This should be an interesting topic. Getting to know what inspires people from different parts of the world!
For me, the first time I ever bought a somewhat expensive racket, it was a donic 900 with a picture of J.O Waldner on it, with his accolades written as well. So i got curious, who is this Waldner guy?
Now, mind you, I was born in 2001 and had never watched proper table tennis beforehand. So I never knew the who's who of the modern times and just started searching for Waldner on the internet. And immediately I was like "Oh my god! this is just a work of beauty!" Only to be bummed a little while after, because I found out he played in the 90's and I'm not going to see any new stuff from him
Then, I got more into the modern stuff. This is the 13 y/o me looking for what's new and who's on top. And there are a few players that peeped my interest:
Zhang Jike- Fan Zhendong- Dima Ovtcharov- Samsonov- Mizutani- and of course, who can forget Ma Long!
I knew about ZJ being the olympic champ but I'd never watched a match from him. So I thought" the olympic finals eh? this must be the pinnacle of table tennis. Surely, there are lots of beautiful back-and-forth banger-after-banger type of shots. I gotta watch that for a start!" And again, only to be bummed after watching a one sided butt whooping(no disrespect to Wang Hao, the man in a legend. But c'mon that was one sided as hell)
And then came FZD. Oh.My.God. I had never seen anyone with such aggression play table tennis. To see a 16-17 y/o kid go against the one percent of the percent, how can you not be mesmerized? Such complete technique on both wings, never going on the defensive, and challenging the most high-quality shots produced by anyone. ML might be the greatest player ever, but FZD is hands-down the best in terms of his technique. I'm obviously no pro and never had proper coaching. So I just watched him for hours and hours to copy his style. I thought if I could somehow emulate his technique and add the brilliance of someone like a Waldner( obviously nowhere near as good as these guys, but you get the point), I'll be a force to be reckoned with in my local club,where I get to play a bunch of 40 year olds.
Then, you have your other pros. Guys who you know are not gonna amount to greatness like that, but it's still fun to route for them. That for me would be Mizutani, Samsonov and Ovtcharov.
Mizutani's lack of backhand+ his come from behind style of play,where he constantly has to lob and defend is surely capable of generating lots of highlights. Samsonov's ability to control and neutralize any threat with his presence all over the court, and the fact that he was so tall it was to his detriment made him so much more fun to watch. And then there's Dima. For some reason, a lot of people either dislike him or troll him any chance they get. And as EJ's we tended to make fun of him because he kept insisting on using donic equipment while we all knew he was using tenergy... And of course, sometimes he can be obnoxious with the grunt sounds that he makes. But my god is he the sweetest guy. He is by no means the best player in the world. But surely capable of going toe to toe with him. I route for Dima like I do Man United; I know it's gonna be a dissapointing experience, but I can't help it! He's just won over me.
That was my long story. What's yours?
