Greatest male player in his PRIME (PEAK)

Yeah Wiwa, I watched it 999 times and I still think it's incredible. hahahaha See you a later, I'm gonna watch it again....

Yes Harry, I appreciate your opinion. Ma Long and ZJK are well on the way to be in record books. The rivalry can only be healthy for the sport.

WiWa said:

If any of u find urself with nothing to do, u can watch this a thousand times and still want to see it again

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Nice inside out and the amount of inside out is amazing. Thanks Wiwa. I could watch it a few thousand times.

ha ha,,,, wicckkkkeeeeeeddd

Wang Liqin the best at his peak but ZJK can brake some records . i'm not saying he will be #1 in world for 5 years but he may win another WTTC and who knows maybe another Olympic games .

I vote for Waldner. But there's another person I should mention is Tibor Klampar. Klampar introduced fast looping on both sides of the racket in table tennis. He is a talented and self-taught player at 1990s' level of skill while playing in the 1970s. But unfortunately because of bad behaviours in his personal life, he was banned from entering matches for many years at his golden age by the Hungary association. And his style of playing was so ahead of time that made him a tragedy. Today, It is the age of looping all around the table. Looping on two sids shows a clear advantage againt one side or 1.5 sides (e.g. Zjk against Xuxin).

For Waldner, outstanding performances on matches, longevity in sport career, charming manners all made him a man beyond his time. He inherited Klampar's way of playing and pushed it to a new level. As for the contribution to table tennis, he invented a proper racket grip for shakehanders' serves, the so-called "Waldner serve", repairing a defect of shakehand grip. Almost all high-leveled players sever in this way today. Without him, maybe penhold wouldn't be fading so fast.

And for players who are still on the stage, I think it is a little early to judge their greatness. In my opinion, they play at a level totally unparallel with the two above.

I think Waldner was the best and still is the best but two germany players Timo Boll is awesome too and in the future is Dimitrij Ovtcharov he is young and has potential to raise No1!!

shame wang hao always comes second in big events

For me, Waldner is the best player. Despite all achievements of the Chinese, his technique, feeling and insight was/is superb.

Alborz said:

Wang Liqin the best at his peak but ZJK can brake some records . i'm not saying he will be #1 in world for 5 years but he may win another WTTC and who knows maybe another Olympic games .

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I have to change my idea. Zhang Jike has won 4 major titles (two WTTCs, one World Cup and one Olympic game) in 2 years. He completed the Grand Slam in 443 days and was the first player to hold all the major titles at the same time. Jan Ove Waldner is the only player that can be compared to Zhang Jike. Waldner has won the same titles and has 3 unbelieveable records: Winning WTTC without losing a set in 1997, winning the Olympic silver medal when he was 35 and reaching the semi-final of Olympic games when he was 39. Comparing these two is really hard. Zhang Jike won all of his titles in 2 years but it takes 8 years for Waldner to the same. In comparing the titles Wladner is the same with Zhang Jike but Zhang Jike's career is not ended yet. If Zhang Jike wins 2015 WTTC or 2016 Olympic games then he will surely be the greatest player of all time. If he doesn't then he is still an opponent for Waldner to be the greatest. I choose Zhang Jike for the greatest player of all time.

UpSideDownCarl said:

Nice inside out and the amount of inside out is amazing. Thanks Wiwa. I could watch it a few thousand times.

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I agree it looks amazing. I think WLQ added some more side to what Timo already had put and thats why it looks that surreal , the ball fades away more than whait looks from WLQs stroke.

ttmonster said:

I agree it looks amazing. I think WLQ added some more side to what Timo already had put and thats why it looks that surreal , the ball fades away more than whait looks from WLQs stroke.

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WLQ's form is unbelievable. It sure looked like a topspin to me the first few times I replay it.