Author: Ping Pong Reviewed

Born Karlsson, competed as Falck through his career peak, and reverted after a divorce. The honest decline story in this batch, told alongside the 2019 World Championship final.

The Paris 2024 bracket that connects four players covered on this site, told from the side that beat the world number one.

Twice one match from the top: an Olympic bronze match loss to Felix Lebrun and a World Championship final loss to Wang Chuqin. Both losses, both historic runs.

From outside the world’s top 1,000 to beating a reigning world number one in fifteen months. Also Felix Lebrun’s brother and doubles partner, but that’s not the whole story.

A rare reverse penhold backhand, a home Olympics, and a bronze medal match against Hugo Calderano that ended a 32-year French drought.

Born in Kyiv, raised and built in Germany from infancy. Six Olympic medals across five Games, and still ranked top 25 at 38.

Born Zhang Zhihe to Chinese table tennis players who moved to Japan for coaching work. The prodigy reputation is real. So is the singles medal still missing from his record.

Jan-Ove Waldner was the first man to complete a career Grand Slam and is still the only non-Asian player to have done it. He won it all on an all-wood blade, while the rest of the sport moved to carbon.

Chen Meng is one of only three women to win back-to-back Olympic singles gold, and she beat the world number one to do it twice. The World Championship title is the one thing her record is missing.

Sun Yingsha has topped the women’s world ranking since February 2022 and needs only the Olympic singles title to complete a career Grand Slam. She has reached that final twice and lost both, to the same opponent.

Zhang Jike won table tennis’ three biggest titles in 445 days, a record that has stood since 2012. He is also the reason two different manufacturers sell a blade with his name on it.