Your play was not as good as you had been expected in the men’s singles events at the Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2021 World Table Tennis Championship Finals in Houston, but do you think you are now out of the dark long tunnel?
I don’t think I am completely out of the tunnel. I cannot say I am out of the dark tunnel until I beat Chinese players; I won against Ma Long (CHN) a few years ago, so I think I am still on the way back to where I was then, I am still recovering.
However, I am sure I am going in the right direction, I am also mentally fine.
Do you have a clear vision how to win against Ma Long or other Chinese players?
I can express myself to the full extent when I play against strong players like Ma Long, but I have recently lost before proceeding to such rounds, I think I can play more boldly once I can advance to the latter rounds.
Therefore, my big challenge is to win the first and second rounds at tournaments, which I feel is difficult.
What in particular is difficult?
I am not able to play boldly against players ranked lower than me, I tend to play safely because I am eager to win against them. Then, attacking play decreases naturally and I cannot make fully powerful strokes; thus, sometimes I cannot build the plan for the match by myself.
I have to practise more and be mentally stronger. I wish I could play more matches, but I think I am now better than last year as I have been able to exercise my original bold play during practice recently.
The Singapore Smash held in March was the first international tournament in a while; how was your feeling?
The Smash was the overseas expedition right after the LION Cup, but I had to reboot my mind, while I was delighted with the win after a break. I think I was a bit underprepared, to be honest.
It was held five days after the LION Cup and I had only taken measures for the matches against Japanese players, so I could not adjust myself to compete against foreign players.
Kanak Jha (USA), against whom I faced in the first round, is a tenacious player. I was not able to play tenaciously from around the third game, when we were one game all, I lost the fourth game 3-11, I could not manage to win a match in such a big situation.
However, physically, it was a tournament after the T.League finals and the LION Cup and I felt I had used all my exertions, so I think I could not control myself at the Smash. Kanak is not a difficult type of player, but he has built up many achievements such as the quarter-finals at the 2021 World Championship Finals in Houston, there he had momentum at that time. I could not control myself even in the fourth game, after losing the third game where I had taken a lead…
I lost the match due to various reasons, the five-game match being one of them, but I have achieved an emotional closure to this loss, so most important for me now is to prepare for the next Budapest Smash with full force.