I personally donât buy all that glorifying-the-struggle stuff, but if Wang believes that âonce you finally achieve something that matters, it feels like the struggle paid off,â I respect that.
This 26-minute interview is a deep dive into Wang Chuqinâs quiet reflections and raw honesty, captured by CCTVâs Face to Face. What shocked me most was that he actually considered walking away from table tennis after the Paris Olympics. And thereâs more, but youâll have to watch it yourself. đ
Itâs clearly a very Chinese-style interview, where the guest is guided to reflect and, in some ways, glorify suffering. But Iâm glad Wang stayed true to himself and kept sharing his real thoughts, just like he always does.
Huge congrats to our Wang Chuqin, the newly crowned menâs singles World Champion. Itâs even more special because heâs the first Chinese left-hander ever to achieve it. With this victory, Wang now holds titles in singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and teams at the World Table Tennis Championships. A WTTC full house. A remarkable milestone in his career.1
Wang and his St. Bride VaseWang raised his left arm in a proud fist.
But what stood out most was Wangâs reaction. Calm.
It happened again. Wang Chuqinâs racket got damaged right before the match, at the biggest event of the year: the 2025 World Championships in Doha. The trauma from the Paris Olympics, when a photographer cracked his racket on court, came rushing back. It hit like a sudden PTSD flash.
In table tennis, even the tiniest equipment tweak can throw everything off. Things like rubber thickness, blade construction, table surface, and even the arenaâs humidity all shape how the game plays out. At the pro level, players rely on split-second timing, sharp instincts, and a fine-tuned sense of touch. When the feel changes, the whole balance collapses.
I started looking into seamless balls after noticing how many top players struggled at the 2024 Asian Championships and the 2025 World Cup. Their timing looked off, shots felt disconnected, and many just couldnât find their groove. The deeper I looked, the more it felt like a rabbit hole. Iâm still connecting the dots, but hereâs what Iâve learned.
Wang Chuqinâs 2025 World Cup just wrapped. In the semifinals, he lost to Hugo Calderano, 10-12 in the deciding seventh game. When the last ball dropped, Wang squatted down and wiped the sweat off his face with his arm. Then he smiled. Regret thickened the air like humidity before a storm. The crowd felt it. For Wang, alone at the center, it had to be a thousand times heavier. But still, he smiled.
If youâve watched Wang Chuqin play, you already know itâs wild â fast loops, nasty spin, and full of fire. A big part of that is his finely tuned weapon: the racket. And just like his playstyle, Wangâs racket setup has gone through some profound changes over the years.
This post is all about what makes a pro racket, how Wangâs gear has evolved, and a few stories along the way, some cool and some kinda painful. Letâs get into it.
đ Updated on March 16th: Congrats to Wang on his singles win at WTT Champions Chongqing! Not just because of the sweep, but also his improvement in fh-bh transitions and mentality. Anyway, I might not have time to watch all the matches or post anything new this week, but when inspiration hit, I added some thoughts at the end of this article.
Coaching in table tennis involves way more than shouting, âMove your feet!â from the sidelines. Itâs the backbone behind every champion. Especially in China, where everything runs like a well-oiled war machine with strategy, resources, you name it. And yet⊠somehow, Wang Chuqin pulled off the impossible: made history as ranked #1 in the world in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at the same time, while never having the full coaching support his peers enjoy.
How does that even happen?
To unravel this mystery, we need to take a closer look at how the Chinese National Table Tennis Team operates, why coaching is so crucial, and how Wang Chuqin slipped through the cracks.
Olympic Table Tennis Menâs Teams Gold 2008-2024 âThe Echelon-based team development has been a cornerstone of CNTâs long-term dominance.â(more…)
â An Exclusive Interview with Wang Chuqin by Table Tennis World (Special Issue, Feb 2025)
On New Yearâs Day 2025, Wang Chuqin secured victory in the China Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) finals. The 2024 season finale was unique, stretching across the new year, making this win both the last of 2024 and the first of 2025. After a brief pause in celebration, Wang threw his head back and roared.
âThat moment brought back so many memories,â Wang said. Those âmemoriesâ encompassed a whirlwind of experiences and emotions from 2024. After the outburst, Wangâs thoughts returned to the match.â After his outburst, Wangâs thoughts shifted back to the game. âI was overwhelmed. I had been longing for this victory for so long. I donât think my reaction was over the top. It was just a release of everything Iâd been holding in. Iâm really glad I could let it out, and I hope this release, this mindset, and my current competitive form carry into 2025.â
The year 2024 was anything but ordinary, marked most notably by the Paris Olympics. Wang went through âcouldnât be more detailedâ closed training, relentless early-morning drills that were âalways centered around mixed doubles,â the matches that âkept getting harder,â fought through exhausting battles and won matches âpurely on grit.â Over the year, he tasted glory, experienced helplessness, pulled himself out of slumps, and made adjustments. Reflecting on it all, he felt that âcompared to my former self, Iâve grown significantly in every aspectâ as he entered 2025.
What changed? Wang answered firmly: âAcceptance. Accepting criticism and unfavorable comments. Even with my flaws and shortcomings, I will still step onto the court and fight as my best self.â
When asked to recall his best, worst, and most memorable moments of 2024, Wang Chuqin, known for his vivid storytelling, replied: âThe worst was when Coach Xiao showed me my paddle had completely broken after someone stepped on it. I felt helpless and completely devastated. The best moment was the WTT Finals in Fukuoka. Ever since the Olympics, Coach Wang Hao had been reassuring me, believing in me, but I kept losing matches. Finally, in the Fukuoka finals, I stood my ground. It felt like I could finally repay all the trust he had in me.â
In a recent interview with the Chinese Olympic Channel, Wang Chuqin opens up about his post-Paris Olympic struggles (again!), his goals for LA 2028, the emotions table tennis brings, and a heartfelt letter from his mother that still inspires him today. Watch the full interview with English subtitles and the transcript here.
Huge congrats to our One True King for taking the WTT Finals title in Fukuoka! (Yeah, I know itâs been two months.) After a post-Olympic rough patch and a six-month singles title drought since the Saudi Smash in May, Wang Chuqin is finally back on top. Itâs been a while, itâs been a ride.
Jayden and I have talked a lot about Wangâs struggle phase. Coming from other sports backgrounds like swimming and track, we initially underestimated just how brutal the table tennis schedule was and assumed that a slump lasting six months to a year was pretty standard. Honestly, I expected his comeback to happen sometime in mid-2025, maybe at the US Smash (totally unbiased, of course, cuz Iâll be there! đ). But here we are, way ahead of schedule. He fell, he fought, and he bounced back.
Why âbounce?â Wangâs been bouncing between nonstop tournaments for four months straight. But itâs not just the travel â his game thrives on a rhythm of rapid reflexes and split-second adjustments, like a ping-pong ball ricocheting between rackets. Even when his touch wasnât at its best, that rhythm kept him in the fight.
Table tennis is often called âchess at light speedâ because itâs all about reading the game and making instant strategic shifts. Last October, I raved about Wangâs adaptability when he dealt with those weird seamless balls at the Asian Championships. This time in Fukuoka, he took it up a notch.
Round of 16 vs. Patrick Franziska: Grit Over Perfection
It was clear from the first match that Wang Chuqin wasnât in peak form. His footwork looked a little shaky; his forehand receive wasnât landing right, and his shots lacked their usual precision. But he still found ways to win.
Take his Round of 16 match against Patrick Franziska, for example. The second game was a bit of a mess, with both players trading awkward errors and the scoreline swinging back and forth. Even so, Wang stayed proactive, trying with different serves until he nailed the short sidespin serve that flipped a 6-7 deficit into a 7-7 tie. That threw Franziska off, leaving him stuck between flipping, fast pushing, and counter-looping. Then came the nail-biting final rallies at 10-10 and 11-10, where Wang showed both patience and killer instinct to close it out. His game wasnât flawless, but his tactical discipline saved the day.
Quarterfinal vs. Truls Moregard: The Serve Attack Strategy
After surviving Franziska, Wang faced Truls Moregard in a highly anticipated quarterfinal, their first rematch since the Olympics. He dropped the 2nd game, leveling the score at 1-1, then switched gears. He ditched the cautious drop shots, which werenât landing well that day, and went full send on aggressive third-ball attacks, adding more backhand flips and long heavy-spin pushes on receive.
In that game alone, Wang served eight times, mainly targeting Moregardâs mid and forehand zones with short shots, and scored seven points just off those serves. Four of them came from immediate third-ball attacks â counterattacks after the serve (turning 0-2 into 1-2, 3-3 into 4-3, 6-4 into 7-4, 9-5 into 10-5). One was snagged with a quick follow-up after the first return (1-2 to 2-2), and two more points came from Moregardâs struggles on receive (4-3 to 5-3 and 7-4 to 8-4). Moregard kept adjusting his stance, but Wangâs relentless attack-after-service strategy left him no time to recover. Meanwhile, Wangâs counterattacks on Moregardâs nine serves, mostly short serves with flat or side topspin, netted him another four points.
In his post-match interview, Wang summed it up simply: âItâs not a revenge⊠I was just focused on giving my all in every single point, trying to find that âin-the-zone‘ feeling Iâve had in previous matches.â Mission accomplished.
