Ping Pong

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.

Timo Boll never won a World Championship or an Olympic singles medal, and he is still the most important European player of the last thirty years. He was also the oldest world number one in the sport’s history.

Wang Chuqin is the world number one and the reigning world champion. He is also the player whose Olympic singles ended when a photographer broke his racket, which is a better equipment story than it first looks.

Six Olympic golds, three World singles titles and the only double career Grand Slam in the men’s game. Plus the DHS Hurricane setup he played with, and why he vanished from the world rankings without retiring.