I know,than a lot of people will say Waldner,but IMO its about his beautiful game and longevity. And if we will watch objective,who is the greatest player of all-time in his prime? Candidates: Jiang Jialiang,
Guo Yehua,Waldner, Kong,Liu Guolang, Ma Lin,Wan Liqin, Wang Hao,Ma Long,Zhang Jike.
Your opinion...
So I am trying to figure out what this means. My first read of it gave me the impression that, what is being asked is not simply the best player of all times. If that is the question, my answer, for several reasons would be Waldner. In part it would be because he is my favorite player from when I was younger and got interested in Table Tennis. I am the same age as Waldner so I remember him when he won the Olympics in 1992 and I remember watching the 1991 World Championships and liking his playing style better than Persson's although I really like Persson a lot as well. But Waldner was a major force in Table Tennis from 1983 till 2001 and was still pretty darn good in 2004 in spite of being pretty out of shape. He even played a match against Ma Long in 2008 and gave him some trouble. For all his achievements, for all the creativity his playing style brought to the sport, for his class, the amount of time he maintained a level of excellence, I would have to say Waldner was the man.
But if it was just, "Who Is The Best Player of All Time", than you would not need the words "in his PRIME (PEAK). And in the title these are in all capitol letters. Therefore I read this as meaning, "When the Player Was At His Peak and On Top, Who Was Most Dominant". And if this is what is being asked, I have no question for the reasons I have already stated and all the stats which back this up, that I already presented, that Wang Liqin, who also has a lot of class and composure, and style, was the most dominant force table tennis has seen, so far.
I agree with Azlan that Victor Barna has to be mentioned for historical records. But Victor Barna was a player who would grind games out and wear his opponents down with his defensive style. It was also such a different era, I don't know that I understand what Victor Barna actually accomplished. As for Waldner, he would outthink and outsmart players, he would win with placement, with finesse, with defense, with offense, with every kind of tactic and game skill imaginable, but he was not simply blowing people away. If we had access to his ranking history you would see that he did not have long stretches in the #1 ranking slot. He would peak in tournaments at the right time but when he played his most dominant tournament, the 1997 World Championships, where he did not drop a game (or as some people say, a set) he went into that tournament ranked #5 and he did not have the best team event before the singles event started. But in the singles event, he had his eye on the prize and got on a roll with some of his most amazing play of his entire career.
But, for two long periods of dominance where he peaked and was at the top, Wang Liqin simple bludgeoned his opponents into submission with one of the best forehands ever in the sport, and he was dominating the World Table Tennis ranks at that time, the way Mike Tyson dominated the Heavy weight division for his brief stint before Don King convinced him he was so great he did not need a trainer.
I think Mr RicharD has made some valid points but I do not agree with how he is comparing players from different eras with the idea that they would not be able to handle what the top players now are doing in the sport. We really cannot get Waldner in his prime, to play Wang Liqin in his prime and Ma Long in his prime. It cannot happen. So I think we should judge players by how they handled the opposition that was present for them when they played. What would happen if Joe Lewis fought Muhammad Ali? We will never know and it does not matter. What we do know is that these players exhibited their excellence and dominated in their day. And I would simply say, I don't see anyone who was as much ahead of the competition when he was at his best as Wang Liqin.
My favorite player is still Waldner. There are a lot of players I love. I love how Ma Long plays, I love how Zhang Jike playes (because of how he plays, Jike is my favorite of the players today) I love Fang Bo and think he will come up and be a force in a few years but I love how he play and all his shots, Schlager is great and you have to love his serves and his backhand, Wang Hao, Timo, Kong, Joo Kreanga, the list is long. But none of them beat down the whole pro ranks the way Wang Liqin did when he was on top.
That is, at least, my opinion.
gregoire, thank you for a fun thread.
