Fan Zhendong Goes 0-3 Twice: Is ZYRE-03 the Culprit?
Last night’s Champions League final: Fan Zhendong’s Saarbrucken defeated the Lebrun brothers’ Nimes-Montpellier team 3-2 to claim the title again. But individually, Fan Zhendong performed below expectations, losing 0-3 to both Alex and Felix LeBrun. It was Darko’s one point and Moregard’s impressive two that secured the win. Still, that 0-3 to each brother is hard to explain away.
1. About Those Matches
First 0-3 to Alex, then 0-3 to Felix. The scorelines are difficult to make sense of.
Throughout both matches Fan Zhendong made an unusually high number of unforced errors. Routine scoring balls went into the net or flew long. In the final point against Felix, they were in a bilateral topspin exchange and Fan Zhendong ended it by looping wide. Errors of that type — given his caliber and his blade thickness — are genuinely rare.
Beyond the errors: both LeBrun brothers serve with a notably fast tempo and a lot of variation. Fan Zhendong was a bit unsettled in his receive game, his timing slightly off and his center of gravity slow to adjust.
Does his own form play a role? Probably some. After all, this Champions League final is about as high-stakes as things get for Fan Zhendong right now — essentially a “major” for him. Even with past big-match experience, it has been a while. Form under pressure is not guaranteed to hold at its previous level.
I felt something similar this weekend in my alumni cup. In practice I feel like I am improving. But this was only my second tournament in two years. My ability to adapt to unfamiliar balls and manage my form on the day was off. I lost two matches — my worst showing in a long time. Fan Zhendong is still competing, but the intensity level is nothing like a few years ago, and it has been a long time since a match felt like this kind of test.
2. Looking at the Historical Head-to-Head
In actual skill, Alex LeBrun and Fan Zhendong had a 1-1 head-to-head before this final, both matches going five games. That tells you Alex’s game is a tricky matchup. Felix, on the other hand, had never beaten Fan Zhendong. Even accounting for Felix’s improvement over the past two years, a 0-3 straight-sets loss with no answers at all does not add up.
Putting it all together, even if his form management was below his best, Fan Zhendong should not have performed this far below par.
3. The ZYRE-03 Factor
With all that in mind, and given how the matches looked visually, I believe Fan Zhendong’s choice to use ZYRE-03 on the forehand played a significant role.
During the matches he looked at his own racket — the forehand rubber face — at least three times.
I touched on two points in yesterday’s article. “Players at this level have enough ability to paper over most equipment differences.” But at the same time, “ideally you want to test equipment compatibility against a peak-level opponent.” The LeBrun brothers are more than qualified for that role.
This is not about ZYRE-03 being a bad rubber. It is about fit. Fit depends on your technique and style. If you are primarily a straight-ahead looper who values speed and penetration, ZYRE-03 should not be a problem. If you heavily rely on varying spin levels, its tempo is a bit one-dimensional.
Fit also means habit. Transitioning from a tacky rubber to a non-tacky one in a short window — has that fully clicked? Maybe after more time ZYRE-03 still turns out to be a comfortable match. But right now, it may simply be “temporarily unsuitable.”
I wrote about ZYRE-03 before it launched, and a few points are worth revisiting.
First, early on you may feel the rubber “can’t grip the serve and pops the short ball high.”
Second, Harimoto Tomokazu said that for players who love the feeling of gripping and dwelling the ball, Z03 is difficult to use. But if you can harness it well, once you adapt it might open a new level.
Judging a rubber as good or bad cannot rest on a single standard. The question is always whether it fits you and whether you have adapted to it.
In summary: Fan Zhendong made the choice to switch to ZYRE-03, and the result was a “temporary” underperformance. Nothing more. And even so, the ending was a good one — Champions League title. My alumni cup performance was also poor, but with teammates covering for me, we made the final.
That proves one thing: teammates matter.
Seeing Fan Zhendong’s smile after the championship — we should all take that lesson to heart. Nobody is unbeatable forever. Stop dwelling on your own regrets. Put your energy toward the things that make you happy.