Ma Lin
Liu Guoliang
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 Ma Lin at #10 and Liu Guoliang at #11.
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The case for Ma Lin
The finest penhold player of the modern era, Ma Lin was a master of serve, short game and the reverse-penhold backhand who won four Women's, and men's, World Cup singles titles, a men's record, in 2000, 2003, 2004 and 2006. His crowning achievement was Olympic singles gold at Beijing 2008, won in front of a home crowd, along with team and doubles golds. The conspicuous gap in his record is a World Championship singles title, which repeatedly slipped away and denied him the career Grand Slam. Renowned for the finest serve and touch of his generation, he kept the classical penhold style competitive at the very top even as shakehand play came to dominate the sport.
The case for Liu Guoliang
Liu Guoliang was the first man to complete the career Grand Slam, winning the 1996 Olympic singles title, the 1996 World Cup and the 1999 World Championship. A penhold player famous for a deceptive serve and a tricky combination of pimpled and inverted play, he thrived in the 21-point era and led China's fightback against the Swedish golden generation. His playing career was relatively short, but his impact deepened afterward: as head coach he masterminded an era of Chinese dominance, guiding the likes of Zhang Jike and Ma Long, before becoming a powerful administrator. Few figures have shaped the sport so completely from both sides of the table, first as a Grand Slam champion, then as its most influential coach.