Still matters.

Because Waldner keeps a level center-of-mass, and only moves it when he has to, and moves smoothly, his eyes have less dynamic-tracking overhead to deal with. The calculations are simpler. Coaches should keep that in mind.

Dan Nobumi federer vs nadal?

Something like this.

I think Waldner is allrounder

Ma Lin is nothing like physical, and so this is nothing like a physical vs technical duel... really bad labeling

I personally wouldn't say that Ma Lin is a physical player, even when he was in his prime.

Nirbhay Pandya big cats

Big cats

Yep

It's a shame that in the 40mm+ era, Waldner's playing style is no longer feasible.

And he is a very nice guy

Ma Lin is a legend as well

@@vikingkrigare5329 He is but Waldner poses an Amazing touch on the ball. He is the Best European Player in my opinion.

It's sooo hard to compare players in this area ?? When ball got bigger and had to move arm from serve . Maybe waldner not as good . But his touch was something amazing even with smaller ball . He's my fav player of all time

Not even close he’s just the best of his era Best of all time is easily ma long

The best of all time has h2h losing records against many players. To say Waldner was enduring and resourceful, yes, but the best of all time???????

​@@benthekeeshond545 Waldner didn't make washed up veterans relevant again like Ma Long did with Boll/Samsonov.h2h records my ass...Lost only 1 match out of 8 against Klampar(a league match in 1984) and Klampar had a better run in his 30's at the Olympics/WTTC than either of them ever did.So much for the h2h records...Of course against minnows like Ovtcharov/Mizutani he has good records.

It's Ma Long but Waldner has a beautiful game.

As a Chinese, I can tell you that your theory makes more sense on Vladimir Samsonov. We always saying that his style is just like playing Tachi, which is very fit to Chinese mindset. But for Waldner, on the one hand, we admire his toughness for competing with 6 generations of Chinese player. On the other hand, he got really good-looking moves which differ from all other Europeans, especially his forehand. Indeed as you said, he always performed a lot of effortless and master-like moves as well, but for Chinese fans, he is classified with Ma Lin, Xu Xin and Koki Niwa as very an entertaining player rather than someone who fit Chinese mindset.

ITTF 2019: hold my 20fps 240p camera

His play style is very physically conservative, look how little he moves in every shot, plus he is defensive most of the time, seeking the rival mistakes. That is what made him able to play at top level for so long. I love to watch him play. And Ma Lin, extremely good player also.

38, Ma Lin was 23 I guess.

Ma Lin is still not the same age Waldner was 2004

Waldner played 3 generations of Chinese players. Respect!

@@TheVampB simply because China always have new talents while Sweden don't.

΄cause the quick play of Ma Lin was nothing new for Waldner.Guys like Gatien and Saive were speed demons and Waldner countered their shots all the time.

I don't know the exact head to head results but in an interview JOW said ML won way more of their encounters. www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/showthread.php?1796-Waldner-stats-vs-Chinese

Ma Lin vs Waldner 7-2 in Ma Lin favour.

😂😂😂

As liu guoliang said, with the 38mm ball waldner was best, but with 40mm ball ma long is, and will be the best for a long time.

Only caucasians would say Waldner is goat because white people won't accept that Ma Long is even better. His major titles speak for himself. Heck some white people even say Timo Boll is the best in this era while obviously there are Ma Long and Zhang Jike in his era. The only argument white people have is "longetivity" which is absurd. ITTF always change the rules, rangking system, etc anything they can to suppress China. For example in last Olympic they changed the max number of players from the same country from 3 to 2 because top 3 players are chinese. Because of these number limitations China can only focus on their best 3 or 4 men singles and since they have too many talents they need the older players to step down to make room for the younger talents. In Sweden and Germany they only have Waldner, Persson, and Timo, they don't have anyone to replace them and they have to play as long as they could for new talents in their country to finally show up. Kong Linghui, Liu Guoliang, Ma Lin, Wang Liqin, Wang Hao, Zhang Jike, and now Ma Long, Xu Xin, FZD, LJK. They produced top players at faster rate than any other country that's why even the slightest decline in performances can force them out of national team. While Waldner and Timo Boll can play forever for their country because no one will replace them.

@@aaronaaron5861 couldn't agree more

@@aaronaaron5861 It is not the number of titles you win that makes you the best. You can just see it. One drastic example of this is Ronaldinho, who was, like Waldner, unmatched at its prime. It is how they almost become one with the ball. Pure class.

​@@aaronaaron5861 Ma Long didn't face much competition from foreign players,he played mostly against veterans.Waldner faced much stronger competition both in number and quality. Waldner also was an innovator developing the serve grip whereas Ma Long is a cookie cutter mass-produced Chinese player.Comparisons with Waldner are silly. Of course Chinese officials always want to hype their players.Ma Long has always been suffering from knee injuries he wouldn΄t make it in Waldner's era.At least the previous generation of Ma Lin,Wang Hao,Wang Liqin was injury free.

Not a good idea, the asians would rule the world. It is a very under appreciated sport though.

Waldner beat him at least three times 1998 Italy Open, Yugoslav Open and the 2004 Olympics.

@@dickn.ormous1064 Waldner has a superior record over Ma Lin. In fact, Waldner has a superior record over all the Chinese. That is why Waldner is the best

@@alberthuang4868 He doesn't have superior record over Ma Lin but he beat him in the Olympics at the age of 38.Ma Lin retired at the age of 33 after losing to Japanese blocker Matsudaira.Ma Lin doesn't hold a candle to Waldner and that's a fact.

@@CoolCoyote Show me a Chinese Player that can still beat top players at age 40. Waldner played against Ma Long at age 40 he lost 3-1.

Waldner is fast but not chinese top players fast

Of course Ma Lin has more wins over Waldner...he is 15 years younger! ^^

@@matalbasse excuses

@@TheRafaelBond Jo Waldner is a legend, he comes from sweden which had about 8-9 million people during his playing, while China had 1 billion plus people. It's laughable China couldn't produce a better player than that with the amount of people living there, so.

olle12 not every one in China play table tennis okay? They not even have time to workout.

olle12 that’s not how it works. Football has been England’s national sport for almost 2 centuries. That doesn’t mean you should expect them to produce world class players

The ball was smaller

人間だ

No, he has. He just uses backhand for blocking more often than for attack.

Ma's backhand is no better

So what have you go to say about Chinese pen-hold players who have been dominating the sport forever? They generally use it to block and guide and will occasionaly attack with a top-spin. Waldner had the best block in history and one of his trademark was the smash backhand!

his backhand loop was fine but at that time chiquita wasn't invented, most people tried to use forehand.

lol easily dismantle ? you really don't even know how to play table tennis. remember he destroyed Malin and Timo Boll at 2004 when he was 39.