-ju,Jonathan Groth,Liang Jiangkun andJin Ueda. But unfortunately he injured his back while playing against Harimoto in the final and lost 3–4 in a narrow match. His ranking however increased to number 71 in just one month. Two months later at the Asia-Euro Championships he defeatedBastian Steger andJonathan Groth and proved he is still in form.
On June 1, 2018, he participated in the FIVB Tour China Open, losing 0-4 toTomokazu Harimoto in the first round of the men's singles. On June 10, he finished second in the men's singles at the FIVB Japan Open, losing 3-4 toTomokazu Harimoto. On August 5, he helped Team Asia beat Team Europe 7-3 in the 2018 Asia-Europe Men's Table Tennis All-Star Match and won the individual MVP award.[9]
Zhang Jike is aButterfly sponsored athlete. He uses Butterfly Viscaria for his blade, a Butterfly Tenergy 80 (red) on his backhand, and DHS Hurricane 3 neo National blue sponge (black) on his forehand.
Zhang Jike is a two-wingedshakehand attacker, using a combination of quicktopspin drive attacks, counters, and loops. He is using the harder blue sponge H3 Neo for maximum drive. He stays very low to the ground and is exceptionally quick on his feet. Among all the Chinese National team players, he is known for having the best backhand technique, often using it in the forehand corner, especially when returning heavy under-spin serves and pushes. His backhand on-the-table flick is widely regarded as one of the best in the world.
When Zhang Jike initially joined the national team, the coaches were apprehensive about his forehand technique and thought about changing it completely. But Xiao Zhan, the then personal coach of Zhang Jike, noticed the explosive technique of his forehand and backhand strokes and instead retained them. Zhang Jike's spin oriented technique provides him oftentimes with a topspin advantage against opponents.
Zhang's serves are unpredictable and quite deceptive. His most famous serve is probably the reverse-pendulum short serve into both corners of the table. The side-spin on the serve, together with his backhand flicks, above-average footwork and top-class anticipation has proved to be an ideal combination as he is capable to "open up" topspin rallies to his advantage.
It is noticeable that he would play with abackhand oriented game plan against big forehand loopers likeMa Long orFan Zhendong. He would keep his opponents in their backhand corner and go for down-the-line blocking winners as the opposition steps around to use a forehand loop, or just pile up pressure, resulting in bad shot selections and unforced errors by the opponent.
One of Zhang Jike's most valuable asset is his mental strength. His ability to win big points in major competitions under pressure is apparent to observers.
In 2014, Zhang's world ranking dropped to 5th as a result of consecutive early world tour exits and title drought. Head coachLiu Guoliang criticized him for his lack of focus and techniques development. However, Zhang managed to lead his hometown team, Shandong, to the 2014 Chinese Table Tennis Super League championship, and he won the World Cup again in October. His prize money, US$45,000, for winning the World Cup was taken as a fine as himself proposed for destroying the barriers in celebration.[10] This fund will be used to set up Fair Play Award.[11]
Men's doubles
Zhang was previously in a relationship with Chinese actressJing Tian (景甜); they officially announced their separation in June 2019 following allegations that Zhang had shared private videos of her with creditors to whom he owed a gambling debt.[12]
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