Top facts about Xu Xin, China's XUperman

Before we start reading top facts about Xu Xin it's better to understand why China is the best country when it comes to table tennis. Table tennis has been a popular sport in China since Mao designated it the national sport in the 1950s. It was a natural option for the communist leader; a sport that could be played without taking up much room and was not especially popular in the West.

Table tennis champions are well-known, and there are reported to play in almost every park. Almost every school in China has a team that practices regularly. In China, there's a joke: don't claim you're good at table tennis since you never know who's retired from the Province team among your pals!

All this history around the tennis table enabled china to dominance the world's table tennis. So, it's not strange that most of the legends in this field are Chinese. Today we are going to read about one of these legends in Sportmob's

top fact about Xu Xin

. So, without further ado let's get into the story.

Top facts about Xu Xin you need to know

On January 8, 1990, Xu Xin opened his eyes to the world. He is a Chinese professional table tennis player who, as of April 2020, he was rated No.2 in the world for men's singles. In January 2013, he achieved his career-high singles rating of world No. 1 for the first time.

He has 17 World Tour Singles championships to his credit, as well as World Championships in men's doubles three times, mixed doubles twice, and team event five times. Xu Xin also won the men's team gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, alongside Ma Long and Zhang Jike. Now that we know the basic info we needed, it's time for

Top facts about Xu Xin

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Climbing to the top of the world

Xu Xin climbed to the top of the World Rankings in January 2013, owing to the points he earned by winning the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in December 2012. In January 2014, he successfully defended his championship by defeating Ma Long, the world's No.1 player, in the finals of the 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Dubai.

In the 2016 Japan Open semi-finals, Xu Xin defeated world No.1 and current World Champion Ma Long 4–2 but was subsequently defeated in the finals by world No.2 ranked Fan Zhendong. Following the Japan Open, Xu Xin won the Korea Open for the third time, defeating Ma Long 4–3 in the finals.

In late 2017, he had a dismal German Open, when he and his partner Fan Zhendong were eliminated in the Round of 16 in doubles and lost 4–0 in the quarterfinals in singles against Lee Sangsu. He won the doubles tournament with Fan Zhendong at the Swedish Open before defeating Fan, the world No. 2, 4–1 in the Men's Singles event an hour later. Xu Xin was seeded fifth in the 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals and lost in the quarterfinals to Fan Zhendong, the third seed. Being one of the legends does not mean life will get easier that's the subject we are going to talk about in the next part of the top facts about Xu Xin.

Xu Xin's Ups and Downs

Every life has its ups and down and in this part of the 

top facts about Xu Xin

, we are going to talk about them. Xu began his 2018 season by competing in the 2018 ITTF Team World Cup alongside teammates Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Lin Gaoyuan, and Yu Ziyang, and defeating Japan in the final. Xu only dropped one set during the event.

Xu Xin joined the Qatar Open, one of the tour's six platinum tournaments, in search of a historic fourth victory. He came close to defeating Zhou Yu 4–3 but was defeated 4–1 by Fan Zhendong in the semi-finals.

The next day, Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong won the men's doubles title, defeating Jun Mizutani and Yuya Oshima. Xu was seeded third at the German Open a week later but lost in the final to Ma Long, who was seeded fifth. In the final, Xu Xin teamed up with Ma Long to win his second doubles championship of the year, defeating Lee Sang-Su and Jeong Young-Sik.

In his eighth appearance at the World Championships, Xu Xin was a member of the winning team China in the 2018 World Team Table Tennis Championships. During the final, Xu scored the last point for Team China, defeating Patrick Franziska 3–1 to help China win the championship with a 3–0 victory against Germany.

Xu Xin was seeking his first World Tour championship of the year at the China Open. Lim Jong-hoon, however, put a halt to his goals in his native nation in the Round of 32. Xu Xin was seeded third at the next World Tour platinum tournament, the Korea Open, but lost in the Round of 16 to Jang Woo-jin.

To make amends, Xu Xin won the Australian Open, defeating qualifier Liu Dingshuo in the final. It was Xu Xin's first World Tour victory of the year. Following that, Xu Xin won the Bulgaria Open by defeating Kenta Matsudaira of Japan in the final. At the Bulgarian Open, Xu Xin won his third men's doubles title with Ma Long, their second title together in 2018.

Xu Xin did not compete in the 2018 ITTF Men's World Cup due to his absence from the Asian Cup earlier in the year. Xu Xin was hoping to retain his title at the Swedish Open, but he was defeated in the final by top seed Fan Zhendong. Xu Xin lost in the final of the Austrian Open two days later against qualifier Liang Jingkun 4–3, after Liang Jingkun had stunned Fan Zhendong 4–2 in the semi-finals.

At the Austrian Open, Xu won his first mixed doubles title with Liu Shiwen, defeating Cheng-I-Ching and Chen Chien-an in the final. Xu Xin was seeded first in the 2018 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, ahead of Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, and Liang Jingkun, after appearing in five finals and winning two of them. In the quarter-finals, Xu Xin was defeated 4–2 by compatriot Lin Gaoyuan

Trying to survive between the legends

This part of top facts about Xu Xin is the longest cause Xu had to keep up the good performance in order to survive between legends. He began the 2019 by reaching the semi-finals of the 2019 Hungarian Open. Xu Xin was defeated by Lin Gaoyuan, the eventual champion. In the semi-finals of the Qatar Open, Xu Xin faced off against his old rival Ma Long. Ma Long had recently returned from injury and was playing on the ITTF World Tour for the first time in months. Xu Xin fell to eventual winner Ma Long in a highly anticipated encounter, where he defeated Lin Gaoyuan in the finals.

Xu Xin entered the 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships as the number two seed and was aiming to make a name for himself. With Liu Shiwen, he competed in the men's singles and mixed doubles events.

Xu Xin was the only Chinese player in the bottom half of the draw when it was made. #1 Fan Zhendong, #3 Lin Gaoyuan, #9 Liang Jingkun, and #11 Ma Long were all placed in the top half of the draw according to seedings. There was a lot of pressure on Xu to help create an all-Chinese final, but it was also a big chance for Xu Xin to shine at a World Championships.

Xu Xin defeated Jan Zibrat 4–1 in the first round and Austrian Stefan Fegerl 4–0 in the second round. Xu's path to the final, however, was blocked 4–2 by Frenchman Simon Gauzy. Gauzy outperformed Xu, and he's even been dubbed "the spin master's out spinner." Because of Xu's stunning defeat, there would be no all-Chinese final for the first time in over 15 years.

The previous time this happened was in the men's final of the 2003 World Championships when Werner Schlager of Austria squared off against Joo Saehyuk of South Korea. Xu did not falter in the mixed doubles tournament, as Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen defeated Kasumi Ishikawa and Maharu Yoshimura 4–1.

Xu Xin became the second individual in history to win a coveted "triple crown" at the 2019 Japan Open, the first being Jang Woojin at the 2018 Korea Open. Xu Xin won the singles, men's doubles, and mixed doubles titles. In a highly anticipated final, Xu Xin defeated Lin Yun-Ju, "the silent assassin," in the men's singles. With Fan Zhendong and Zhu Yuling, Xu Xin won the doubles title.

Xu Xin's performance at the Japan Open was enough to reclaim his position as world number one, which he had last held in early 2015. He took over for Fan Zhendong, who had been in the position for more than a year. Fan Zhendong's global ranking has slipped to #3.

The next week, at the Korea Open, Xu Xin won the singles championship in the final, defeating his good buddy Ma Long. Coming into the final, Xu Xin had lost his six prior international matches against Ma Long, and Ma was widely viewed as the favorite to win. Xu Xin stated after an incredible match that "I'm not overjoyed because I won the championship. It's because I defeated Ma Long ", as a tribute to Ma Long's supremacy throughout the years.

Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong won the men's doubles championship again, while in the mixed doubles, Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen were beaten in the final stage by Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem. This was the first setback for the Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen duo, who were just crowned mixed doubles world champions at the 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships.

The following week, at the Australian Open, Xu Xin won three consecutive men's singles titles on the ITTF World Tour, becoming the first individual to successfully defend a men's singles title at the Australian Open.

Following the Australian Open, the first of the T2 events was held in Malaysia. Xu Xin displayed indications of slowness and exhaustion throughout this competition, which was suggested to be related to the numerous weeks of play on the global tour. Xu Xin advanced to the semi-finals, where he was defeated 4–0 by Fan Zhendong in a repeat of their semi-final match at the Japan Open earlier this year, which Xu won 4–3.

Multiple Chinese players have expressed dissatisfaction with many ITTF events being played one after the other with no meaningful pauses in between. Xu Xin said after the final in Australia, "too weary." Ma Long and other Chinese players have expressed the same thing, although it is believed that tournaments must be performed in order for Chinese players to retain higher international rankings, all in preparation for Tokyo 2020.

Xu Xin and four of his other important colleagues, Ma Long, Fan Zhendong, Liu Shiwen, and Ding Ning, all withdrew from the 2019 Chinese National Championships. Their rationale was that they needed to relax after playing several events in a row on the ITTF Tour.

Xu Xin finished the year as the World No.1 player. Because of his exceptional performances and showmanship, Xu Xin earned the "XUperman," nickname as a reference to his superhuman abilities. This is one of Xu Xin's numerous nicknames, the others being the Showman and the Cloudwalker, all of which describe his playing style. Let's get into Olympic stuff in the next part of Sportmob's top facts about Xu Xin

Olympic 2021

Xu Xin was scheduled to compete at the WTT Doha in March, but he and the rest of the Chinese national team withdrew from all international events until the Tokyo Olympics due to pandemic fears. Xu competed in the China National Qualification event in March and the Chinese Olympic Scrimmage in May, when he was defeated by a number of lesser-known and lower-ranked players.

Xu was chosen to represent China in the team event at the Tokyo Olympics in May. Xu advanced to the finals of the Chinese Olympic Scrimmage's second leg, where he lost 4-3 to Fan Zhendong despite holding an 8-4 and 3-1 lead. Thanks for reading 

top facts about Xu Xin

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