 Boll in 2022 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1981-03-08)8 March 1981 (age 44) |
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[2] |
| Weight | 72 kg (159 lb)[2] |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Table tennis |
| Club | Borussia Düsseldorf[3] |
| Playing style | Left-handed, shakehand grip |
| Equipment(s) | Butterfly Timo Boll ALC blade; Butterfly Dignics 09c (Black, FH); Butterfly Dignics 09c (Red, BH) Early career = Donic |
| Highest ranking | 1 (January 2003)[1] |
Medal record | |
Timo Boll (German pronunciation:[ˈtiːmoˈbɔl],audioⓘ; born 8 March 1981) is a German former professionaltable tennis player. Boll is the most successful German table tennis player of all time, having won several medals atOlympic Games, world cups, and world championships.[4] He was ranked world No. 1 in 2003, 2011 and in March 2018.[5]
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Boll was born inErbach im Odenwald,Hessen. Boll started playing at age 4, and was coached at the time by his father. In 1987, he became a member of TSV Höchst. At age 8, he was discovered by Helmut Hampel, aHessian trainer who promoted him. In 1990, he started to train at the training centrePfungstadt and four years later changed teams toFTG Frankfurt [de] with whom he took part in the Second Division, at which time he attracted the attention of other table tennis associations.TTV Gönnern [de] recruited him in 1995, a move which required the entire team to relocate 170 km away, toHöchst, to enable daily training with the then 14-year-old Boll. Boll was placed in position five on the team, but lost only one match throughout the whole season. This contributed to the team's transition to the table tennis national league's Tischtennis-Bundesliga (First Division).
At age 14, Boll held the title of youngest player in the national league (A title he shared with Frank Klitzsch). He celebrated his first international success during theTable Tennis European Youth Championships inThe Hague in 1995, where he won three gold medals. In 1996, he was a runner up in the Junior Boys Singles of that same competition, but then went on to win the singles title in 1997 and 1998, as well the doubles title in 1998.[6] He finished school with a secondary school level I certificate.
In 2002, Timo Boll became the first German player to win theEurope-Top-12-Tournament beatingVladimir Samsonov in the final. Boll also became the best German player, according to theITTF Rankings, overtakingJörg Roßkopf. During theEuropean Table Tennis Championships inZagreb, Boll won both the singles and the doubles withZoltan Fejer-Konnerth. The German team featuring Boll was defeated in the final by the Swedish team with a score of 2–3. With his victory in the 2002Table Tennis World Cup held inJinan, China (where he beat the world championWang Liqin and the Olympic championKong Linghui), Timo Boll finished the year as the highest ranked player in the world. During the European Championship of 2003, Vladimir Samsonov led the Belarusian team to victory in the final against the German team. After his elimination during the second round of the singles competition, Boll lost his number one position in the world rankings.
Back problems troubled Boll during the first half of 2004, which hindered his preparation for the2004 Summer Olympics. Here, he was outclassed in the quarterfinal byJan-Ove Waldner. After a period marked by public criticism, Timo Boll won tournament victories in Poland, Austria, and Germany. He also reached semi-finals of thePro Tour in Peking, where he was edged out 3–4 byMa Lin. Early in the 2005 season, Boll's back problems struck again; nevertheless, he won the silver medal in doubles at the World Championship, playing withChristian Süß. He was awarded the Fair Play Award from theITTF after a referee's decision was reversed in favor of his opponent during the knockout rounds of that competition, leading to a defeat. The year ended with Boll winning theChampions League withTTV RE-BAU Gönnern [de], and theTable Tennis World Cup inLiège in Belgium, in which he defeated all three Chinese first-class players.
In December 2006, Timo Boll signed a 3-year contract withBorussia Düsseldorf, the current championship record-holding team, due to his former team's financial situation and loss of key players. Boll also moved in light of the upcoming Olympic Games 2008 and the possibility to train there with his doubles partner,Christian Süß. His 3-year contract with Borussia Düsseldorf began on 1 July 2007, with stipulations allowing him to miss certain Bundesliga matches in order to focus on international tournaments. His contract was later extended until 2022.[7]
In 2007, he won theEuropean Championship singles, doubles, and in the team competition. He was also active as a guest player in theChinese Super League.[8]
During the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing, he participated again with the German national team. After victories over Croatia, Canada, Singapore and Japan in preliminary rounds and the semi-final, the team lost 0–3 against the host Chinese team.[9] As the top-ranked player in 2008, Boll successfully defended his three European Champion titles from the previous year.
At the2012 Summer Olympics, Boll lost in the last 16 toAdrian Crisan but the German team won the bronze medal in the men's team event, losing to China in semi-finals but beating Hong Kong in the bronze medal deciding match.
Back problems led Boll to not participate in the 2008 and 2009 World Championships in China and Japan respectively. At the 2008 World Cup in Liège, he scored a semi-final victory overMa Long but lost out in the final againstWang Hao, winning a silver medal.
At the beginning of 2011, Timo Boll was back at the top of the world rankings, having beatenMa Lin in the Volkswagen Cup final. In April 2011, he was replaced as number 1 by Wang Hao.
At the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam, Boll won his first singles medal in that competition, a bronze medal, after being beaten 4:1 by world champion,Zhang Jike. During this championship, Boll declined to compete in doubles and team matches, focussing instead on the singles competition. Playing for the German national team, Boll received silver medals at both the Team World Championships 2010 in Moscow and the 2012 championships in Dortmund, losing out both times to the Chinese team.
Boll kept his good form at the Chinese Super League in 2015, obtaining a result of 7 wins and 5 losses.[10] Due to a knee injury, Boll opted for an operation to pre-empt a more serious injury.[11] The surgery kept him out of action for an extended period of time. After resting from the surgery, Boll qualified for the2016 Summer Olympics.
At the Olympic Singles event, Boll lost againstQuadri Aruna in the round of 32. At the Team event, Boll along with partnersBastian Steger andDimitrij Ovtcharov won the bronze medal at the team event.
Boll also won the silver medal at the 2017 World Cup, defeatingLin Gaoyuan in the quarterfinals,Ma Long in the semi-finals but losing to teammateDimitrij Ovtcharov in the finals. He won the silver medal in the following World Cup in 2018, losing toFan Zhendong in the finals.
Boll won another eight titles at the European Table Tennis Championships in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2018.
In June, Boll defeatedAnton Kallberg in the quarter-finals of the European Table Tennis Championships. After the match, Boll said it was one of the best matches he had played in the last year or two as he felt that he was agile and thinking well.[12] Boll then defeatedMattias Falck in the semi-finals andDimitij Ovtcharov in the finals to clinch his record-extending eighth European Championship.[13] After the event, Boll remarked that he was pleasantly surprised by the championship and that he was glad to be back on top after having a particularly bad last year.[13]
In July, two weeks before the Tokyo Olympics, Timo Boll withdrew from an internal German Olympic Scrimmage due to a hip injury.[14] Boll lost toJeoung Youngsik in the round of 16 in the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.[15] Boll helped lead Germany to the men's team finals, and played a critical role as the third match against Taiwan and Japan. Before the finals, Boll stated, "If we can be on our peak, all three of us have the skills and the will to win the match. We will definitely go no limits to prove that this is our time.[16]" However, China ended up winning 3–0.[17][18]
In 2021, Boll won the bronze medal at the 2021World Table Tennis Championships inHouston, defeatingKanak Jha in the quarterfinals 4-2 before losing toTruls Möregårdh in the semifinals. At the age of 40, this was one of his major career achievements as he had only won one singles medal at World Championships or Olympic Games before (bronze at the2011 World Table Tennis Championships).[19]
Starting in 2022, Boll suffered from various injuries, such as a rip and a shoulder injury.[20][21] These complicated his preparation for and even prevented him from competing in major events. Boll participated in the 2022European Championships inMunich, but lost toDang Qiu in straight sets.[22] He could not play the 2023World Championships in Durban at all.[21] As a consequence, he was only ranked 182th in the world in early 2024.[23]
However, 2024 started more promising for Boll. He won theWTT Contender inDoha in January, beating top-12 playersJang Woojin,Lin Yun-Ju, andTomokazu Harimoto back-to-back.[24] As a consequence, he gained 137 places in the ITTF world rankings, jumping from rank 182 to 45.[25]
At the end of May 2024, Boll announced on his social media that theParis 2024 Olympics would be his final championship, after which he decided to retire.[26][27]
Boll is a left-handed player whose best weapon is his forehand topspin drive but who is also noted for his extremely quick backhand loop. His blade is the "Timo Boll ALC" with Dignics 09c rubbers on both sides. His present doubles partner isPatrick Franziska.[28]
Boll's technique was ahead of its time as he was one of the first two-winged loopers. He employs the spin-block instead of a passive block to put more pressure on his opponents. He is renowned for being one of the top players when it comes to generating elevated amounts of spin, especially in his opening topspin. This is rendered possible by his low stance, quick acceleration and use of the wrist. This technique brought him a lot of success due to his opponents being put under pressure during the celluloid ball era. In recent years, due to the introduction of the plastic ball, which cannot be given as much spin, Boll relies more on his counter-topspin technique from both the backhand and forehand side. A good example of him employing this technique is his match against Fan Zhendong at the Austrian Open in 2019, in which he reached the deciding set against the 16 years younger World No. 1.[29] This technique allows him to conserve energy but requires very good anticipation and reading of the opponent.
Boll has played for TSV Höchst (1986 to 1994), FTG Frankfurt (1994 to 1995) and for TTV Gönnern (1995 to 2007).[30] On 1 July 2007, he signed withBorussia Düsseldorf and played for the team for 18 years before retiring in 2025.
Boll married his long-time girlfriend, Rodelia Jacobi, on 31 December 2002. They have a daughter, Zoey Malaya, born 4 December 2013.[31]
Boll has been sponsored byButterfly table tennis since 1993. In May 2007 Boll extended his sponsorship until 2015 and is still playing Butterfly to this day. He has gone on to say that he is most satisfied with the agreement. Boll has his own racquet series with the company.
| Olympic Games | ||
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| Preceded by | Flagbearer for GermanyRio de Janeiro 2016 | Succeeded by |
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| People | |
