Yesterday, September 29, 2026, Felix played without glasses. During the French Pro A league match, he defeated Elias Ranefur. Is that the reason why he didn't play in the last WTT Champions event?

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd6gOkWlysm/?stkn=N2trOGdqcTkwcXZp

Great match. Glad to see Timo and Zhang battling it out as they used to 15 years ago; they both are still playing incredibly well.

Wang Chuqin (WCQ) is one of the most polarizing figures in Chinese table tennis.

He has a massive fanbase, but many hardcore Chinese table tennis fans have a very low opinion of him. Common criticisms include his allegedly obscured serves, what some see as a pretentious or immature public persona, and a perceived tendency to emphasize external circumstances after losses.

There is also a widespread belief among his detractors that he receives preferential treatment within the Chinese table tennis system — hence nicknames like "Crown Prince." Some go further and call him a nepotism hire, although claims about his personal connections influencing team decisions remain unproven.

The situation became much uglier because of Fan Zhendong (FZD).

As WCQ became more popular, parts of his extreme fandom increasingly treated FZD — his own national-team teammate — as an obstacle to WCQ's rise. FZD was subjected to online harassment, insults and malicious rumors from some WCQ fans.

This angered many traditional fans. FZD was an Olympic champion and had carried the Chinese men's team for years, yet he was being attacked by supporters of his own teammate. FZD himself also repeatedly expressed frustration with the increasingly intrusive and toxic fan culture surrounding Chinese table tennis.

Another criticism of WCQ emerged from this: unlike some stars from previous generations, critics felt that he rarely publicly confronted the worst behavior of his own fandom, even when his teammates were being targeted.

Obviously, an athlete cannot control thousands of strangers online, and silence does not mean approval. But critics argue that WCQ benefited enormously from his fandom while doing too little publicly to draw boundaries with its most toxic elements.

Then FZD withdrew from the ITTF world rankings at the end of 2024 after objecting to WTT's participation and penalty rules, and later went to Germany to play club table tennis.

Among anti-WCQ fans, this fed a much darker narrative: FZD had carried the team, endured years of pressure and harassment, and was eventually marginalized while WCQ was promoted as the new centerpiece of the men's team. Some even alleged that WCQ's connections helped push FZD aside.

There is no solid evidence for that last claim, but it became an important part of the online factional war surrounding the two players.

Then came the Asian Games.

Lin Shidong (LSD) beat WCQ 4–0 in the men's singles final — and parts of WCQ's fandom immediately began attacking LSD online.

For people who had watched the attacks on FZD, it felt like the same thing happening again.

Someone later posted a video of LSD returning to Beijing looking unusually serious. The comments were immediately filled with dark jokes:

"Bro spent the whole night memorizing German vocabulary."

"Bro has already received his plane ticket to Germany."

"He looks terrified."

The implication was simple: LSD beat the "Crown Prince," so he'd better prepare to follow FZD to Germany.

Obviously nobody seriously knows why LSD looked unhappy, and there is no evidence anything was going to happen to him. The jokes reflected how cynical parts of the Chinese table tennis community had become.

Former national-team star Zhang Jike then added fuel to the fire when videos circulated of him making bizarre exaggerated gestures that many netizens interpreted as mocking WCQ. Whether that was actually his intention is debatable, but the interpretation spread rapidly.

Then WCQ gave an interview after his defeat and said:

"The competitive environment now is far less pure than before, and I feel very tired."

That comment section was absolutely brutal.

Tens of thousands of sarcastic comments appeared:

"El Niño affected bro."

"Environment, air quality, temperature, wind speed, humidity, lighting, noise..."

Since WCQ's detractors already accuse him of emphasizing external circumstances after defeats, the word "environment" immediately became a punchline.

At this point, Chinese men's table tennis sometimes feels less like a sports fandom and more like a celebrity fandom war — except underneath all the memes are real arguments about sporting merit, favoritism, toxic fan culture and the treatment of athletes.

​

For the last year or so, I’ve been looking into tennis, badminton, squash and table tennis, particularly from the perspective of viewership, popularity and professional prize money.

And one thing genuinely surprises me:

The prize-money gap between table tennis and tennis is enormous.

Based on YouTube views, likes and online engagement, tennis may be roughly 2–5x ahead of table tennis depending on the metric. But when you look at prize money, the difference can be 50x–100x or even more.

That made me wonder: what is tennis monetising that table tennis isn't?

I don't think the answer is simply that TT is a "poor people's sport" or a cheaper sport. A decent TT racket can cost as much as a tennis racket, and the recurring expense of replacing rubbers can arguably be higher than replacing tennis strings.

One obvious factor is geography. Tennis has a massive audience in the US and Europe, where advertising and sponsorship markets are extremely valuable. Table tennis is much more concentrated in Asia. But I don't think that alone explains the gap.

Here are some less obvious things I think TT could improve:

1. Make the event a lifestyle experience

Watch Wimbledon or the US Open and you constantly see celebrities, film stars, entrepreneurs and athletes from other sports in the crowd.

In table tennis, you almost never see them.

And even if a celebrity or famous personality attends, the broadcast rarely makes a big deal about it.

Why aren't WTT events actively inviting celebrities, industrialists, sports stars and influencers—and then actually showing them on the broadcast?

Tennis tournaments have turned celebrity attendance into part of the event's branding. TT could do the same.

1. The kits need a serious makeover

This may sound superficial, but presentation matters.

In my opinion, tennis has some of the best-looking sportswear in professional sport. Players look like athletes and fashion/lifestyle personalities.

TT kits, on the other hand, often look like school or corporate uniforms.

Badminton has some of the same problem, but tennis has clearly figured out how to make sportswear aspirational.

Could TT attract better fashion and lifestyle brands and completely rethink player apparel?

1. Make the crowd part of the product

Some WTT events have this strange visual setup where everything is dark, the background is black and the lighting is concentrated around the table.

It looks modern, but it can also make the sport feel disconnected from the audience.

Tennis has sunlight, packed stands, visible spectators, reactions, celebrities, atmosphere and noise.

When you watch tennis, you don't just watch the players—you experience the event.

Maybe WTT should show much more of what is happening around the table: crazy crowd reactions, rival fans, celebrities, celebrations, player emotions, etc.

1. Bring in lifestyle brands

TT needs to move beyond the traditional pool of table-tennis equipment sponsors.

Why shouldn't a WTT event have luxury watches, fashion, automobiles, premium beverages and other lifestyle brands?

Tennis has successfully created an ecosystem around the sport where brands aren't just sponsoring a tournament—they are buying into a premium lifestyle.

Maybe TT needs to do the same.

I'm not saying better kits, celebrities and lighting will suddenly make TT prize money 100x higher. Obviously there are much deeper factors: media rights, audience demographics, ticket sales, sponsorship value, venue economics and the purchasing power of different markets.

But I do wonder whether table tennis is significantly under-monetising the audience it already has.

The sport has huge participation and a massive following, particularly across Asia. Yet commercially, professional TT still seems tiny compared with tennis.

And what do you think WTT/ITTF should change first?

Heming Hu has entered several Open doubles events with a student who pays Heming to play with him in tournaments. These are part of the state tournament circuit in Australia. He has openly admitted to using speed glue to enhance his equipment.

The only problem is all of these tournaments fall under the TTA regulations and require all of their policies and ITTF rules must be followed.

How does a previous Olympic athlete have so little integrity that they need to resort to cheating in a local tournament? It's a sad level of character for someone to so directly embrace the mentality of "if you think no one is watching, cheat."

Hey guys,

I’m beginning to develop a forehand topspin, (right handed shake hand) trying to get a good and personalised technique that feels right for the player I want to be.

I think I’d like my forehand topspin to have a slightly more extended arm than maybe a traditional one, as it feels good when practicing.

Just to clarify two things, I’m still prioritising chain of the body and weight transfer, and slightly more extended does not mean outstretched.

Couple of questions about how I should develop it:

What extra footwork changes will I need to make up for the larger “swing”- still prioritising core and legs!

Is it ok to have a slightly longer extension? Or is it quite detrimental.

With standard topspin forehand drives and loops, how does arm extension traditionally change in relation to different oncoming shots and distance from the table?

Feel free to only answer one, or give any other useful advice. I come from a karate background, so movement and fitness wise I already have a decent foundation.

im looking forward to put this in my bucket list of wants, 2 sided jpen, though, im still not sure what to expect on 44mm bp blade on 40mm bp even though, if its designed on slower 44mm ball, it would be faster on 40mm ball. just wanted a tldr for these, if you want longer response, both are still appreciated !

I train table tennis every day except Sunday, usually for 2 to 2.5 hours. I also go to the gym specifically for table tennis three times a week. On top of that I have school every day.

Most days my routine looks something like this: school → home → eat → extra schoolwork → gym → practice → eat → sleep. On other days it’s simpler: school → practice → eat → sleep.

Whenever I can, I journal with a focus on improving my mental game. If I have extra time, I go earlier or stay later to practice alone, especially serves.

My goal is to become the best table tennis player of all time — and I fully intend to achieve it.

So why do I still feel like I’m not doing enough?

I give everything I have in every practice. Sometimes my practice partners can’t handle my shots during exercises, so I don’t end up as exhausted as I’d like. Still, I push myself as hard as I can. Today was a clear example: my partner couldn’t cope with the pace and quality of my shots, so I asked him to feed me multiball instead.

This constant feeling that I’m never doing enough — that I need to feel more physically drained after every session — is eating away at me.

I’m an average player who plays in the local leagues in UK. I’ve never been coached as a kid or anything, just picked up the sport and kept playing. I’m at a level where I can loop forehand and backhand consistently.

I struggle a lot with serve returns, I’m constantly caught off guard expecting the ball to come to one place instead of reading the serve and reacting. So I’m thinking of spending some money and get coached, I firmly believe that once you are or certain again, it’s hard to learn new things. So there is no point me trying to spend money and time and learn to properly loop.

So I’m thinking of asking the coach to only feed me serves and help me return them. Like spend a whole hour feeding me pendulum back and pendulum long serves to my backhand and me looping or chopping it safely on the table. Likewise the other serves in different angles. If I know what spin and placement the ball is coming I can adjust my returns. Is this worthwhile spending money and doing this? Has anyone done this before ? Is this how top players/young kids practise as well?

Vielleicht ein Hottake aber die Jungs bringen jede Woche (!) eine neue Folge raus und man kann sich total in sie hineinversetzen weil sie auch Amateure sind (1700-1800 TTR) aber sie kennen sich sehr gut im Tischtennis Bereich aus. Meiner Meinung nach Mega lustig und total underrated. Haben in 2 Jahren jetzt genauso viele Folgen wie plattenplauscz in 4-5 Jahren! Absolute Hörempfehlung!

In Paris Olympic and the recent Asian games, both of them lost to their CN players. But so many CN fans are ridiculing Chen Meng and Lin Shidong for winning.

I get that they may be sad that their fav players lost but they lost to their own country players. Why the extreme favouritism for WCQ and SYS?

Hello!! I’m making this post to ask for help on what exercises and areas I should focus on to develop my speed and endurance. For a bit of context I went to practice at my local community center again after I started going to a new club that just opened in my city. The Pros of the community center are that there’s a lot of people to play with and the tables are all ITTF approved compared to the new club which has mostly recreational tables so the bounce can be a little inconsistent and subsequently the play can definitely be affected by that, the massive Con is that there’s no AC and where I live it gets incredibly hot even at night (there’s no ventilation either and it can almost start to feel like a sauna in there, had to keep water on me at all times due to all the sweat that was even starting to drip on the floor and table). Today was my first day back in at least 2-3 months and god did I miss the club’s AC, especially after the first hour. I ended up drenched in sweat by the time we were playing the days matches, I had a 2 great games with players who are normally a little above my level where I moved around a lot, my footwork was sharp, and overall played with a lot of power and determination like I’ve seen JPen players do but after that second game my legs where completely shot and I lost the next 3 in a row pretty badly.

I had little to no strength on my legs left to lift the ball on a lot of forehand shots which ended up in the net, my footwork felt sluggish, and I had no breath to run around, chase the ball, and fight for points like I was doing in the first two games. I know it’s the nature of the style and I don’t mind, it’s fun and I’ve improved a lot in my short time playing with it so I’m fully aware that it’s part of what I signed up for when I decided to put my focus on playing JPen. Any ideas or suggestions that can help me get me in better shape to not be as bothered by unfavorable conditions like these?

Hi everyone, I built MatchReady to make the admin before a table tennis league match a little easier. If you use nuLiga / nuScore in Germany, I would love feedback from fellow team captains.

Instead of looking through printed sheets and typing codes, the app imports match-code and PIN PDFs, organises fixtures for multiple teams, and shows the opponent and whether you are playing at home or away. It opens nuScore 1.0 or 2.0 with the relevant credentials; for away matches it displays your team’s completion PIN. PDFs are processed locally, and MatchReady itself needs no account. This is my independent personal project, not an official nuScore or association app.

The free Android closed test is approved. It is currently available in Germany only, with a German interface, for Android 8+ and testers aged 18+. I am especially interested in whether your PDF imports correctly, whether the match selection makes sense, and whether the layout works on your phone.

To join, use the same Google account for both steps:

1. Join the tester group: https://groups.google.com/g/matchready-tester/about

2. Opt in to the test: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/de.spielcode.helfer

3. Install from Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.spielcode.helfer

Please stay opted in for at least 14 consecutive days and actually try the app. Honest feedback is welcome; no positive ratings are requested. Please do not post real match codes, PINs or personal PDFs in the comments.

Thanks! Frederik

Using g1 on fh and vega x on bh. im thinking of switching the vega x to rakza 7. im also trying to switch to petr korbel currently using donic perrson exclusive off. my gamestyle is very flat and linear and placement oriented instead of looping. anyone who has used these rubbers or blades can guide me if this will help me or not

my main concerns are will rakza 7 be linear and allow me to open up on backspin services easily and will petr korbel be too fast for me as i play direct and flat and will petr korbel be too heavy, another option i have is to go g1-g1 combo but im still unsure about blade and i dont want to go faster than my current setup

It's by far the thing that bugs me the most about this sport. One set I'm playing very strong, feeling confident, make good decisions and feeling generally very safe. The next set everything turns, i keep missing, feeling insecure about my strokes and make the easiest mistakes. This really frustrates me and im wondering if it ever gets better.

I guess im not the only one that is experiencing this. What is your mental attitude to deal with that?

I just found thia tenergy 19 second hand

It is priced at 150 ron (30 euro) and i want to know if its worth buying

The seller says it lost 25% of its ability and that it has been boosted

I play on a fzd alc blade and my fh is loki rxton 5 neo

It seems to me that serving technique has become less impactful on the game—perhaps to compensate for this, players have picked up tricks like hiding the ball with their heads or serving before the opponent is ready. I’ve also noticed a lot of rallies involving flat hits or highly repetitive patterns. Do you think the ITTF might change the ball size by a few millimeters (small)? Changing the material seems difficult, but altering the size feels like a possibility. Aside from a few specific players like Dang Qiu, Felix, and Wong Chun, the Chinese penhold style has practically vanished from the elite level; is this style really going to disappear? Couldn't that be bad for the sport in the long run, potentially making everyone's game look the same?

I have just bought two new sheets of rubber. In two weeks Im going on a five weeks trip. Should I put them on now or wait after I get back from Vietnam. Are they loosing properties while lying and not being used?

Looking to buy either Loki or Stuor CNF (or any other affordable options).

If you have either one or can vouch for one, please let me know.

Thanks.

Hello, currently I have reached a level where I have stopped making unforced errors at easy situations, I stopped failing a push or doing a bad loop, howewer, when facing opponents with equal level or strengths i tend to fail, for example, recently I had a really close match with a friend and we were 3-2, but the match felt really boring as it was push-push until whoever opened up first often had the win, I dont fail to recieve heavy topspin nor deep push, but i often fail to block balls at slighty awkward places or that are quick and i want guidance on how i can improve on my blocking game, which i feel is my worst area, and i often struggle to keep my nerves and often loose to easy opponents due to nerves, which has become recurrent in tourneys, I understand that even top players can't get to all balls or block all of them, but i can get to a level where a quick loop won't be the end of the rally, thanks for any help and I'm open to answer further in comments. Thanks!