Ding Ning/Fan Zhendong is a mixed doubles ace combination prepared for the Tokyo Olympic Games after Liu returned. For various reasons, they didn't make their debut until the World Table Tennis Championships in Budapest in April. At that time, Ding Ning/Fan Zhendong, who ranked first in the singles world, reached the semi-finals from the qualifying round at the World Table Tennis Championships, but lost to teammate Liu/Xu Xin and won the bronze medal. In the subsequent China Open, the two played again, but lost to the North Korean team An/Jin Nanhai in the first round of qualifying. This time, the Japanese Open will play hand in hand again, and Ding Ning/Fan Zhendong will still play from the qualifying round. However, in the qualifying draw, they were lucky to get a bye. Because the doubles qualifier only played one round, it went straight to the main match.
Ding Ning/Fan Zhendong is the only pair of unseeded players in this doubles match. As they entered the competition directly, there is no need to leave the qualifying round in this year's doubles competition. Among them, Liang Jingkun/Lin is the third seed of men's doubles, and Fan Zhendong/Xu Xin is the sixth seed of men's doubles; Two-time World Table Tennis Championships women's doubles champion Sum became the top seed, while Sum was the fifth seed. Another pair of mixed doubles players, Zhu Yuling/Xu Xin, is the fifth seed. In the singles competition, 9 men and 8 women, including He Wang, need to start from the qualifying round.
Although Ding Ning and Fan Zhendong excelled in singles, their mixed doubles did not achieve the expected results. In the mixed doubles competition of Tokyo Olympic Games, only one pair participated in each association, which made Guo Ping regroup Liu and Xu Xin, the most stable players in Korean Open and Australian Open, after various attempts. They are also the only mixed doubles in China table tennis in these two competitions. As the registration time for the Tokyo Olympic Games approaches, Guo Ping may not have much chance to try more combinations. Maybe the Japanese competition will be the swan song of mixed doubles between Ding Ning and Fan Zhendong, and then both of them will focus on singles.