Jan-Ove Waldner: the career of the Mozart of table tennis

To many people, Jan-Ove Waldner is the most gifted player ever to pick up a ping pong paddle. The Swede won everything at a time of strong Chinese dominance, played at the top for more than two decades and became a star even in China, where fans gave him an affectionate nickname. In Europe he got another one: "the Mozart of table tennis".

This page covers Jan-Ove Waldner's career, his titles, his playing style and why he is still so admired.

Who is Jan-Ove Waldner

Jan-Ove Waldner was born on October 3, 1965, in Stockholm, Sweden. He plays with the shakehand grip and is a complete attacker who could play close to the table or further back. He was on the Swedish team as a teenager and, in the 1980s, was among the young Swedes who spent time training in China, an experience that shaped that whole generation.

In China he was nicknamed "Lao Wa" ("Old Wa") and "Evergreen Tree" for his longevity. He is probably the best-known Swede in the country.

Waldner's titles

He also won nine Swedish singles titles, the last in 2010, when he was already past 40.

The first Grand Slam

At Barcelona 1992, Waldner beat France's Jean-Philippe Gatien in the final to win Olympic singles gold. Since he already had the 1989 world title and the 1990 World Cup, he became the first player in history to complete the Grand Slam. He was also the first Olympic singles champion from outside Asia.

His second world title, at Manchester 1997, is famous because he won the whole event without losing a single game, beating Belarus's Vladimir Samsonov in the final.

Remarkable longevity

Waldner played five Olympics, from Seoul 1988 to Athens 2004. At Sydney 2000, aged 34, he reached the final and lost to China's Kong Linghui. At Athens 2004, aged 38, he knocked out Germany's Timo Boll in the quarterfinals and finished 4th. He played in the German league until 2012 and only announced the end of his playing career in 2016, after playing for Swedish club Ängby/Spårvägen.

Playing style

The Mozart nickname comes from the way Waldner played. The traits people remember most:

• Exceptional reading of the game: he seemed to know where the ball was going before his opponent hit it.
• Serves that were varied and hard to read, with the same motion hiding different spins. See the idea in spin serve.
• Touch and variation: he kept changing pace, spin and placement instead of relying only on power.
• Calm in big points, even against the Chinese.

He made hard shots look easy, and many of his rallies still circulate online as examples of creativity.

Waldner and Sweden's golden era

Waldner was the star of the Swedish generation that, with names like Jörgen Persson, Mikael Appelgren and Peter Karlsson, challenged China from the late 1980s through the 1990s and won world team titles. That story is in Sweden's table tennis golden era. To see him next to other legends, read the greatest table tennis players of all time.

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