15 Best and Most Famous Table Tennis Players of All Time

Our ranking of the 15 best table tennis players of all time, led by Ma Long, Jan-Ove Waldner and Deng Yaping, with Olympic and world titles.

Each profile lists events, country, birth date and the titles that matter, followed by what made the player stand out. Below the ranking you will find the best player of each era and the names that just missed the cut.

How We Ranked the Table Tennis Players

Singles titles: Olympic, World Championship and World Cup singles wins count most, because these are the three majors of the sport.
Grand Slam: winning all three singles majors at least once is the clearest mark of a complete career.
Time at number one: how long a player led the world rankings or dominated the field.
Impact: players who changed how the game is played or what it meant outside the sport.

China has won most major titles since the 1990s, which means Chinese players often had to beat each other for every medal. We rate singles above doubles and team titles, and we judge early stars like Viktor Barna against the fields of their own time. The order is our own judgment, not an official one.

The 15 Best Table Tennis Players at a Glance

#	Player	Events	Career
1	Ma Long	Men’s singles, doubles, team	2006 to 2024
2	Jan-Ove Waldner	Men’s singles, doubles, team	1982 to 2016
3	Deng Yaping	Women’s singles, doubles, team	1988 to 1997
4	Zhang Yining	Women’s singles, doubles, team	1999 to 2009
5	Zhang Jike	Men’s singles, doubles, team	2008 to 2018
6	Fan Zhendong	Men’s singles, doubles, team	2012 to 2024
7	Wang Nan	Women’s singles, doubles, team	1994 to 2008
8	Liu Guoliang	Men’s singles, doubles, team	1991 to 2001
9	Wang Liqin	Men’s singles, doubles, team	1993 to 2013
10	Ding Ning	Women’s singles, doubles, team	2005 to 2021
11	Kong Linghui	Men’s singles, doubles, team	1993 to 2004
12	Zhuang Zedong	Men’s singles, doubles, team	1958 to 1971
13	Viktor Barna	Men’s singles, doubles, team	1929 to 1950s
14	Timo Boll	Men’s singles, doubles, team	1997 to 2024
15	Chen Meng	Women’s singles, doubles, team	since 2007

#1 Ma Long

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: October 20, 1988, in Anshan, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 6× Olympic champion (singles 2016 and 2020, team 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024), world singles champion 2015, 2017 and 2019, 3× World Cup winner, 5× World Tour Grand Finals winner (a record), world No. 1 for 64 months

Ma Long won six Olympic gold medals, the most of any table tennis player, and no one else has more than four. He won the men’s singles at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, and he is the only man to complete the career Grand Slam of Olympic, world and World Cup singles titles twice. He also won the world singles title three times in a row, in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

He held the world No. 1 ranking for 64 months in total, more than any other man, including 34 months in a row from March 2015. Ranking rules kept him out of the singles at London 2012, when he was widely seen as the best player in the world. After carrying the Chinese flag at Paris 2024 and winning a sixth gold in the team event, he withdrew from the world rankings at the end of 2024 and became vice president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association in April 2025.

#2 Jan-Ove Waldner

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: October 3, 1965, in Stockholm, Sweden
🌍 Country: Sweden
🏆 Career Highlights: Olympic singles champion 1992, Olympic silver 2000, world singles champion 1989 and 1997, World Cup winner, world team champion with Sweden 1989, 1991, 1993 and 2000, first man to complete the career Grand Slam

Waldner won the men’s singles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and is still the only player from outside China, Japan and South Korea to win an Olympic table tennis title. With that win he became the first man to complete the career Grand Slam of Olympic, world and World Cup singles titles. Eight years later, at 34, he took silver in Sydney, losing the final to Kong Linghui.

He won the world singles title in 1989 and again in 1997, when he went through the event without losing a single game. With Sweden he won the world team title four times, in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 2000. In China he became so famous that he was said to be better known there than Bill Clinton in the 1990s. He retired in February 2016.

#3 Deng Yaping

🏓 Events: Women’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: February 5, 1973, in Zhengzhou, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 4× Olympic champion (singles and doubles 1992 and 1996), 18 world titles, world singles champion 1991, 1995 and 1997, World Cup singles winner 1996, world No. 1 from 1990 to 1997
🏛️ Hall of Fame: ITTF Hall of Fame (2003)

Deng won the singles and doubles at both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, four golds in two Games. She was world singles champion in 1991, 1995 and 1997 and collected 18 world titles in total. She was ranked world No. 1 for eight straight years, from 1990 to 1997.

At about 1.50 metres she was first left off the national team because of her height, and she only joined it in 1988. She won her first world title the next year in doubles with Qiao Hong. She retired at 24, was voted China’s female athlete of the century and entered the ITTF Hall of Fame in 2003.

#4 Zhang Yining

🏓 Events: Women’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: October 5, 1981, in Beijing, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 4× Olympic champion (singles 2004 and 2008, doubles 2004, team 2008), world singles champion 2005 and 2009, 4× World Cup winner, world No. 1 from 2003 to 2009 except for two months

Zhang won the Olympic singles at Athens 2004 and defended it in Beijing in 2008, beating Wang Nan in the final. She added the doubles in 2004 and the team title in 2008 for four Olympic golds. She was the first player, man or woman, to complete a double career Grand Slam of Olympic, world and World Cup singles titles.

She held the world No. 1 ranking from 2003 to 2009 with only a two month break in 2008. She stopped competing after 2009 while holding both the world and Olympic singles titles and later studied at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

#5 Zhang Jike

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: February 16, 1988, in Qingdao, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 3× Olympic champion (singles 2012, team 2012 and 2016), Olympic singles silver 2016, world singles champion 2011 and 2013, World Cup winner 2011 and 2014, career Grand Slam in a record 445 days

Zhang completed the career Grand Slam faster than anyone, in 445 days. He won his first world singles title in 2011, the World Cup later that year and the Olympic singles at London 2012, where he beat Wang Hao in the final. At the 2011 World Championships he celebrated the title by ripping off his shirt.

He won the world title again in 2013 and the World Cup again in 2014. At Rio 2016 he reached the singles final once more and lost to Ma Long, but won a second team gold. His father, a table tennis coach, named him after the Brazilian footballer Zico.

#6 Fan Zhendong

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: January 22, 1997, in Guangzhou, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 3× Olympic champion (singles 2024, team 2020 and 2024), Olympic singles silver 2020, world singles champion 2021 and 2023, 4× World Cup winner, career Grand Slam (2024)

Fan won the men’s singles at Paris 2024 and became the sixth man to complete the career Grand Slam. He had lost the Tokyo final to Ma Long three years earlier. He also won team gold at both Games.

He won the world singles title in 2021 and 2023 and the World Cup four times. He is widely known by the nickname Little Fatty. In December 2024 he withdrew from the world rankings and from all ITTF events.

#7 Wang Nan

🏓 Events: Women’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: October 23, 1978, in Fushun, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 4× Olympic champion (singles and doubles 2000, doubles 2004, team 2008), Olympic singles silver 2008, world singles champion 1999, 2001 and 2003, World Cup winner, world No. 1 from January 1999 to November 2002

Wang took over as the leader of the Chinese women’s team after Deng Yaping retired. She won the world singles title three times in a row, in 1999, 2001 and 2003, and won the doubles at the same three championships. She was world No. 1 from January 1999 to November 2002.

At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 she won both the singles and the doubles. She added the doubles with Zhang Yining in 2004 and the team title in 2008, when she also reached the singles final.

#8 Liu Guoliang

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: January 10, 1976, in Xinxiang, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 2× Olympic champion (singles and doubles 1996), World Cup winner 1996, world singles champion 1999, first Chinese man to complete the career Grand Slam

Liu won the Olympic singles and doubles in Atlanta in 1996 and the World Cup the same year. When he won the world singles title in Eindhoven in 1999, he became the first Chinese man to complete the career Grand Slam. He played with a penhold grip and short pimpled rubber.

He retired after the 2001 season and became head coach of the Chinese men’s team at 27. Under him the Chinese men swept all three singles medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association from 2018 until April 2025.

#9 Wang Liqin

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: June 18, 1978, in Shanghai, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 2× Olympic champion (doubles 2000, team 2008), Olympic singles bronze 2004 and 2008, world singles champion 2001, 2005 and 2007, world No. 1 for 25 straight months (2000 to 2002)

Wang won the world singles title three times, in Osaka in 2001, in Shanghai in 2005 and in Zagreb in 2007. He was ranked world No. 1 for 25 months in a row, from September 2000 to September 2002.

His Olympic golds came in the doubles at Sydney 2000 and in the team event at Beijing 2008, where he also won singles bronze for the second time. In April 2025 he succeeded Liu Guoliang as president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association.

#10 Ding Ning

🏓 Events: Women’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: June 20, 1990, in Daqing, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 3× Olympic champion (singles 2016, team 2012 and 2016), Olympic singles silver 2012, world singles champion 2011, 2015 and 2017, World Cup winner 2011, 2014 and 2018

Ding won the world singles title three times, in 2011, 2015 and 2017, and the World Cup three times. At London 2012 she lost the Olympic final to Li Xiaoxia after the umpire gave her several penalty points for her serve. Four years later in Rio she beat Li in the final and took the gold.

The left-hander also won team gold at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, which made her one of five Chinese women with Olympic, world and World Cup singles titles. Of the four world singles titles awarded from 2011 to 2017, she won three, with Li Xiaoxia winning the other in 2013. She officially retired in September 2021.

#11 Kong Linghui

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: October 18, 1975, in Harbin, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 2× Olympic champion (doubles 1996, singles 2000), world singles champion 1995, World Cup winner, career Grand Slam (2000)

As a teenager Kong trained in Sweden, an unusual step for a Chinese player at the time. He won the 1996 Olympic doubles with Liu Guoliang.

At Sydney 2000 he beat Waldner in the singles final and became the third man to complete the career Grand Slam. He later became head coach of the Chinese women’s team. He was suspended from that job in 2017 after a Singapore casino sued him over an unpaid debt.

#12 Zhuang Zedong

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: August 25, 1940, in Yangzhou, China (died February 10, 2013)
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: World singles champion 1961, 1963 and 1965, central figure of the 1971 ping-pong diplomacy

Zhuang won the world singles title three times in a row, in 1961, 1963 and 1965. He played with a penhold grip and attacked with his backhand as well as his forehand, which was rare for penholders at the time. The Cultural Revolution then kept China away from the next World Championships.

At the 1971 World Championships in Nagoya, the American player Glenn Cowan got onto the Chinese team bus, and Zhuang greeted him and gave him a gift. The meeting started what became known as ping-pong diplomacy, the first thaw between China and the United States since 1949. He died in Beijing in 2013.

#13 Viktor Barna

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: August 24, 1911, in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (died February 27, 1972)
🌍 Country: Hungary, England
🏆 Career Highlights: 5× world singles champion (a record), 22 World Championship gold medals, 41 World Championship medals, 20 English Open titles
🏛️ Hall of Fame: ITTF Hall of Fame (1993)

Barna won the world singles title five times in the 1930s, still the record for a man. In total he won 41 World Championship medals, 22 of them gold, across singles, doubles and team events. He also won 20 English Open titles.

Born Győző Braun, he changed his name because of antisemitism in Hungary. He settled in London and became a British citizen in 1952. He died of a heart attack in Lima, Peru, in 1972 while on a tour for Dunlop.

#14 Timo Boll

🏓 Events: Men’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: March 8, 1981, in Erbach im Odenwald, Germany
🌍 Country: Germany
🏆 Career Highlights: World Cup winner 2002 and 2005, 8× European singles champion (a record), world singles bronze 2011 and 2021, Olympic team silver 2008 and 2020, Olympic team bronze 2012 and 2016, world No. 1 in 2003, 2011 and 2018

Boll is the most successful German player in history and the best European of the era dominated by China. He won the World Cup in 2002 and again in 2005. He reached world No. 1 in 2003, 2011 and 2018.

The left-hander won a record eight European singles titles, the last in 2021. He led Germany to four Olympic team medals, silver in 2008 and 2020 and bronze in 2012 and 2016. At 40 he won a world singles bronze in 2021, and he retired from international play after Paris 2024.

#15 Chen Meng

🏓 Events: Women’s singles, doubles, team
🎂 Born: January 15, 1994, in Qingdao, China
🌍 Country: China
🏆 Career Highlights: 4× Olympic champion (singles 2020 and 2024, team 2020 and 2024), World Cup winner 2020, 4× World Tour Grand Finals winner (2017 to 2020), world singles silver 2019

Chen won the Olympic singles at Tokyo 2020 and defended it at Paris 2024, beating Sun Yingsha 4 to 2 in both finals. She also won team gold at both Games, four Olympic golds in total. She was the first woman since Zhang Yining to defend the Olympic singles title.

She won the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals four years in a row, from 2017 to 2020. In 2020 she also won the World Cup. A world singles title is the one major she has not won, which keeps her below the players above her.

Best Table Tennis Player of Each Era

If you want one name per period, these are our picks from the ranking.

Era	Player	Why
1930s	Viktor Barna	Record five world singles titles
1960s	Zhuang Zedong	Three straight world singles titles
1990s men	Jan-Ove Waldner	Olympic champion 1992 and world champion 1989 and 1997
1990s women	Deng Yaping	Four Olympic golds and world No. 1 from 1990 to 1997
2000s men	Wang Liqin	Three world singles titles from 2001 to 2007
2000s women	Zhang Yining	Two Olympic singles golds and the first double Grand Slam
2010s	Ma Long	Two Olympic singles golds and three straight world titles
2020s	Fan Zhendong	Olympic champion 2024 and world champion 2021 and 2023

Honorable Mentions

Seven more players who came close and could make a top 15 on another day.

Angelica Rozeanu: The Romanian won the women’s world singles title six years in a row.
Richard Bergmann: Won the world singles title four times, in 1937, 1939, 1948 and 1950.
Jean-Philippe Gatien: The Frenchman won the 1993 world title, the 1994 World Cup and the 1992 Olympic singles silver.
Wang Hao: Won the 2009 world title and three World Cups, and took Olympic singles silver in 2004, 2008 and 2012.
Li Xiaoxia: Won Olympic, world and World Cup singles titles, completing the career Grand Slam.
Xu Xin: Won Olympic team gold in 2016 and three world titles in men’s doubles.
Sun Yingsha: Won Olympic team gold in 2020 and 2024 and the mixed doubles gold in Paris with Wang Chuqin.

More About Table Tennis

FAQ

Who is the best table tennis player of all time?

In our ranking it is Ma Long, ahead of Jan-Ove Waldner and Deng Yaping. Ma Long won six Olympic golds, more than any other table tennis player, and is the only man to complete the career Grand Slam twice.

Who are the top 10 greatest table tennis players of all time?

Our top 10 is Ma Long, Jan-Ove Waldner, Deng Yaping, Zhang Yining, Zhang Jike, Fan Zhendong, Wang Nan, Liu Guoliang, Wang Liqin and Ding Ning.

Who is the best female table tennis player of all time?

Deng Yaping, with four Olympic golds, 18 world titles and eight years as world No. 1. Zhang Yining, the first player to complete a double career Grand Slam, is the closest alternative.

Who has won the most Olympic gold medals in table tennis?

Ma Long with six: the singles in 2016 and 2020 and the team event in 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024.

Who has won the most world singles titles in table tennis?

Among men, Viktor Barna with five, all in the 1930s. Among women, Angelica Rozeanu of Romania won six in a row.

Who is the best non-Chinese table tennis player ever?

Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden. He won the 1992 Olympic singles, two world titles and was the first man to complete the career Grand Slam. Timo Boll of Germany is the best European of the modern era.

Has Ma Long retired?

Ma Long withdrew from the world rankings at the end of 2024 after winning his sixth Olympic gold in Paris. In April 2025 he became vice president of the Chinese Table Tennis Association.