What Made Timo Boll SO GOOD?

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Timo Boll. We’ve seen his matches, we’ve watched him play, and we’ve all heard about the greatness of Timo Boll. Over his career, he’s managed to solidify his title as a table tennis legend. He has a variety of accolades fitting his reputation, such as winning the 2002 World Cup and holding world ranking of no. 1 in his prime. But... how? How exactly did he manage to find such success in the sport? What skills did he possess that allowed him to distinguish himself from the thousands of table tennis players before him? What makes Timo Boll so great?

Let’s start a deep, philosophical discussion here! I’m curious to hear what you all think?
 
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He didn’t win the World Championship in 2002 but the World Cup which I believe was less prestigious.

He’s a great player but he hasn’t really won anything major and has not got a positive quota against any of the top Chinese players that he has encountered during his career.
 
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He didn’t win the World Championship in 2002 but the World Cup which I believe was less prestigious.

He’s a great player but he hasn’t really won anything major and has not got a positive quota against any of the top Chinese players that he has encountered during his career.

Agreed. He started young, and is clearly a great athlete and player. But he isn't Ma Long or Fan Zhendong or Waldner or even Harimoto in terms of achievements (to be fair, there was no WJTTC when Boll was coming up).
 
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Hang on, he does have a few achievements. SEVEN times European singles champion (the next most wins is three) - and that doesn't include two European Championships in his prime where he was injured and couldn't play, and another where he had to retire in the semi-final. Similarly he has won SEVEN Top 12 torunaments, the same as Waldner.
That's a formidable record, even if it is only in Europe.
His Olympic record is admittedly pretty lousy. At the World championships he has made one semi and four QFs, and apart from one loss to Ryu Seung Min he has only lost to Chinese players since 2003. He missed 2011 through injury and had to retire in 2019.
I'd be proud of that record.
 
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Timo Boll streamed recently with the trainer Helmut Hampl that sculpted him into the player he became.


1. Trainer opportunities: His parents were very supportive and at one point the entire club moved to his village "Gönnern" so that Timo could train more often as a young player

2. Focus on good technique. Helmut Hampl stated that young players nowadays don't have balanced and good techniques. All excellent players have very solid fundamentals and make very few unforced errors. This is the reason why Timo and Samsonov are still competitive at this stage. If they take breaks from training, it doesn't take long for them to reach a good level. A good example is how Samsonov raises his game at every Olympics.

3. Excellent eyesight and focus on spin

4. Always focussed on training "correctly". Timo and his trainer both agree that it takes a gigantic amount of effor to remove "bad habits" that creep in. A major reason this can happen is if you are just training for the sake of it or when your body is too tired to play precisely. Training with concentration is far more important than just training countless of hours.

I agree that Timo is not one of the all time greats. However, he has sculpted one of the longest careers in table tennis and has consistently remained one of the top players.
 
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Timo Boll streamed recently with the trainer Helmut Hampl that sculpted him into the player he became.


1. Trainer opportunities: His parents were very supportive and at one point the entire club moved to his village "Gönnern" so that Timo could train more often as a young player

2. Focus on good technique. Helmut Hampl stated that young players nowadays don't have balanced and good techniques. All excellent players have very solid fundamentals and make very few unforced errors. This is the reason why Timo and Samsonov are still competitive at this stage. If they take breaks from training, it doesn't take long for them to reach a good level. A good example is how Samsonov raises his game at every Olympics.

3. Excellent eyesight and focus on spin

4. Always focussed on training "correctly". Timo and his trainer both agree that it takes a gigantic amount of effor to remove "bad habits" that creep in. A major reason this can happen is if you are just training for the sake of it or when your body is too tired to play precisely. Training with concentration is far more important than just training countless of hours.

I agree that Timo is not one of the all time greats. However, he has sculpted one of the longest careers in table tennis and has consistently remained one of the top players.

Great explanation AnchorSchmidt! I agreed with what you said, however I’m curious about Timo in his prime! Again, I agree that Timo might not have the same level of achievements as Ma Long or many of the top Chinese players, but in 2002 (maybe 2003) the man was no. 1 in terms of world ranking. He also beat Wang Liqin (who at the time was world champion) and Kong Linghui (Olympic Champion) in the 2002 World Cup. He’s definitely declined in status and skill since then, but how exactly was he that dominant in 2002?

You mentioned that he had proper training and strong fundamentals, but I’d expect that Wang Liqin and Kong Linghui to have a similar rigorous emphasis on training. Was there something in the play style of Timo that others found particularly difficult to handle? Im curious and personally, I don’t know the answer! I’m curious to hear what you guys think! ;)
 
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Practice! He also proably had som good conditions. Heard in video that a whole clubs first team practice moved to where he lived so he Did not had to leave. How often does that happen haha
 
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Jörg Rosskopf. Timo had to catch up and vanquish him in the onset of his career, and later he became Timo’s mentor.

Both are lefties and both have pushed the envelope in BH usage, further activating the BH counterspin.

As to TB’s status, his touch is phenomenal; serve return is second to none. And i do believe we should take the depth of the CNT ranks into account. Head to head statistics do show why even now Boer is still considered a top threat.

I recall, by the way, that when Timo was asked about his toughest opponent his answer wasn’t Ma Long. Or Ma Lin. Or Liu Guoliang, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Kong Linghui. His answer was JO, and the answer came immediately.
 
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He didn’t win the World Championship in 2002 but the World Cup which I believe was less prestigious.

He’s a great player but he hasn’t really won anything major and has not got a positive quota against any of the top Chinese players that he has encountered during his career.

Martin,

I like you man, but the China Natl Training center has/had a wall of Non-Chinese players who represented the largest threat to them... so to remind the China Natl Team to stay ready, etc... size of player representing the degree of threat...

I remember Timo Boll's pic as the largest front and center top of the list...

You gotta be minimally at the very least some level of badd-azz to be China's Public TT Enemy Number One.
 
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Martin,

I like you man, but the China Natl Training center has/had a wall of Non-Chinese players who represented the largest threat to them... so to remind the China Natl Team to stay ready, etc... size of player representing the degree of threat...

I remember Timo Boll's pic as the largest front and center top of the list...

You gotta be minimally at the very least some level of badd-azz to be China's Public TT Enemy Number One.

He's absolutely a great player but he's not up there with other European greats. Gatien for example can show off more proper medals. Him being Butterfly's poster boy has a lot to do with his perceived status. A long career can't make up for the absence of heavy duty world championship or olympic medals.
 
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I recall, by the way, that when Timo was asked about his toughest opponent his answer wasn’t Ma Long. Or Ma Lin. Or Liu Guoliang, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Kong Linghui. His answer was JO, and the answer came immediately.

I somewhat remember that he did make that statement, but when was that? 2005, 2010 or 2015???
 
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He's absolutely a great player but he's not up there with other European greats. Gatien for example can show off more proper medals. Him being Butterfly's poster boy has a lot to do with his perceived status. A long career can't make up for the absence of heavy duty world championship or olympic medals.

Hey Mart1nandersson! So, I see where you’re coming from. Timo never really amassed a godly number of medals like some of the other European greats, but like I said before in 2002 (maybe 2003) the man was no. 1 in terms of world ranking. And in his prime he beat some of the Chinese greats! He won the 2002 world cub where he beat Wang Liqin (who at the time was world champion) and Kong Linghui (Olympic Champion).

But rather than debating if he was a legend or not, I’m curious to know what exactly about him allowed him to climb to number 1 in his prime? I’m talking about his technical skills... was it his footwork, loops, etc.? Looking at the Chinese play style, they just seem like they have perfectly balanced games... seemingly invincible! How’d Timo manage to overcome them in 2002?
 
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To bring it back specifically to 2002, in last week's live chat Helmut Hampl recalled getting a phone call from China where Timo told him that he'd won the World Cup, beating 2 Chinese players in the process. From how surprised Hampl was it suggests that neither of them had been quite ready for Timo being that good.

Also, I always feel that Boll is just the perfect combination of nature and nurture. His superior eyesight, even when compared to other German national TT players, and the perfect circumstances of having such a good coach from the age of six (I think) and then having an entire professional team move to his home town to help make practice more accessible to him; all these things are what brought about that Timo reached the Nr1 spot of the ITTF rankings 3 times.
 
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Great explanation AnchorSchmidt! I agreed with what you said, however I’m curious about Timo in his prime! Again, I agree that Timo might not have the same level of achievements as Ma Long or many of the top Chinese players, but in 2002 (maybe 2003) the man was no. 1 in terms of world ranking. He also beat Wang Liqin (who at the time was world champion) and Kong Linghui (Olympic Champion) in the 2002 World Cup. He’s definitely declined in status and skill since then, but how exactly was he that dominant in 2002?

You mentioned that he had proper training and strong fundamentals, but I’d expect that Wang Liqin and Kong Linghui to have a similar rigorous emphasis on training. Was there something in the play style of Timo that others found particularly difficult to handle? Im curious and personally, I don’t know the answer! I’m curious to hear what you guys think! ;)

I think all top 10 players have a certain "X-Factor" but they also really nail the fundamentals. For some greats, such as the cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, their speciality is precisely having little to no weaknesses and being extremely strong with the textbook stuff. Even Ma Long only started winning major titles when he fixed his backhand.

Some top players in the top 100 still have obvious weaknesses. Apolonia, Par Gerell and other such players have always had to rely on having very pronounced strengths to offset their weaknesses.

So Timo is very good allround. He also has very good footwork and balance for a European player. Many seem stiff or awkward. The old great Swedes and Timo's predecessor Rosskopf also had very good footwork.

As to your question regarding 2002, he was young and could participate in more tournaments than he can today and had a good run of form. His "X-Factor" at the moment at time, which kind of got taken away by the new ball was his exceptional spin. Everyone had problems handling the very high spin of his topspin.

But Timo also wrote in his book, that he did not feel like a world beater in 2002. Only in 2005, he felt that he could hold his own against the top players of the time.

Though Timo's backhand was always pretty good, he could be targetted there quite effectively as shown by Waldner in 2004 and Zhang Jike in 2011. I believe he became much more stable from the backhand side from the 2014 world cup onwards.
 
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I think there are points to be made on both sides of the issue of how great Timo Boll was. Sure he was great.

Primorac was awesome too. But you sort of have to say something similar about Primorac as well. So I agree with Martin. Martin is not downplaying how good Timo is. But Martin is acknowledging that, in the BIG BOY tournaments (WTTC and Olympic Singles) Timo was kind of MIA.

Schlager was a pretty good player and may go down a notch above Timo because HE WON the WTTC in 2003. He won at the big show. He faced the favorite for the tournament, Wang Liqin in the Quarter Finals and Kong Linghui (already a WTTC and Olympic Champion) in the semis before facing Joo Se Hyuk in the finals. So, he pulled out the stops to win the biggest of tournaments. And you have to be able to say someone did something like that, AT LEAST once to pop them up to that NextLevel. :)

So, Primorac was great. And perhaps one of the biggest underperformers who had the skillz he had. Timo has a few, good wins. How many times did he win the World Cup title? But the world cup is not the WTTC. World Cup Starts with 16 in the first knockout round. WTTC starts with 128 in the first knockout round. So, there is a notable difference even though you have to be selected to play in the World Cup.

And despite good wins in the World Cup, the absence of any top finishes in WTTC or Olympic Singles does cap where he can be listed.

So, it is worth understanding that Martin is not saying TB was not great. He is just qualifying the accomplishments should be. People did the same to Ma Long before he won his first WTTC. It is a bump in the road that you have to get passed to be considered at that level.

Yes he is a beautiful player. Yes the CNT respected him as a top threat for almost 2 decades. But he never got through all of them to make it to the big show. And that does mean something. So, I respect what Martin has posted and agree.
 
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Timo's exceptionally strong. He plays a spin based game but still he's able to attack at the highest level. Unlike Xu Xin, he does it with short explosive strokes. That takes unusual power. Also resiliency. Samsonov's long career makes sense given his more gentle style, but Timo's longevity is hard to believe.
 
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Please don’t get me wrong. I love Boll in the same way that I love Appelgren but neither of them are up there along with the legends (Jiang Jialiang is no 1 for me but that’s probably a generation thing).

Fun fact: I’ve trained in the same hall as Dina numerous times without taking too much notice but when I saw Timo walking down the hall in Düsseldorf during a training camp I immediately ran up to him like a teenager and asked for a selfie. Such a nice guy! I had a quick chat with him (my 7th grade German teacher would’ve been proud) and he was soooo nice.
 
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I think all top 10 players have a certain "X-Factor" but they also really nail the fundamentals. For some greats, such as the cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, their speciality is precisely having little to no weaknesses and being extremely strong with the textbook stuff. Even Ma Long only started winning major titles when he fixed his backhand.

Some top players in the top 100 still have obvious weaknesses. Apolonia, Par Gerell and other such players have always had to rely on having very pronounced strengths to offset their weaknesses.

So Timo is very good allround. He also has very good footwork and balance for a European player. Many seem stiff or awkward. The old great Swedes and Timo's predecessor Rosskopf also had very good footwork.

As to your question regarding 2002, he was young and could participate in more tournaments than he can today and had a good run of form. His "X-Factor" at the moment at time, which kind of got taken away by the new ball was his exceptional spin. Everyone had problems handling the very high spin of his topspin.

But Timo also wrote in his book, that he did not feel like a world beater in 2002. Only in 2005, he felt that he could hold his own against the top players of the time.

Though Timo's backhand was always pretty good, he could be targetted there quite effectively as shown by Waldner in 2004 and Zhang Jike in 2011. I believe he became much more stable from the backhand side from the 2014 world cup onwards.

Hey! I find it a bit underwhelming to hear that the “X-Factor” of the greatest players is that they’re perfectly balanced. But nonetheless, I completely agree with you! If we look at Ma Long for example... it’s damn near impossible to find some special trait about him that makes him number 1. His game is just, fundamentally perfect, little to no weaknesses. And it seems that when we discuss the top players of all time, maybe it will be more beneficial to talk about their weaknesses than their specialty. Or rather the magnitude of their weaknesses... For example, Timo’s backhand wasn’t as destructive as forehand early in his career.
 
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