Why Has Boll's Career Lasted So Long?
The last time I wrote about Boll growing more wicked with age was back in early 2019. That article even won a reward from Toutiao’s Qingyun Plan.
Boll was already 37 then, but even so, he only retired this year. He is 44 now. There was a time he was China’s strongest rival, hailed as the table tennis brain. Even in the late stage of his career, he repeatedly played unbelievable matches, beating extraordinary young players. His exquisite, constantly innovating technique, and his fair and upright character on court, all left a deep impression. So what has supported Boll through such a long career? Butterfly interviewed Boll and revealed three key elements.
One: Never losing the fun, always keeping the spirit of challenge
Boll never lost the joy of enjoying matches. He always held a spirit of challenge — to further improve his game, or to adjust himself in response to rule changes.
A few years ago I wrote about some of Boll’s technical adjustments. At the start of the new plastic ball era, many could not adapt. But Boll transitioned very well. Early Boll often waited for the descending point to loop with spin, then seized chances to kill. But entering the plastic ball era, he began to ramp up speed — more rising-phase ripping and a higher proportion of pivot attacks. He was never complacent.
Boll mentioned he had to change his style many times, rebuilding his technical and tactical system. It is a continuous process of analysis, but always full of fun. You must think about table tennis at all times, holding the belief that you must achieve perfection. Although he once reached world number one, he still felt it was not perfect enough. There is always something to improve, and that pursuit kept him hungry.
Earlier I wrote some articles about Felix’s and Hugo’s training. Besides always keeping fun in their practice, they try to add new techniques every year. I think this is not only to approach technical completeness, but is itself a very enjoyable thing. For us amateurs too, we should keep adding new techniques, to love this sport more lastingly.
Two: Solid fundamentals, superb technique
About Fan Zhendong’s style, Butterfly’s official site once defined it as the origin is the summit and the strongest basic style. When I was chatting with a former national team veteran, he also mentioned that one gap between Wang Chuqin and Fan Zhendong is that Xiaopang’s fundamentals are more solid.
Boll mentioned he learned very superb technique from childhood. Without many flaws, his technique at the time was very modern, with compact and fast strokes and great explosiveness. So over the years he needed some adjustments, but always used these techniques as a foundation, without having to learn new techniques entirely from scratch.
In table tennis, the body reacting and acting unconsciously is very important, and this gives confidence. Compared with thinking with the head, intuitive movements matter more. Of course thinking is important too — much strategy is needed — but intuition matters more than that. Precisely because of superb technique, one can rely on one’s own intuition.
For us amateurs, the fundamentals are naturally not solid, with many problems. We can only keep correcting ourselves. But we cannot neglect practice. From the angle of technical improvement, more practice keeps a better feel. As Boll said, intuition matters more than head-thinking. If something can be solved by intuition and reflex, why bother racking your brain?
Three: From the start of his career, valuing physical training and recovery
Boll mentioned he valued physical training from a young age. He paid attention to body balance, absorbed a lot of gymnastics and other sports, and especially invested in strengthening his back.
Also, fortunately, in the early stage of my career I had the chance to play against Wang Liqin. Through matches with him, I truly felt how important a strong body is, and how big a difference it makes in matches. From then on, I deeply recognized that I had to thoroughly train physical ability.
So even as he aged, he could lay a sufficient foundation physically. Past 40, though somewhat weakened, before that he was physically outstanding. From a certain point, he reduced stroke practice and correspondingly increased physical training. Because his table tennis technique was already solid, there was no need to focus on it so much.
He always worked to keep his body in good shape, seeing a doctor at least once a week, getting regular checkups, and almost daily — sometimes two or three times a day — receiving physiotherapy.
I am reminded of NBA Rockets star Sengun, who through sports beyond basketball, like yoga, improves his flexibility, balance and breathing. So on court, we can see him score with somewhat off-balance moves, while also reducing injuries.
As for myself, the most profound experience of how much the body affects matches was the summer before the Guangdong University Games. The month before, I mainly did two things: practicing and sleeping. With enough sleep, my energy was full and my body felt its energy multiply. Opponents I was 50-50 with back in the countryside — for several weeks after the University Games, I kept a near-perfect record against them. I always felt the body had an endless supply of energy.
The counterexample now is that on weeknights, my win rate is just average. Because I am too busy, with insufficient sleep. If I go play at night, my energy always feels ordinary, and my willingness to actively generate power is not strong. But on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, my win rate is much higher, because I slept enough in the morning.