At the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships in Busan, the national table tennis men's team faced the biggest challenge from South Korea in the semifinals. At that time, Wang Chuqin and Ma Long both suffered defeats, and in the final, Fan Zhendong and France's Alex Lebrun also had an extremely fierce match, and Lebrun once put Fan Zhendong in a hard battle and almost got the match point. In the end, Fan Zhendong won with a difficult comeback, but fans also began to question a question: why is Alex Lebrun not as good as his brother Felix Lebrun's results and rankings, but he poses a greater threat to national table tennis? This situation is not only in this World Table Tennis Championships, in previous games, Alex has defeated two main players of national table tennis, including Fan Zhendong. In contrast, Felix was not only swept by Wang Chuqin in this World Table Tennis Championships, but also failed to defeat the main force of national table tennis before, so why is his ranking higher than that of his brother? Next, we'll ** this topic.
First of all, Felix is a rare master of straight slapping in today's table tennis world, this technical style of play is more unique, and it is more scarce than his brother's horizontal slapping style. This makes it relatively easy for Felix to achieve results in the short term. In recent decades, Asian athletes have mostly used the straight slap style, while in Europe the horizontal slap style has been the mainstream. In this case, an athlete like Felix, who is close to the Asian and at the same time has excellent talent, stands out, making it difficult for many opponents to adapt. At the same time, Felix's strength lies in his ability to "win in chaos", which is an advantage over his brother's backhand technique, which gives him an advantage against certain opponents. While from an objective technical point of view, Alex's technique is more comprehensive and has fewer holes, it lacks the scarcity advantage that comes with straight strokes.
In addition, Felix's straight shot style is exactly the type of play that national table tennis is familiar with, so his advantages are relatively easy to be cracked by national table tennis players. The Chinese Table Tennis Association has an in-depth understanding and familiarity with the straight racket style, which is mainly due to the long-term heritage and strong influence of the style of play in the Chinese table tennis world. Many table tennis legends such as Liu Guoliang, Wang Hao, and Ma Lin are all straight-shot players, especially represented by Wang Hao's skills and achievements. Wang Hao can be called the "originator" of direct shooting athletes, and his understanding of this style of play is much higher than that of Felix himself. National table tennis players have accumulated a wealth of experience in playing against domestic direct players since they were young, which makes them better at facing direct players. Therefore, Felix is not able to play the same advantage as other association players when facing the main players of the national table tennis team, although he may be able to win against the non-main players, it is indeed difficult to beat the main players.
Although Alex and Felix are facing different dilemmas and challenges, the future development space of the two brothers is worth looking forward to. In international competitions, Felix has defeated non-main players such as Lin Shidong, and has also defeated Zhao Zihao and other famous players in direct shooting in one fell swoop, and even fought with masters such as Ma Long. These achievements are based on the fact that he is not yet 18 years old, and as we all know, this age group is usually not fully mature. One of the main reasons for the long-term success of the straight shot is their grasp of the situation and their excellent tactical skills, which require long-term experience. Although only 17 years old, Felix has already reached the sixth place in the world in men's singles, showing that he still has a lot of room for improvement in the future. At the same time, Alex is 20 years old, but he also has great potential for growth. It is not easy for two such young masters to appear in the French table tennis team at the same time, indicating that the French men's table tennis will become an important competitor of the Chinese team and cannot be ignored.
In general, Alex and Felix, the two Lebrun brothers, each have their own unique technical characteristics and room for growth, and their performance and progress have attracted the attention of world table tennis. Alex's well-rounded skills and deep understanding of tactics are in stark contrast to Felix's scarce straight-shot play. Both the elder brother and the younger brother are expected to continue to show their outstanding strength in the future competitions and add new luster to the French table tennis career. I look forward to more brilliant results in the future competitions of the Lebrun brothers, and also look forward to more exciting duels with the world's top table tennis teams!
In the fiercely competitive arena of table tennis, technical characteristics and tactical advantages often determine the development and performance of players. As high-profile new stars in the table tennis world at this stage, the Lebrun brothers are undoubtedly looking forward to their potential and strength despite their different challenges. In this dynamic and competitive field, they will continue to show outstanding performance and contribute to the development of world table tennis. Looking forward to the future, the Lebrun brothers will create more brilliant achievements in the table tennis arena and become a new hope for the French table tennis industry!