Is table tennis THE hardest sport to go professional in?

[NetProphet]

I agree to a level because sprinters are incredible, it’s a sport that takes lots of dedication and hard work and you can still be limited by genetics no matter the work load. In terms of hardest to become no1 in the world or greatest of all time then it’s probably in my top 5 with pole vault and a few others. But the question is whether table tennis is the hardest to become professional and make a career out of. Many track athletes can make a career out of what they do somewhat easily and there are other ways. I don’t know if you know about the enchanted games but for the 100m some not enchanted sprinter won something like 100k dollars just by running a sub 10. This is not a fast time in professional sprinting standards and probably thousands of runners have run a sub 10 but the prize pot is still huge!!!

I've heard of the enhanced games but I abhor it so I paid it no attention whatsoever.
With that said perhaps I am ignorant to income streams in that regard.
But that aside I still reckon making a living as a sprinter is the hardest. The rewards at the top are bigger than TT (Nike gives huge contracts to the big names) but you have 5-6 top years (after you've matured physically to peak) and then it's typically downward and injuries.
If you're world top 20 in TT over 10-15 yrs you've likely made a good living.
I don't know what the correct answer is to your question but it's an interesting Q for sure.
Perhaps the answer is Curling?
I can't imagine there's much money or opportunity to grow that sport!!

 

[lightspin]

Also I would bet a rather large sum of money you can start kayaking late in life and still have a chance to go pro. In table tennis if you start at 19 you have a 0% chance of going pro. The current theory in table tennis is it is best to start at age 2 like Harimoto, Matsushita and the Lebruns to name a few.

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

best career advise for any budding TT pro wannabe from Gionis Pianagottis:

Be a dentist first.

 

[Crillo]

it's quite easy actually.
you just show up to a club, compete, national team.... go pro.
it's not even a very expensive sport.

other sports are much more niche.
like race driver for example.
I never knew anyone who was a race driver.

TT is not exatly cheap if your kid is playing at high national/international level...

 

[Yuomay]

Generally there is 2 definitions of professional.
1 Being paid a living wage for playing table tennis
2 earning a living wage from table tennis

The first one is crazy difficult, the second one is a numbers game. Given the amount of players, it should be relatively easy to make a living out of the sport when compared to other sports.

 

[Sp8e00]

Generally there is 2 definitions of professional.
1 Being paid a living wage for playing table tennis
2 earning a living wage from table tennis

The first one is crazy difficult, the second one is a numbers game. Given the amount of players, it should be relatively easy to make a living out of the sport when compared to other sports.

In general, making a living out of table tennis would be what I categorise as professional . Also you can’t say given the amount of players because it’s the 5th most played sport in the world. Yes you could be national champion in somewhere like San Marino and be the best player there. You wouldn’t make a living out of it though. You’re competing against well Asia. Even though you are on the other side of the world. If there could be infinite Asian players in the wtt circuit there would be but the professionals in other countries are that good at competing with them that there isn’t a full Asian lineup in tournaments

 

[Gtsnake]

Hard to say, because all the best CNT players put all their money from comps back into the federation therefore players like ma long and fzd may not be millionaires or definitely not during their careers. Most of the presumed millionaires of tt definitely made the majority of their money from things after their career, big brand deals like zjk to donic and coaching like he did

yes, so only the top players have even a remote chance to make big money. That's a tiny fraction of the players on tour.

 

[Yuomay]

I know that for example in France a normal club with say 200 adherents is able to pay a trainer full time.

At our club (100 players) À player playing in the 5th division could ask for about 200€ a month depending on his or her implication in the club.

So if he would combine that with individual training and group training he could make a decent living. Not big money thought.

 

[mightymouse]

I am not sure about TT, but I read mixed double badminton players from England, who were once in the top 15 (or top 20?), and they quit to become social media creator, because their income was very dismal, and they even talked about how they were taking other jobs (IIRC) to supplement their income, because the fees for hotels and meals were high (compared to their income from badminton) during tournaments.

So if world's top 20 badminton players are struggling, how about the 50-100th ranked players?

 

[Matteones]

I am not sure about TT, but I read mixed double badminton players from England, who were once in the top 15 (or top 20?), and they quit to become social media creator, because their income was very dismal, and they even talked about how they were taking other jobs (IIRC) to supplement their income, because the fees for hotels and meals were high (compared to their income from badminton) during tournaments.

So if world's top 20 badminton players are struggling, how about the 50-100th ranked players?

50-100th world ranked player who maintains that level for some years can make a good living in Europe, if they are savvy and free to move around they can easily break 100k euros per season.
Many around this level don't even go to WTT, it's just a waste of time and resources.

Most of the money comes from the leagues, NOT from WTT tournament. It is a fundamentally different system than tennis (that WTT is trying to get inspiration from), and unless they step up their money purses big time, they should try to accommodate the leagues much more than they are now.

 

[Grumms]

With that being said, maybe only 1000 people in the world make a career solely on themselves in table tennis which really is marginal compared to the amount of people who play it.

Only 1000 coaches on the planet ?

 

[Yuomay]

What about
officials in associations / federation.
Employees at table tennis brands
Employees at table tennis stores

 

[NDH]

Great topic!

My take is that I think it's "relatively" easy to "make a living" from table tennis in most parts of the world.

Bear in mind that the above clarification was that a "professional" was someone who "made a living" from it.

Now, is that a "good" living? That all depends on your definition.

£30,000 a year in coaching, running events, running clubs etc might sound more attractive than £30,000 working in a supermarket.

And to be clear, coaches do not always need to be "top" players (past or present).

I also think the relative small number of players in TT makes it quite easy to move up through the ranks if you are dedicated enough.

A dedicated TT player with natural talent will go MUCH further than a dedicated football/soccer player with natural talent.

The competition in other sports (for most of the world) is just much greater.

The question I always come back to is.... Why would I WANT to? Why make a mediocre/below average living from Table Tennis when you can get another job that pays more?

My love of the sport doesn't stretch that far! 😂

 

[jonol]

Not the hardest, because young kids with elite coordination or athleticism will tend towards much more popular sports or ones where their athleticism shines.

Table tennis is very competitive, but no way near as difficult as the generic lottery you need to win to have even a small hope to be an elite basketball player or professional weightlifter.

 

[Singshasha]

Is OP asking about table tennis as a player?

Or coaching, administration, social media/you tuber, employee of tt federation/company.

It sounds like the focus is on playing in his opening post.

The answer is probably yes, as the pay at the highest level is not that great.
It is not a team sport, so amount of players is significantly lower than say first divisions of football or basketball.

Bundesliga has 12 teams, that is under 50 players.
If you take 1, 2 and 3 Bundesliga, that is under 200 players and not all of these players are German

 

[passifid]

Either way I would suggest no, I do think its one of the technically most challenging sports but consider how easy it is to get involved with a lower barrier of entry.
Yes I think its harder to be pro in TT than tennis however its hugely easier to get into TT than tennis. The coaching is cheaper, its massively cheaper to go to a higher level club than tennis etc etc etc.

It also depends on country, in England it wouldn't be seemingly too hard to be a pro coach but there are almost 0 pro players in the UK as they have to play abroad.