Jan-Ove Waldner
Wang Liqin
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Dead even across the measured categories. Our all-time ranking places Jan-Ove Waldner at #2 and Wang Liqin at #7.
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The case for Jan-Ove Waldner
The Mozart of table tennis and the greatest non-Chinese player ever, Waldner is revered even in China for his creativity, serve variation and preternatural touch. He won World Championship singles titles in 1989 and 1997, the 1990 World Cup and Olympic gold in Barcelona 1992, completing a career Grand Slam. He led Sweden to famous team victories over China in 1989 and 1991, briefly halting the dynasty, and remained competitive across five Olympics, reaching another final in 2000 at age 34. Playing through the sponge, speed-glue and 40mm-ball eras, he embodied artistry over athleticism, improvising angles and spins that opponents could not read, and remains the benchmark against whom every European hopeful is still measured.
The case for Wang Liqin
A towering right-hander with one of the most powerful forehand loops the game has seen, Wang Liqin won three World Championship singles titles, in 2001, 2005 and 2007, a haul matched by very few. He spent extended periods as world number one and anchored China's team through the 2000s, adding Olympic team and doubles golds. The great gap in his record is an Olympic singles title, which repeatedly eluded him, denying him the career Grand Slam despite his stature. Blending classical two-wing technique with imposing physicality, he was the dominant force between the Kong Linghui and Ma Lin generations and the Ma Long era, a three-time world champion whose peak would headline almost any other nation.