Who are the greatest table tennis players? A very good question.
And maybe the World Number 1 table tennis player on the current ITTF World Ranking is the best player?
Today, let’s answer who is the most successful table tennis of all time.
Who is the strongest table tennis players?
There are many good table tennis in the world. There are many players who are of the Champion, World Champion, ITTF World Tour winner.
But until now, there are only 5 Grand Slam table tennis in the history:
- Jan-Ove Waldner
- Liu Guoliang
- Kong Linghui
- Zhang Jike
- Ma Long
Note: To win the grand slam in table tennis you have to win the gold medal at the 3 most important events in table tennis:
- Olympic games,
- WTTC (World Table Tennis Championship)
- and World Cup Table Tennis.
So for me, the greatest table tennis player of all time must be a “Grand Slam”! No doubt!
You can not say,
hey, I’m the best player in table tennis. I won 20 World Tours, 3 Championships, but I’m not the Grand Slam!
So who could be the best player in table tennis:
The best player = must be a Grand Slam
Who will be the sixth Grand Slam in table tennis?
There are many candidates for that. But for me, who wins the Gold Medal in the Olympics Tokyo 2020 will be the next Grand Slam.
There are 2 players who can do that:
- Fan Zhendong (60% to win)
- Harimoto Tomokazu (40% to win)
But for me, Fan Zhendong will have a higher chance to be the 6th Grand Slam player in table tennis history.
Learn more:
- Why Fan Zhendong lost to Harimoto Tomokazu?
- What is Harimoto Tomokazu equipment?
- 10 Fundamental Skills for Modern Table Tennis
Nomination of the best 5 players of all time
Based on their achievement in table tennis, and their popularity in this sport here is the list of most 5 successful players in table tennis.
- Ma Long
- Zhang Jike
- Jan-Ove Waldner
- Fan Zhendong
- Liu Guoliang
Ma Long:
If Zhang Jike is the most talented player, Ma Long is the most hardworking player.
Ma Long has the best forehand in table tennis, super strong footwork, and a strong backhand. He is the captain of China Team.
His understanding of the game, as Liu Guoliang commented, “is number 1 in the world”.
Liu Guoliang said:
“At the current state, Ma Long has the deepest knowledge in this game. His main weakness now is his age…”
He has the highest winning percentage of all time and has won the most titles on the ITTF World Tour.
Ma Long has struggled a bit to win a single world championship, but later, he won all the title to become the 5th Grand Slam in table tennis.
His known weakness is his age and ability under pressure.
Why is Ma Long one of the best players in table tennis?
It’s because of his superior techniques and attitude to the sport.
- Ma Long training: Powerful Forehand
- The Truth about Chinese Rubbers | Ma Long Forehand Rubber
- Table Tennis Ma Long Complete Technique Tutorials
Zhang Jike
The fearless fighter in table tennis. He is the fastest player in the history to become the Grand Slam in table tennis.
Without a doubt, the most talented player to play this game. He has absolutely no weakness.
He has one of the best backhands in the world. His footwork is superb and his speed is electric. He probably has the most beautiful game. What is really amazing about him is his ability to come back at the crucial moment. On many occasions, he came back from far behind and won.
Unlike Ma Long who is melt under huge pressure, Zhang Jike is stronger in the late game.
He is the 4th Grand Slam in table tennis. Zhang Jike won the grand slam only 445 days after his first major title, is the fastest and youngest player to do so. He has won twice the world championship and is now aiming for a second grand slam.
Zhang Jike is a rebel force!
In terms of gameplay, he is definitely better than Waldner, but why he is still not qualified to be the only one because of his inability to overcome My Long and his arrogant attitude.
With the new poly ball, his game becomes less powerful than before and is out-dated of the new trends in table tennis.
Zhang Jike is the most influenced player in table tennis. He has the most fan in the world.
Jan-Ove Waldner
He is the Mozart in table tennis. He has the best blocking skills and the best feeling in the history.
That’s the reason that he is the 1st Grand Slam in the history. In China, fans called him as Lao Wa, and “Evergreen”.
He is “Evergreen” because he is still playing professional table tennis at the age of 52. Now he faces the player who is younger than his 30 years.
Waldner is amazing to watch, very elegant. His playing style is forever, longevity! He is the best of the best!
If you want to win table tennis with tactics, intelligence, artist style, with variation, learn from J-O. Waldner.
Fan Zhendong
He is definitely the next grand slam in table tennis. Fan Zhendong at the age of 20 is already the most promising player. At the senior level, he shows no weakness and can compete with any top players in the world. He is already the World Rank #1.
Some will ask:
Hey, Fan Zhendong is not Grand Slam yet. So why he is on the list?
When you watch this video, you will understand why he is on the list?
In this video, you can easily see that Fan Zhendong dominated table tennis scene since the Junior, the Senior.
In Junior (under 18), no one can match Fan Zhendong. At only 20 years old, he is already World Ranking number 1.
Fan Zhendong is a fighter. He is like a combination of Ma Long and Zhang Jike.
Fan Zhendong backhand is so powerful! And his forehand is not weaker than Ma Long’s.
He is definitely the “Dragon killer”. He is the Champion of the World Champion.
Liu Guoliang
The best coach in table tennis. The 2nd Grand Slam in table tennis. Without coach Liu, China Team cannot dominate the scene like this.
He is, no doubt, the head of China Team.
Liu Guoliang is the most successful penholder in table tennis.
He is the only penholder in the list of 5 Grand Slam in table tennis. All other grand slams are the shakehand player. Only Liu is the penholder.
And I think in the table tennis history, no penholder after Liu Guoliang can be the next Grand Slam.
Xu Xin is too old for this position. Wang Hao now is the national coach.
- Liu Guoliang: Genius of Table Tennis Tactics
- Chinese Table Tennis: Liu Guoliang Comments in Trial WTTC 2017
The best table tennis player
So finally, who is the best player?
If I have to vote, Ma Long is the strongest table tennis player in the history.
Ma Long is the best table tennis player.
He has left everyone behind. His overall skills in table tennis are No1! For sure!
No one can remake his winning streak in World Tour, and undefeatable 4-0 scores winning streaks!
Just look at how strong and consistent of Ma Long in the Top 10 players in the World ranking.
Why is the World n1 not 100% the strongest player?
In January 2018, Dimitrij Ovtcharov has gained the World Ranking number 1 for the 1st time. This takes a lot of attention from the media.
But in March 2018, Timo Boll has become the World Number 1.
Today, in May 2018, that’s Fan Zhendong is the World number 1.
Ma Long table tennis ranking
And this guy, yes! This guy is only ranked as number 9 on the World Ranking. He has just dominated the World Championship 3 days ago. He has served as A/Y (decided
core player) in the final of 4 WTTTC, an honor, and a duty.
He also made a record winning streak of 22 matches without dropping a single game. (4-0, 4-0, 4-0, 4-0, 4-0, 4-0, 4-0, 4-0, and 4-0 yes 22 times).
He has won the World Number two, 3-0 in the team Final match.
But please, don’t blame Timo Boll. He has politely said that “Germany top seed, but China the favorite”.
So not only the viewers but also the players, are the “victim” of the new ITTF World Ranking. But what is changed?
Well! ITTF World Ranking is used to be the accurate “World Ranking” which reflects the true player’s strength. The better player was ranked higher!
But since 2018, ITTF has applied the “new World Ranking system” which actually make a lot of confuse to fans and players around the world.
What is the New Ranking System?
The new ranking is calculated for the position reached, but not from the opponent.
So at the same tournament, if you win Ma Long, or you win the WR #600, you got the same point! (LOL – ridiculous!)! This setup breaks the true meaning of ranking!
Only bonus points! If you are ranked #2, and if you lost to the #400, don’t be afraid! your rating points won’t drop! Just play and abuse more matches!
And your ranking is only valid for 12 months. 🙂 Next year, you will be no one!
Read: How To Protect Your Ranking If You Are Injured
And only the best 8 results count. So the guy won 8 matches and lost 0, and the guy won 8 matches and lost 300 matches will get the same points. (LOL!)
This is the most stupid one “No loss of points“. Because of the “ranking”, or the “ladder” is to compare between players. If a higher ranked player lost to a lower ranked player,
he should lose the point. Now, don’t worry! Just play! If you don’t like, give them a free win! 😀
Many flaws in the new ranking system
As you can see, there are 4 main flaws (weakness) in the new ranking system.
- 1) It breaks the true meaning of the ranking system
- 2) It removes good players from the current ranking
- 3) It’s not accurate! The higher ranked player is not the best player
- 4) It favors “abuse”: players get ranked by massing game and free-win
Now the current ITTF Ranking system is not the “World Table Tennis Ranking” anymore. But you should consider it as:
“The Most Active players ranking in the World Tours”
But why ITTF changed the ranking system?
It’s the question of “money”! Steve Dainton, the new CEO has claimed: “the new system will increase prize money”.
“to sell the events better to our broadcasters and to sponsors”. Yes, it’s for the money! But it’s very bad, and confused for the players and the viewers of the sports! 🙁 (Sad but true!)
Because there is no “true world ranking” at the moment, I spent hours and hours to code my self 🙂
I want to find out “Who is the best table tennis players in the world right now”.
I have explained the core, the algorithm of the code in the previous post.
A better way to find the strongest player in table tennis
Here is the code to calculate the rating points of the top players in the world.
The data are thousands of matches of ITTF’s tournaments.
Using the ELO rating core system, with different types of weighting factors: tournament the big one, the small one, the score, the difference in rating points, the player can gain
or lose the point. So we have an accurate and balance system.
And here are the results, the real top table tennis players in the world – May 2018.
This ranking is based on ELO system (which is used widely in Chess, and in other sports). This reflects the true player’s strength, that’s why it’s not the same as the current
ITTF world ranking list.
In statistics, the rating performance should follow the Normal Distribution. The gaining points and the ranking points are checked to this. While the current ITTF world ranking
fails to predict the winning percentage of a player.
Will I upload the World Ranking every month?
– Yes, the programme is here. All I need is the database, all the matches played in every month. So I’m willing to publish this World Ranking, so you can estimate who is the real top players in the world.
But I have a bad news for you. ITTF has recently disabled the “Export function”. So now, I can not get the data anymore 🙁 Without the data from ITTF, I can not run the code to get the real World Ranking.
you are right coach. I also think that Ma Long is the MVP table tennis player in the history.
thank you coach for the accurate world ranking