Why Table Tennis is such a pure, unique 1-of-1 sport

[FZD999]

It is the only real sport in the world (billiards/bowling for example, are not "real" sports) where having superior Size/Strength/Speed gives you no real advantage over your opponent.

This is not the case with any other real sport in the world.

A physical freak like Calvin Johnson aka Megatron at 6'5", 240 pounds with 4.35 40 speed and 42.5 inch vertical would have zero real advantage over a tiny 8-year-old boy.

Ma Long is 5'9" 154 pounds and probably not very fast. He's the greatest to ever play this sport.

A truly 100% SKILL-based sport where God-given physical traits like Size/Strength/Speed are completely devalued.

Look at the NBA for example where the average height is 6'6". Look at the O-Line/D-Line players in the NFL that weigh 300+ pounds or close to it. Look at the WRs/CBs in the NFL that run a 4.2-4.4.

Does anyone else view Ping Pong in this same way?

 

[K.K]

my coach always says: "you need to play tabletennis like chess and everything will be fine"

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

The ability to impart spin and speed is definitely affected by athleticism and physical strength, and its foolish to pretend it is not so.

 

[rpb23]

Table tennis is a very complicated sport. There are so many parameters that affect the performance of a serious table tennis player.
With that said, I am only discussing size(height).
Is height important? Not so much for most of the table tennis history until recently when ball size increased and materials changed. Actually, for most of the time, table tennis favored average height or even short players.
How many really tall players won championships? Very few (Sweden's Person come to mind). How many average height championship players? plenty. Waldner, Gatien Ma Long, Ryu, Kong Linhui, Wang Hao;
How many really short ones? Also many: Deng Yaping, Liu guoliang, Yoo Nam-kyu...
Small ball era table tennis favored speed more than the height.

Only modern time with larger ball size and heavier ball, height has gained more importance due to slowed ball speed and spin require more mid/far distance rally where height has advantage.
Even so, there are still short players shine in this era. Example: FZD and the current brightest young star LSD.

In summery, as far as height is concerned, today's table tennis favors average or little above height players. It's difficult for too tall or too short players to reach the top.

 

[Lazer]

Strength matters less, agility is much more important and for sure you can not be a couch potato 🤣.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[blahness]

First time i have seen someone say Ma Long is 'not fast' lmao. Dude is one of the fastest players on the tour - you cannot sustain a FH oriented game in today's TT without tremendous speed.

Height is not the only physical attribute for sportsmen unless it's basketball...

 

[mightymouse]

I read long time ago, that in the early years of People's Republic of China, they tried to choose one sport to become the national sport of China. And they chose table tennis, among many other sports.

I think they consider all things when choosing a sport that they can excel at: the facilities, the equipment, the average size of Chinese people (during that time). If China has chosen baseball, basket ball or volley ball, they might not be as successful now.

To digress a bit, I have thought about soccer (or football) being the most popular sport in the world (except in the USA), and I think that height also does not automatically translate to being better athletes. Example: Pele, Diego Maradona and Messi. Therefore anybody can try (and dream) of becoming a football player.

For basket ball and volley ball, unless you are 6 feet or above (even almost 7 feet), you will have a disadvantage. Of course, height is not the only criteria here.

 

[netdriver]

It is the only real sport in the world (billiards/bowling for example, are not "real" sports) where having superior Size/Strength/Speed gives you no real advantage over your opponent.

This is not the case with any other real sport in the world.

A physical freak like Calvin Johnson aka Megatron at 6'5", 240 pounds with 4.35 40 speed and 42.5 inch vertical would have zero real advantage over a tiny 8-year-old boy.

Ma Long is 5'9" 154 pounds and probably not very fast. He's the greatest to ever play this sport.

A truly 100% SKILL-based sport where God-given physical traits like Size/Strength/Speed are completely devalued.

Look at the NBA for example where the average height is 6'6". Look at the O-Line/D-Line players in the NFL that weigh 300+ pounds or close to it. Look at the WRs/CBs in the NFL that run a 4.2-4.4.

Does anyone else view Ping Pong in this same way?

i more or less see ping pong as unique bc of the many types of distinct equipment one can use (pips, anti & inverted), and also many playstyles for example penhold and chopper

i dont think you can find that in any other racquet sports

theres also no other sport that can give you the satisfaction of making the ball curve sideways onto the table for an around-the-net shot

 

[ThePongCommenter]

Absolutely horrendous take in every facet. Size, strength and speed definitely give you advantages over your opponent. At all levels of the game, all else being equal, the stronger, more agile, quicker player will end up on top.

A physical freak like Calvin Johnson aka Megatron at 6'5", 240 pounds with 4.35 40 speed and 42.5 inch vertical would have zero real advantage over a tiny 8-year-old boy.

Give them the exact same training and assume all their other advanced measurables are the same and of course he will have a massive advantage. You think 40 time and vertical are the only measures of athleticism apparently, which shows how little you know about athletes even in the examples you speak of. Some NFL players with poor 40 times: Davante, Bosa, Kam Chancellor, Larry Fitzgerald, AB, Jerry Rice, Tom Brady (5.28). I'd say those guys turned out to be okay so maybe there are other factors that go into athletic success huh?

If you want to educate yourself a little more go read up on modern sports science metrics. There's a lot more to it than these rudimental measurables you mentioned, and I guarantee you top TT athletes have those in spades too.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

all you guys aka Hobby Players and your infatuation with athleticism will falter, wane, decimated when met with a 70 year old Asian Uncle aka Ojisan with Short Pips / Long Pips twiddler. He will make you weep with frustration, despair and cries of lamentation.

 

[darkky65]

Top 10 TT players can probably smoke other top athletes in lateral movement, they would have pretty solid foundation for Boxing or anything involving weight/power transfer, it's the same principle.

I would want ZJK throwing a haymaker at me, nor do I want to ever face off with Xu Xin on a basketball court with his footwork.

people really tend to forget just how hard it is to be top level at anything. these guys would be top level at other sports if they chose that (at least something that their body could translate to)

 

[Aizen]

If physical fitness wasn't important, Liu Guoliang would still be playing, for sure Timo and many more.
Ma Long would be sweeping all the Trophies.

 

[Loop Lob Smash]

Not mentioned yet is the age aspect. If you're competing in an age group category, then physical fitness differences can have a large impact upon the game. Both my team-mate and I are keen cyclists; for both of us (he 70+, myself late 50s) our physical fitness can provide a significant advantage. My teammate likes to roam, I attempt to play a modern attacking game.

ps. One of the things I love about the sport of darts is that there really is no physical fitness requirement, and anyone can compete at the highest level (just look up Phil Taylor on YT (or wikipedia) if you're not familiar with the sport). Another of my favourite sports, snooker, is a purely skill-based sport. Wonderful stuff to watch.

 

[netdriver]

Top 10 TT players can probably smoke other top athletes in lateral movement, they would have pretty solid foundation for Boxing or anything involving weight/power transfer, it's the same principle.

I would want ZJK throwing a haymaker at me, nor do I want to ever face off with Xu Xin on a basketball court with his footwork.

people really tend to forget just how hard it is to be top level at anything. these guys would be top level at other sports if they chose that (at least something that their body could translate to)

never get into a fight with xu xin lest you want him to forehand loop your face

 

[Dominikk85]

It is true that size and muscular strength is not needed so much but the top guys still have insane agility and reflexes that are also natural physical talent.

That being said it is true that tt is a skill sport where you can reach a very high level even with mediocre physical skills. For example 50+ year Olds like ni xialiang or he zhi wen beating 20 year old players ranked in the top50 in the world wouldn't happen in other sports and waldner would probably still beat most peak nba or NFL players in table tennis when he is 80 so the skill over physicality thing is probably still true but when you look at the very top athleticism and endurance is getting more and more important especially with the new ball and the long rallies.

But still you need to be at an extremely high level to be able to really use plus athleticism to your advantage, doesn't help you to be a good athlete if you can't read spin and dump the second ball into the net.

But above 2000 or so and when both players are close in skill physicality, power and endurance can help you.

 

[rpb23]

If physical fitness wasn't important, Liu Guoliang would still be playing, for sure Timo and many more.
Ma Long would be sweeping all the Trophies.

Of course, physical fitness is very important at pro level, more at national level. Chinese teams all have fitness programs and hire fitness trainers some of them from western countries and US.

With that said, Liu Guoliand retired at very young age of 24 not because of physical fitness, rather the rules change, especially no hidden service rule.

Another benefit of having good physical fitness is injury prevention which may lead to a long career.

I would say one of the reasons Chinese teams have dominated the world is their physical fitness. They are one of the best physically fit teams, if not the best. Check the physiques Wang Liqing, Zhang Jike, Ma Long, Fan Zhengdong, Liang Junkun, most of them look fitter or stronger than their Western competitors.

 

[rpb23]

all you guys aka Hobby Players and your infatuation with athleticism will falter, wane, decimated when met with a 70 year old Asian Uncle aka Ojisan with Short Pips / Long Pips twiddler. He will make you weep with frustration, despair and cries of lamentation.

I would say the grandpa who was running like crazy trying to retrieve the ball in the video is pretty fit. How many hobby players can move like him? Not many.

 

[greenbeanmachine]

Physical fitness and ability are certainly very important in table tennis. You can still play a good game if you are not super fit, though. There are other significant aspects of the game besides pure strength/power.

I think the thing about ping pong is that you can't just optimise for physical fitness like you can in a lot of other sports. Not sprinting fast enough? Just go to the gym and do plyometrics. Not good enough at wrestling? Just lift weights and get stronger. Not good enough at tennis? Just train to hit the ball harder. But table tennis is not like that. You can't just optimise for strength and expect to improve.

For this reason, table tennis does not have a huge difference between men and women. There is some difference, but table tennis does not allow you to just train harder and lift heavier to improve. I nearly beat the women's world record in 800m as a high school male athlete, but there will always be women table tennis players who can beat me 11-0.

Interestingly, the only other "real" sport that I have encountered with this property is rock climbing. Yes, strength and fitness helps. But there are many other aspects of the sport, and you cannot improve by just optimising strength. Strategy, calmness, quick decision-making, flexibility, and creativity are all significant factors in performance -- just like with table tennis. Top male rock climbers are a bit better than the top female rock climbers... but not by much. They could conceivably compete in the same category and women would still win some gold. When I competed in rock climbing in college, the league was co-ed and I got my ass kicked by many women.

Also, since we're doing shirtless photos now, here's mine:

 

[Gozo Aruna]

TT is a sport that can cater to different physique, from:

to

Diversity FTW!!!

 

[latej]

Does anyone else view Ping Pong in this same way?

Recently went to pub to have a beer after a training and watched a rugby match there... It occurred to me: the poor guys made rarely contact with the ball... They had to fight real hard to even touch it ;-)

TT is the sport of the future, that is clear... It's just not happening around me, but that definitely must be some local fluctuation...