Jan Ove Waldner Interview at WTTC 2015!

someone already posted too late Dan lolz

The one and only, I must agree with the most things he says! Big thanks for this.

Let's hope that his prediction of ma long winning is right,cos I am also supporting ma long

So was the question at the end about Waldner playing the Chinese Womens' team, or something like that? That would be fascinating. The Bobby Riggs vs. Billy Jean King match of Table tennis.

Waldner is an arrogant so and so... insinuating he can/could compete with the modern chinese is silly. Even if he was young/at his peak, I doubt he ever had the power and speed to take on ZJK/Malong. TT has moved on a long way since he played.

Actually he did it a few times already. In 2009 and in 2011. Fat, old, out of shape, beer drinking Waldner took on Ma Long and gave him a pretty hard time even though he couldn't move. From a tactical standpoint he gave Ma Long fits. It took a while for Ma Long's coaches to help Ma Long figure out how to handle Waldner.

And Waldner had a bad back.


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Well when you speak Carl, its worth listening to... so I will take a look at the matches you mention!

They are interesting. Worth watching. Waldner is cocky as hell but his commentary on the top Chinese players of this era is that they play like machines and if someone can get them out of their game they can give them a run for their money. We can't know what would have happened when Waldner was in his prime against these guys because it won't happen. We can say he was pretty darn good.

If you want to see him at his best, before age, injury and weight started getting in his way, watch his matches in 1997 WTTC singles. And he was sick in that tournament and almost withdrew.

Also worth watching what he did to Timo Boll in the 2004 Olympics when his weight had already started getting to be a problem and he was no longer very mobile.

My memory says the 2011 match is the better of the two. But in both there are points where Ma Long looks like he is getting run around and outmaneuvered by Waldner's tactical play.

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UpSideDownCarl said:

They are interesting. Worth watching. Waldner is cocky as hell but his commentary on the top Chinese players of this era is that they play like machines and if someone can get them out of their game they can give them a run for their money. We can't know what would have happened when Waldner was in his prime against these guys because it won't happen. We can say he was pretty darn good.

If you want to see him at his best, before age, injury and weight started getting in his way, watch his matches in 1997 WTTC singles. And he was sick in that tournament and almost withdrew.

Also worth watching what he did to Timo Boll in the 2004 Olympics when his weight had already started getting to be a problem and he was no longer very mobile.

My memory says the 2011 match is the better of the two. But in both there are points where Ma Long looks like he is getting run around and outmaneuvered by Waldner's tactical play.

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i watched the 09 and '11 matches,and i got surprised at what waldner did to ma long.it shows that nothing beats the highest level of experience plus doing a variety of shots,not just the same rhythmic ones over and over.

I saw the 2009 match. It was completely incredible from a tactical point of view and shows how little a lot of people know about TT when they say that the previous generation would have no chance against the newer one because of a weaker backhand technique etc. Jorgen Persson also pulled off some amazing feats way after his prime, such as beating Boll in the 2012 Olympics. Dima said in an interview that it wasn't because Boll had a bad day, but because Persson had come into the match, fully prepared and knew exactly what he had to do.

http://mytischtennis.de/public/buntes/5802/das-dream-team--ovtcharov-persson-im-grossen-interview

Dimitrij Ovtcharov: Gerade taktisch waren die Schweden wahrscheinlich noch stärker als die Chinesen jetzt. Da muss man auch gar nicht so weit zurückgehen. Jörgen hat im Teamwettbewerb der Olympischen Spiele vor drei Jahren gegen Timo gewonnen - und das nicht, weil dieser einen schlechten Tag hatte. Jörgen wusste vorher ganz genau, wie er gegen ihn spielen muss und dass er das schaffen kann. Oder 2008 hatte er als klares Ziel vorgegeben, dass er eine Einzelmedaille holt, was von vielen fast belächelt wurde. Am Ende war er es, der mit über 40 Jahren im Halbfinale stand. Diese mentale Einstellung hat mich schon sehr inspiriert.

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Translation: D.O: The Swedish players were probably stronger tactically than even the current Chinese. Persson beat Timo in the team games during the Olympics and not because the latter had a bad day. Persson knew exactly how he had to play against him and that he had the ability to do it. In 2008, he went the to the Olympics with the goal of achieving a medal, which was laughted at by some. He managed to reach the semis while being more then 40. This mentality has inspired me a lot.

What Waldner did to Ma Lin in 2004 was even more amazing from my point of view. I think Boll played at a much higher level in the World Cup in 2005 than in the Olympics in 2004. Ma Lin in 2004 was a clearly better player than Boll in 2004 IMHO.

Does anyone have a link to the 2011 match? Would dearly love to watch it as well.

jedimasterplk said:

Waldner is an arrogant so and so... insinuating he can/could compete with the modern chinese is silly. Even if he was young/at his peak, I doubt he ever had the power and speed to take on ZJK/Malong. TT has moved on a long way since he played.

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I honestly believe that Waldner could still beat, or at least threaten, anyone in the world, as long as he wants it bad enough. If he's just playing a nobody, he'll lose, but is it important enough, he'll train for it and do an amazing match.

jedimasterplk said:

Waldner is an arrogant so and so... insinuating he can/could compete with the modern chinese is silly. Even if he was young/at his peak, I doubt he ever had the power and speed to take on ZJK/Malong. TT has moved on a long way since he played.

Click to expand...

Don't forget that when waldner was playing in his prime,the game was way faster with speed glue and a 38mm ball.with the 40+ ball,the game has slowed down a lot,and just take a look at matches in the '90s and see how fast they were...
He definitely would have had a good chance against them

One of the reasons Waldner stopped playing competitions is his bad back. He can play one or two matches at that high level but he can't play a whole tournament without his back becoming a big factor for him.


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Here's the 2009 match between Waldner and Ma Long:


Tactics and strategy when backed by the pre-requisite skills are more powerful than faster footwork and powerful shots. This also needs to be incorporated in everybody's learning curve. Here Waldner plays more like a Judoka turning Ma Long's power against him. One can clearly see the length and speed variation in Waldner's strokes.

Long live Waldner! If anyone can find other matches between these two, please post. Thanks in advance!