From VHS Tapes to 'Bashing': A Reflection on Table Tennis Today

It has been a while since watching matches was as fun as it used to be. Let me explain: I stopped playing in 1995 or ‘96, I don’t even remember exactly. Back then, to watch a recent match, we waited months for a VHS TAPE (ask your dad or grandpa what that is… lol) to arrive from Europe or Asia. That’s how it was with the 1995 World Championships, won by China’s Kong Linghui, who was a complete unknown to us. I watched the match in early 1996, when I got hold of a tape with the final, the full match, no highlights, commentary in a language I didn’t understand, no subtitles and pretty mediocre picture quality.

From VHS to live

Back to 2025: today we watch a World Championships final LIVE, in ultra-high resolution, with an electronic scoreboard on screen, replays and even a VAR called TTR. Along with those great advances came changes to the game to make it more “TV-friendly”. Since the ban on speed glue and the switch to the 40+ ABS ball, the game has changed a lot. Before, it was much more serve and third ball; today, there are far more rallies. That’s great for television, but now the game is much more physical, players have to be far more athletic and, because of that, we joke that it’s just bashing. This is not about disrespecting the impressive athleticism of today’s players, just a personal preference. With Xu Xin retired, there are only a few crazy ones left, like Simon Gauzy, playing interesting, creative matches.

The end of pure penholders

These changes killed the pure penholders (one rubber). Penholders in the men’s game have very slim chances at the top level, where we once had a World Championships runner-up with this style. Short pips penhold like the old-school Chinese players? Unthinkable. The heavier, slower 40+ ball took away part of the speed and the “venom” of pips, demanding a physical strength that tips the equation against these styles. And that made the game a bit samey: serve, smash and more smashing. Is it fun? Sure, but I admire creative variety more than raw power. That’s where it got kind of uninteresting.

Women’s play is still creative

On the other hand, for a while now I have preferred watching the women’s matches. Penholders still perform very well. We have the pips “little auntie” Ni Xia Lian, over 60 and still wreaking havoc; North Korea’s Kim Kum-yong with long pips on the backhand and an absurdly effective style; Germany’s Sabine Winter, who swapped her backhand rubber for an anti-spin and has played memorable matches; not to mention the Indian players and their pips bathed in the Ganges River (credits to Marcelo Hilário… lol). I can’t leave out Adriana Diaz of Puerto Rico, who seems to work magic at the table, and the incredible Sun Yingsha of China. Even with conventional equipment, their matches are a joy to watch.

At the end of the day

In short, men’s matches have become boring to watch, and women’s matches are great fun.

Now I want to hear from you: do you agree with me? Which playing style do you enjoy watching most today? Tell us here in the comments.