Today, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng successively issued statements, announcing their withdrawal from the international rankings, which is equivalent to giving up the opportunity to participate in the WTT Grand Slam event. While firing at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), this move essentially amounts to their departure from the national team.
Announcing their exits on the same day, both Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng had similar wording in their statements. Chen Meng quickly posted her own statement after liking Fan Zhendong's. If Fan Zhendong was leading the charge, then Chen Meng swiftly responded, forming an alliance to jointly resist the ITTF's unfair system. As a result, many people are curious about one topic: How close are these two individuals that they can act in such solidarity?
In terms of age, Chen Meng is a few years older than Fan Zhendong, but in terms of their tenure with the national team, Chen Meng is roughly on par with Fan Zhendong. However, Chen Meng is a classic example of late blooming. Although she joined the national team at the age of 13, she did not win a major singles championship in her first ten years with the team, making it difficult for her to rank among the top three main players of the national table tennis team, effectively becoming a marginal figure. Even after the 2016 Rio Olympics when the national team underwent a generational change, Zhu Yuling, who was of the same era as Chen Meng, overshadowed her. It wasn't until later, after Zhu Yuling lost confidence due to defeats by Japanese players post-2019, that Chen Meng began to stand out, winning double titles at the Tokyo Olympics.
On the other hand, Fan Zhendong achieved fame at a young age, quickly becoming a key training target for the national team at the World Youth Championships. After the Rio Olympics, Fan Zhendong rose to become a main player for the national team. At the Tokyo Olympics, Fan Zhendong became an Olympic champion, though he narrowly lost in the singles final to Ma Long. In terms of their growth trajectories, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng became main players for the national team around the same time, considered part of the same generation.
After the Paris Olympics, both chose similar paths, leaving the national team to pursue what they liked, temporarily bidding farewell to the table tennis world for a considerable period. Fan Zhendong even represented Shanghai in domestic competitions, while Chen Meng only participated in the friendship match nature of the Old Vals Cup. Now, the two have jointly chosen to withdraw from the international rankings, demonstrating their unity once again.
Moreover, both Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng are known for being generous and loyal, maintaining a very good relationship privately and often joking around in public. There is a story circulating online about their relationship: during the 2020 National Championships, the Bayi team disbanded, leaving Fan Zhendong to compete under his personal name without a mixed doubles partner. Upon hearing this, Chen Meng proactively gave up her provincial team partner to pair up with Fan Zhendong in mixed doubles, although they did not win the championship, it shows the closeness of their relationship.
Additionally, during a public interview, Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng praised each other, both giving exceptionally high evaluations. When asked "Who would you most like to partner with in mixed doubles?" they unhesitatingly named each other, demonstrating their high level of rapport. Of course, there are fans online who ship them as a couple, but they are simply very good friends, greatly appreciating each other's character and way of life, yet they have not catered to their fans' wishes by hyping their relationship for attention.
In fact, the reason Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng have such a good relationship is largely due to mutual empathy. Both are victims of fan culture, unable to tolerate the sand in their eyes, unwilling to get involved with fan culture, and naturally not immune to cyberbullying. Fan Zhendong has reported to the police and openly criticized fan culture, uttering the famous line, "Winning is not okay, losing is not okay." Chen Meng has also suffered greatly, being cyberbullied multiple times online. The state's crackdown on fan culture largely began with Chen Meng's grievances. Ultimately, these two positive energy Olympic champions exiting together is quite a spectacle.