Is natural ability needed to reach the top in TT?

I think it's all down to mindset from a young age and dedication. If one devotes their whole life to table tennis from a young age, with great surroundings such as great coaches, training facilities, competitions training partners and more they can go very far.

I have thought about this so often, are top players talented, were they born with predisposed qualities. I think it all comes down to the practice. Perhaps the worlds very best like Waldner, Wang Liqin etc, they may have perhaps very good vision, co-ordination etc, but they could have developed these qualities from the amount of hours they practised.

Lets take a reasonable good local league player for example. He/she probably plays one match a week and may have 1 or 2 practice sessions in that week (most likely there practice session will be for around 45 minutes followed by some games). Now lets take a player who trains full time in comparison. At times the full time player would accumulate the amount of practice that league player do in 1 week, just in 1 days training.

I'm a big fan of Will's Smith philosophy on life

You must have natural ability or talent BUT as most comments seem to agree - there has to be a 'complete jigsaw' of all the elements to fit together for the finished article (i.e. be as good as you can and fulfill your potential)... I can't argue with innate talent for sport being required, massive dedication and hard work, good coaching from start to finish, role models, a good system to play within (ie club structure, tournaments and so on) and be mentally very strong... and a few other elements too - maybe luck!!!???

Personally, I think of 'gifted or talented' players as those who try and make shots that others wouldn't, make it look easier, seem to have more time - they make you think twice and say how did that happen! I guess I am a sucker for a bit of old fashioned flair...

2020 tt star said:

Do you need natural ability to make it to the top of table tennis, or is practise enough?

Is shier hard work dedication and practice all that is needed to make it as a top table tennis player, or do the top players have something that everyone else dosent like natural ability?

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No. Not in my opinion. The will to train hard and disciplined is a chinese trademark. That's why they're usually best. In my opinion, "feeling" for the game is an excuse for players to train a bit easier, which never learn them to train hard enough to reach top level. If you are naturally talented you are also need to depend on bloody hard exercises. There have never been a top player who hasn't trained his brains off. So, to conclude, I believe that only hard work and self-discipline leads to success!

Aleksandar said:

You have used the real word - superstar, thank you. I'm talking about them. There are several hundreds guys in the world that train thousand of hours, have superb couches and other conditions. But the superstars have born gifted body that can stand all that hard work and even more, born gifted emotional intelligence and mindset that allows them to give their best in crucial moments.

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lol dude no one is born with a gifted body and emotional intelligence, the body and the brain are muscles, the more you practice the more they get better.

check this match. Waldner is 17 yo

I think and his serve is ok, his footwork is terrible he makes many unforced errors and his notorious ball anticipation is not yet developed.

For a 17 year old its obvious that his training was not anything exquisit, just the basics.

Compare this kid waldner with the 1989 waldner when sweden beat china in the final of WTTTC (Sweden won 3 consecutive WTTTC between 1989-1993). 7 years of practice with chinese methods and some swedish innovative BH attacks (in the 80's almost no one attacked fast with the BH, except the swedes) and waldner developed himself to be a great player.

That was the result of 99% hard quality work and 1% talent. Appelgren Persson and Waldner trained alltogether and received the same amount of training so the only thing talent gives you is that if you reach the top maybe you can create history among other great players.

But the question is, did Waldner knew he would become great? Of course not, he just dedicated every inch of his body and mind to be better every day.

What matters most is being happy doing what you love and its fantastic if you can do that for a living. I dont think Samsonov, Primorac, Saive, Boll, Appelgren, Kreanga, Maze who are all exquisit players and had chances to win the world championship are less happy than Waldner or Persson or ZJK just because they didnt manage to clinch a world title

TTFrenzy said:

lol dude no one is born with a gifted body and emotional intelligence, the body and the brain are muscles, the more you practice the more they get better.

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I'm talking about structure od muscles that can stand all those hours of training without injury.
These days I've read an interview where Gionis was asked: What does your training schedule for a week period involve? He answered:Monday Wednesday Friday 2 times practise 2.30 hours each and Tuesday Thursday one time 2.30 hours and sometimes weekend.

If the muscles of Gionis could stand 6 hours training 6 day a week without injury, maybe he would be European champion. However, congratulations for the bronze medal in singles in Schwechat, he is great player.

well muscles can be build to withstand pressure, you just need to rest properly and dont exaggerate so much in trainings. If gionis doesnt eat and sleep properly yes he will collapse, but still check Boll he had many injuries and he is on of the greatest in the sport of TT.

I think both but it depends on the players if a player has natural or talent but he or she is not practicing/ doing his/her training he/she will not be a top rank player same as a 0 knowledge of the game. The questions how long will a natural/talent player will be on top versus the beginner player become a top rank player