ITTF WTTTC Finals London 2026, 4/28-5/10

[NextLevel]

Nope,
A brilliant performance from Nuytinc!
And lads, Harimoto is undoubtedly a brilliant player, but against a left-hander like Cederic, his weaknesses were once again laid bare.
Something we’ve been pointing out here for years and on a regular basis: Harimoto’s slower reaction speed when switching from backhand to forehand. Cederic spotted this well, playing plenty of parallel shots from his forehand and backhand, or a few balls to Tomo’s backhand to finish diagonally on his forehand.
Left-handed players really are sublime players...

Yes. It is because he continues to play with backhand orientation. Forehand orientation requires constant movement and energy. The speed is tied to the style, it is a style that needs to change.

 

[oophyte]

You were citing when Fan was younger - the ball slowing down has made consistency more important than quality unless you have extreme amounts of energy. The truth is that even when comparing players nowadays, no one's rally ball other than maybe Hugo is that special anymore. Even Quek said nowadays, to beat top players, you are forced to dominate the rally more these days.

(Don't ask me for a source, I'm supposed to be at work!)

I think the CNT coach Qin Zhijian has said in an interview in the past that FZD's specialty is getting one more back on the table than the other guy. Obviously his quality is far from passive. In fact, other former CNT players describe FZD's shot quality as unexpected. When you send him a shot that you know is difficult for him, when you're feeling proud of your spin/speed/placement, when a lesser player would've been forced defensive or even lost the point already, FZD gets it back with high enough quality that bewilders you.

If you think about it, what is scarier? A player who commits to 100% quality but only lands the ball 80% of the time, or a player who returns with 80% quality but lands them 100% of the time?

 

[rpb23]

You were citing when Fan was younger - the ball slowing down has made consistency more important than quality unless you have extreme amounts of energy. The truth is that even when comparing players nowadays, no one's rally ball other than maybe Hugo is that special anymore. Even Quek said nowadays, to beat top players, you are forced to dominate the rally more these days.

We are talking relative power here. Nowadays many players are hitting harder than FZD, Hugo is an easy one, many young players like WRB are another, whether it happens in a rally or opening loop. In a more quantitively way, many players apply higher percentage of power in their shots at the expense of consistency. For FZD he may only applies 60% of power for the sake of more consistency. Of course, FZD's 60% may be close to other players' 80%.

I watched one of matches where FZD lost to a non-big-name player in German league. On that day, that player went all out on most his loops and amazingly he landed majority of these high-risk shots, overpowering FZD to a convincing victory. With that said, if these two play again, I'll bet my money on FZD 10 out of 10. All-out high-risk playing style in general is not sustainable.

 

[NextLevel]

We are talking relative power here. Nowadays many players are hitting harder than FZD, Hugo is an easy one, many young players like WRB are another, whether it happens in a rally or opening loop. In a more quantitively way, many players apply higher percentage of power in their shots at the expense of consistency. For FZD he may only applies 60% of power for the sake of more consistency. Of course, FZD's 60% may be close to other players' 80%.

I watched one of matches where FZD lost to a non-big-name player in German league. On that day, that player went all out on most his loops and amazingly he landed majority of these high-risk shots, overpowering FZD to a convincing victory. With that said, if these two play again, I'll bet my money on FZD 10 out of 10. All-out high-risk playing style in general is not sustainable.

Hitting harder is something that is always relative especially when there are no measurements around. In any case, we can agree to disagree, I am fairly confident even with Kanak's opinion, if they were all put into measurements, FZD's ball would be easily one of the highest. But the extreme quality is just not rewarded as much anymore.

 

[NextLevel]

(Don't ask me for a source, I'm supposed to be at work!)

I think the CNT coach Qin Zhijian has said in an interview in the past that FZD's specialty is getting one more back on the table than the other guy. Obviously his quality is far from passive. In fact, other former CNT players describe FZD's shot quality as unexpected. When you send him a shot that you know is difficult for him, when you're feeling proud of your spin/speed/placement, when a lesser player would've been forced defensive or even lost the point already, FZD gets it back with high enough quality that bewilders you.

If you think about it, what is scarier? A player who commits to 100% quality but only lands the ball 80% of the time, or a player who returns with 80% quality but lands them 100% of the time?

This is universally acknowledged and when he was younger, I remember some analysts arguing that his placement and overall game was unimaginative and just athletic. But the flip side is that people somehow in the absence of data think such consistency has less to do with spin/speed and is just a consequence of athletic footwork. In reality, being extremely consistent like that requires a decent spin threshold, the problem is that spin is not just as deadly as it used to be so the placements have to be better. But I would be surprised if any player in table tennis hits a ball with higher consistent spin than Fan Zhendong. Maybe the max numbers will favor the Hugos etc. but the average number, I am confident he will be the highest. But until we get a spin measurement device, it is just my opinion.

 

[NextLevel]

Was wondering who this Simeon Martin that beat Adrien Rassenfosse was. This was insightful:

Athlete Profile: Siméon Martin - Table Tennis Canada

When the young Siméon Martin moved to Quebec from Paris area with his family, he was already playing table tennis. It must be said that table tennis is well known in his family since Siméon's older brother, Mattéo, started first playing table tennis in France. When the Martin family arrived…

ttcanada.ca

 

[DrBean]

It's clearly not NOTHING, Fan Zhendong had a very real opportunity to challenge Ma Long's GOAT status.

He was already a two-times world singles champion, title number three was all but guaranteed... Olympic singles gold #2 was very much on the table as well, I believe, as was the WTTC singles title #4.

An athlete doesn't just retire in his prime like that. Plus, there was still a fckton of money to be made at WTT tournaments.

This wasn't about the entire retirement saga, just about the response to that one comment "没你爆他" which was seeing giants where there was windmills. There was another part of the video accusing WCQ of joking with his friend in the stands when FZD was down against Tomo at Paris. As if that's damning to any reasonable person. Why did they leave out the part where WCQ was cheering for FZD? To the deranged FZD fans (and they are undoubtedly the most deranged), anything is a slight against him - even Ma Long walking off the podium so Fan could take his solo photos.

Nobody knows for sure why Fan retired, but it's almost never just one thing. Having fell down this rabbit hole, I think he was tired of the whole circus, from the politicking in the team to the WTT event requirements to the general fan culture around table tennis in China - remember that a fan of his bribed her way into his hotel room and nicked his pants.

But to your point Michael Jordan retired in his prime but came back 2 years later. IMO Zhang Yining also retired in her prime. He's still welcome at CNT, obviously - the ball's in his court. He could still come back and play LA. Olympics gold - the ultimate prize in table tennis - is a hell of a draw, but I think he has to start WTT mid year next year to get a ranking.

 

[mikeytt]

Really interesting match right now between eugene wang and anders lind, eugenes control in the rallies is amazing

 

[TampaBayTableTennis]

can you belieeeeve it

 

[pong99]

This is universally acknowledged and when he was younger, I remember some analysts arguing that his placement and overall game was unimaginative and just athletic. But the flip side is that people somehow in the absence of data think such consistency has less to do with spin/speed and is just a consequence of athletic footwork. In reality, being extremely consistent like that requires a decent spin threshold, the problem is that spin is not just as deadly as it used to be so the placements have to be better. But I would be surprised if any player in table tennis hits a ball with higher consistent spin than Fan Zhendong. Maybe the max numbers will favor the Hugos etc. but the average number, I am confident he will be the highest. But until we get a spin measurement device, it is just my opinion.

Fang Bo stated in one of his videos that LJK had the best consistent spin.

FB has also talked about why he thinks ZJK, FZD, ML, etc. were better than him and some skills where he thought he was better.

 

[M51]

Fang Bo was fun to watch. The 2015 WTTC singles final remains one of the most entertaining matches I've ever seen.

 

[Lando]

Holy shit!!!
Wang!!!!!
Beautiful match by the Canadian

 

[NextLevel]

German women got a tough draw

Sabine was very honest in the post-match interview, there is a real risk of not making it.

 

[FIXPOINT]

Scheduled Matches:
All times are local time.
Live streaming: https://www.youtube.com/wttglobal

All times are local time.

Tue, 5th May 2026
10:00 T1 MTR32 AUS - CHN
10:00 T2 WTR32 CRO - JPN
10:00 T3 MTR32 SRB - TPE
10:00 T4 WTR32 ITA - POR
12:30 T1 WTR32 PUR - TPE
12:30 T2 MTR32 KOR - SVK
12:30 T3 WTR32 SRB - SGP
12:30 T4 MTR32 POR - EGY
17:00 T1 MTR32 SWE - HUN
17:00 T2 WTR32 FRA - SUI
17:00 T3 MTR32 AUT - IND
17:00 T4 WTR32 BRA - LUX
19:30 T1 WTR32 EGY - SVK
19:30 T2 MTR32 GER - SLO
19:30 T3 WTR32 USA - IND
19:30 T4 MTR32 SGP - BRA

 

[zeio]

Zhao Xintong, winner of 2025 World Snooker Championship (first World Champion from China), was in the spectator seat during CHN vs SWE.
https://weibo.com/6040160273/QDGvjDlTS

Now we know where the World Champion materials have gone (snooker = 桌球 in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong and スヌーカー (boring transliteration) in Japan/司諾克 (boring transliteration) in Taiwan = table tennis in Japan (卓球), Korea (탁구) and Taiwan (桌球) whereas table tennis = 乒乓球 = ping pong in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong...)...

Wu Yize is the winner of 2026 World Snooker Championship, only the second-ever from China and second-youngest behind Stephen Hendry after Zhao Xintong was eliminated by the same opponent and 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy in QF.

STUNNING FINISH TO EPIC FINAL: Wu Yize vs Shaun Murphy | Halo World Championship Final 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY1RQTmW_UY

 

[golden_son]

Now we know where the World Champion materials have gone (snooker = 桌球 in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong and スヌーカー (boring transliteration) in Japan/司諾克 (boring transliteration) in Taiwan = table tennis in Japan and Taiwan whereas table tennis = 乒乓球 = ping pong in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong...)...

Wu Yize is the winner of 2026 World Snooker Championship, only the second-ever from China and second-youngest behind Stephen Hendry after Zhao Xintong was eliminated by the same opponent and 2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy in QF.

STUNNING FINISH TO EPIC FINAL: Wu Yize vs Shaun Murphy | Halo World Championship Final 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY1RQTmW_UY

This is actually quite fascinating (both the linguistics and the sport). I actually watched the whole video! The idea that the top sporting youth of China are defecting from table tennis for snooker was worth a lol. This might be the best post you've ever made

 

[fore.n.back]

(Don't ask me for a source, I'm supposed to be at work!)

I think the CNT coach Qin Zhijian has said in an interview in the past that FZD's specialty is getting one more back on the table than the other guy. Obviously his quality is far from passive. In fact, other former CNT players describe FZD's shot quality as unexpected. When you send him a shot that you know is difficult for him, when you're feeling proud of your spin/speed/placement, when a lesser player would've been forced defensive or even lost the point already, FZD gets it back with high enough quality that bewilders you.

If you think about it, what is scarier? A player who commits to 100% quality but only lands the ball 80% of the time, or a player who returns with 80% quality but lands them 100% of the time?

Sums up the whole two matches between him and WCQ in the last year Nationals. The defense - offense transitioning skill of Fan is so good that it felt like Wang was hitting a brick wall.

 

[oophyte]

This is universally acknowledged and when he was younger, I remember some analysts arguing that his placement and overall game was unimaginative and just athletic. But the flip side is that people somehow in the absence of data think such consistency has less to do with spin/speed and is just a consequence of athletic footwork. In reality, being extremely consistent like that requires a decent spin threshold, the problem is that spin is not just as deadly as it used to be so the placements have to be better. But I would be surprised if any player in table tennis hits a ball with higher consistent spin than Fan Zhendong. Maybe the max numbers will favor the Hugos etc. but the average number, I am confident he will be the highest. But until we get a spin measurement device, it is just my opinion.

Spin is a big part, but when I think of consistency achieved through spin, it's Xu Xin that comes to mind: running around 3 m from the table and counter looping everything by contacting the ball way late into the descending phase. XX is like the physical avatar of the magnus effect.

On the other hand, the impression that I get from watching FZD, especially the last Chinese national games against WCQ, is that FZD has inhuman reaction speeds.

Chinese analysts describe WCQ as similar to Ma Lin in the sense that their strength is their world class 3rd ball attack coming from monstrous FH bomba finishers. Many times other players can't even get their racket near such a ball, but for one to return those with quality, without giving up position like Xu Xin does, it takes either genius anticipation, or inhuman reaction speed. FZD doesn't appear graceful or at ease like Waldner's anticipation game, so I'm inclined to believe that FZD is hyper focused and at the top of his reaction game.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

Modern Unker style personified!

That's it... I am gonna play like him. My new superhero!

in all the TT club around the world, there is always a Uncle Wang around. Does not move much, stand mainly one one spot right at the center of the near table and at most move half a step to the right or to the left. You loop ten fh, he will block eleven of them back to you. There will always be an Uncle Wang in every TT club...

 

[Dr Evil]

Modern Unker style personified!

That's it... I am gonna play like him. My new superhero!

One of my all time favorite players. He may look like an unker, but he doesn't play like one.