The Australian Open in January, the French Open in mid-May, Wimbledon right after and finally the US Open: Every sports fan knows the four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, the most famous of which was held in Wimbledon for the first time in 1877.
In table tennis, attempts have now begun in Singapore to copy this successful format. The tournaments are called Grand Smash and not Grand Slam, but otherwise the principle is the same: In no other competition is there more money to be earned and more world ranking points to be collected than in these four highlights of each tournament season.
“After everything you’ve heard and seen so far, you can be curious,” said German record European champion Timo Boll before his departure for Asia. However, what is supposed to bring new attention and new sponsors to international table tennis has so far suffered massively from the world situation of the past two years. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the first Grand Smash tournament had to be postponed several times in 2020 and 2021. And now there is the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Except for Ovtcharov, the top ten are there
Of the top ten players in the world rankings, only Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov is missing in Singapore. The 33-year-old is still not completely fit after ankle surgery. The German national player is also the son of a former Soviet table tennis champion, he was born in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and has been playing for the best Russian club Fakel Orenburg since 2010.
“Of course it’s very difficult for Dima, he’s in bad shape. He stands between the chairs. His grandmother is still stuck in Kyiv. The sport is just secondary for him, «said his friend Boll after the renewed Champions League victory with Borussia Düsseldorf.
The war in Ukraine also has consequences in terms of sports policy. The President of the European Table Tennis Association ETTU resigned last week, at least for the time being. The man’s name is Igor Levitin, he’s a close confidante of Vladimir Putin, he was already Minister of Transport and advisor to the Russian President in his home country — and is therefore no longer acceptable at the head of ETTU.
This resignation is the only conceivable consequence, agrees Andreas Preuss, the manager of the German record champions Borussia Düsseldorf. Nevertheless, this development “weakens European table tennis. A strong personality, political influence: That would have helped table tennis in Europe,” said the 59-year-old of the German Press Agency. But last but not least, the awarding of the first Grand Smash tournament to Singapore and the plan to hold the second in May in China show that money, power and sporting dominance in this sport are increasingly shifting to Asia.
Preuss on WTT and Grand Smashes: “Professionalize sport”
Even the German World Association President Thomas Weikert had great difficulties trying to control the new tournament series “World Table Tennis” (WTT) as the organizer of the Grand Smashes. Unnerved by the internal power struggles, the 60-year-old gave up another term last year and is now the head of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).
Weikert also pointed out early on that more and more WTT tournaments and the strong leagues in Europe are standing in each other’s way. The Grand Smash premiere in Singapore was only scheduled for the beginning of February. A little later, the world association moved its team world championship from April to October. The Bundesliga must then see how it arranges its appointments around it. Above all, “only the best 10 to 15 players in the world can make a living from the WTT tournaments,” said Preuss.
The Bundesliga professional Ricardo Walther, for example, was the first German player to win a Grand Smash game against the South Korean Cho Seungmin in qualifying. But he first had to earn the money he needed for the trip to Singapore at his club ASV Grünwettersbach.
»WTT and the Grand Smashes want to professionalize our sport. That’s good, there’s nothing to be said against that,’ said Preuss. »But up to now they have carried it out on the backs of the players, because table tennis is not tennis, but an individual and a team sport. If we manage to coordinate appointments, then it can end well for everyone.«
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220307-99-422303/2
