At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Swedish player Truls Moregard clinched the silver medal in men's singles table tennis, while the 17-year-old French phenom Félix Lebrun took home the bronze. Félix, along with his older brother Alexis Lebrun, also secured the Olympic bronze medal for the French team in men's team table tennis. Following last year's WTT Finals in Fukuoka, the duo even briefly became the world's top-ranked men's doubles pair in table tennis.
In recent years, with the rapid rise of players like the Lebrun brothers and Moregard, the table tennis arena seems to be witnessing a wave of European strength alongside the dominant force of the Chinese team. What we are tracking is precisely how European table tennis is finding its own rhythm through these collisions.
Intuition vs. technique
"European players generally don't have set patterns; unlike Chinese athletes who calculate very precisely, they mostly play by feel," said Yang Xiaoxin, a Chinese-born table tennis player who has competed across multiple European countries and now represents Monaco internationally, summarizing the difference between Chinese and European players.
What Yang referred to as "calculating precisely" actually points to Chinese players' pursuit of technical mastery. Vincent Avril, the coach of the Lebrun brothers' club, Alliance Nîmes/Montpellier, noted that Chinese table tennis technique is widely recognized as the best now, with players exhibiting greater consistency in their skills. He believed this was linked to Chinese children starting rigorous professional training much earlier.
"For us, it's more about getting kids interested in continuing to play first, as the Lebrun brothers did initially," said the coach.
According to Yang, the root cause lay in the fact that "no one plays table tennis in Monaco." Her current training routine involves her coach coming to train with her twice a week; the rest of the time, she can only practice with a robot. "And in European competitions, you're completely on your own—you fight your own battles, devise your own tactics, and analyze your matches afterward," she noted. Thus, athletes who manage to "break through" in Europe generally possess exceptional natural talent.
However, European players who rely on "intuition" often develop some unconventional playing styles, allowing them to pull off surprising victories against Chinese opponents. "If we want to defeat Chinese players, we have to use our strengths, not copy others," said Alexis.
Power vs. control
What makes table tennis matches exciting to watch? When asked this question, fans may think of those continuous, extended rallies of topspin exchanges. In such duels, Chinese players often gain the upper hand through consistent rhythm control. In contrast, European players' shots tend to be more aggressive, favoring powerful winners in one or two strokes.
Starting with the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) changed the ball diameter used in international competitions to 40mm. Later, in 2014, the standard was raised to "40+", meaning a diameter range of 40.0 to 40.6mm, which slowed down the game and reduced spin. "After the ball's spin decreased, their [European athletes'] strength advantage became more prominent," Yang said, citing this as one reason for the rapid emergence of European male players in recent years.
"Fun sport" vs. "national sport"
An interesting thing is that table tennis, known as China's "national sport," actually originated in Europe in the 19th century. It began as an indoor game where university students mimicked tennis using makeshift equipment like dining tables, books, and parchment, and was named for the "ping-pong" sound of the ball.
Perhaps because of this, even today, table tennis remains a "fun sport" in the minds of Europeans—something like "setting up a table tennis table in the backyard" or "on the beach."
The difference in how the sport is perceived has wide-ranging impacts. Fan Zhendong's debut match in the Bundesliga was held at the Joachim-Deckarm-Halle, the home stadium of FC Saarbrücken. This is a local multi-sport center where, on ordinary days, not just table tennis but almost all sports take place.
Due to the enthusiastic response to ticket sales, the club even set up temporary new stands. The distance between the first row of spectators and the playing court was only a few meters, which is quite different from domestic competitions in China. After Fan's Bundesliga debut ended in an unexpected loss, some spectators frankly said, "Perhaps the overly enthusiastic live audience also affected him."
The development of table tennis in China and Europe seems to be progressing along two distinct tracks. Over the years, Europeans and people worldwide have learned about Chinese culture through generations of overseas Chinese table tennis players, gaining a better understanding of Chinese diligence and many other positive aspects.
This summer, however, the news of Chinese table tennis star and world champion Fan joining Saarbrücken seems to have created an intersection between these two tracks.
Nicolas Barrois, the team manager of the Saarbrücken club, noted that previously, in most cases, encountering Chinese players in international competitions meant facing them as opponents. Now, team players have the chance to compete alongside a player like Fan.
"I believe this is a very good thing for German and even European table tennis," he says. Fan's old friend and Saarbrücken team captain, Patrick Franziska, stated that after Timo Boll left the Bundesliga, Fan's arrival as a "new leading figure" has made the league atmosphere incredibly lively.
Félix described "playing in the Champions League with an Olympic champion" as "an unbelievable thing," while his brother Alexis emphasizes that Fan will bring a lot to the players fortunate enough to be his teammates.
"Moregard and I standing on the Olympic podium show that we also have a chance to win," says Félix. With competition among players intensifying and victories going back and forth, this is believed to be the new landscape emerging for the future development of Chinese and European table tennis.
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