Fan Zhendong officially announced his joining the Bundesliga! After quitting WTT, he saved the country in a row. How many helplessness and ambitions are hidden behind a million-dollar annual salary?

The fragrance of rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday has not yet dissipated, and the sports circle suddenly exploded - a official announcement by the Central Mom made the news that "Fan Zhendong joined the German Table Tennis League A" a hot search. The 28-year-old "Super Golden Slam" winner, the leading national table tennis team who just swept Zhang Benzhihe at the Paris Olympics, suddenly "defected" to go to the Bundesliga? Netizens were in a panic. Some people typed out the old joke "If you don't keep me here, you will have me." Some people found out the old news that he withdrew from the world ranking last year, and some even put the quotation marks on the word "defection" - after all, can a tough character who can beat his opponent to doubt his life in the Olympics, and will he escape at the last minute? I was covered in controversy on the screen, and suddenly remembered what he said when he withdrew from the competition last year, "I am really unable to bear it." At that time, it was just an official excuse, but now it may have been a sign of the storm.

Time goes back to last year, and the ITTF issued a "mandatory participation order", saying that it is necessary to check in to the WTT competition in the top 20 in the world, otherwise you will be deducted points and fined US dollars. Fan Zhendong just finished the Olympics and wanted to take a break. He participated in five less games and was directly cut off 5 effective points, even losing his qualification for the World Table Tennis Championships. What's even more amazing is that if you win the bonus, you have to pay a fine first, and the rest belongs to you - this is not a game, it is clearly an ATM for the event! The fans did the calculations and according to his schedule at that time, they had to play more than a dozen matches a year, and the frequency of old knee injuries recurred can be seen from the naked eye. No wonder he suddenly announced his withdrawal from the world rankings. The sentence on his social account looked calm and gentle, but actually he was tough: I won’t play with you anymore. But what should I do after quitting? You can't really retire, right? Some netizens joked at the time, "Go to play in the Bundesliga." Who would have thought that this joke actually became true.

When talking about Bundesliga clubs, fans may be a little confused, but when it comes to Saarbrücken, old table tennis fans understand - 9 years ago, Fan Zhendong, who was less than 20 years old, won the first three major championship here, with a baby fat on his youthful face, but he already showed his ruthlessness like a wolf cub. Now that I have gone back after going around in circles, my identity has changed from a fledgling young player to a super golden slam. It is better to say that it is "realizing a dream", but it is better to say that it is "returning back to the furnace". The conditions given by the German club are indeed attractive: the annual salary is conservative 1 million euros, plus the bonus endorsement, the numbers are eye-catching. But the more important thing is the schedule - one game a week, you don’t have to turn around like in WTT, and you can take a breath with your knees; your opponents are all kinds of European monster playing styles, and you can practice chopping balls and pellet glue at will. In the future, you will feel more at ease when you encounter Zhang Ben and others. There is also the old opponent Boer. The two of them can send birthday wishes to each other off the court, and the mortal enemy who can win the final game on the court. This kind of "both enemies and friends" relationship may be more comfortable than the atmosphere in the national team. When the news first came out, someone called him "playing for other countries", but he was soon criticized by fans: He was joining a club, but he did not change his nationality to represent the German team, so why did he defect? What’s more interesting is that the former Chinese table tennis chairman “Fatty Liu” was the first to stand up to support it, with CCTV and the Table Tennis Association following closely behind, all of whom “understand and respect, and fully support.” This attitude is quite intriguing. To put it bluntly, Fan Zhendong's experience is not an isolated case - top athletes are used as money trees by the event, the schedule is so dense that they are overdrawn, and their commercial value is over-consuming. His departure seemed to have broken the industry, letting everyone see: athletes are not machines, and they also have the right to choose. The fans are more realistic, and the super talk is full of messages such as "As long as he is happy" and "waiting for him to come back." After all, who doesn’t want their idol to make a lot of money and play the ball they like?

Some people say that Fan Zhendong is "escape from the system", but don't forget that he is still a member of the national team, and joining the Bundesliga this time is more like "reserve and staying at work." Some people say that he "looks at money", but an annual salary of one million is not outrageous in professional sports. What's more, the golden period for athletes is only a few years, so who doesn't want to make more pension money? But the core of the controversy is actually the collision between "intra-system" and "professionalization" of Chinese sports. When WTT holds the points and bonuses tightly, and when the national team schedule is overwhelming, should athletes have the right to "vote with their feet"? Fan Zhendong took this step boldly and helplessly - he used his career as a test field, betting on whether Chinese table tennis can take another path under international rules. Perhaps as the conclusion said, what he took away was not only the concerns of the fans, but also the ambition of Chinese table tennis to go global. But behind this ambition, how many athletes are sad about, and how much changes can it bring to the industry? Let's wait and see.