The retirement of the 2024 Olympic champion raised many questions about WTT’s competency, but the fact remains that Fan Zhendong retired as the best player in the World.
As much as World Table Tennis tries to downgrade the importance of the major tournaments, such as the Olympic Games or World Table Tennis Championships – a triumph at these events remains the peak achievement of every table tennis player. No absurd ranking system can change this.
Fan Zhendong missed the second part of 2024, and after the Olympics, his only appearances were in the local Chinese competitions. In the first half of 2024, he had some losses, however, those don’t really matter since the commercial tournaments don’t hold that much value outside of ranking points.
Regarding the biggest event of 2024, Fan Zhendong was unstoppable on the way to his Olympic gold medal in the singles event. The only nerve-wracking match was at the 1/4 finals against the Japanese star – Tomokazu Harimoto. It took seven sets to find out the winner.
Other than that, the 27-year-old Chinese international took the most important title of 2024 and it should be valued more than any other success of the past year. Some might argue that Wang Chuqin had a better year with his World Tour final win and #1 spot in the World Ranking at the end of the year. However, he had some massive flops when it did matter the most. The Olympics was a true disappointment.
Fan Zhendong definitely has plenty left in the tank, and if not for the WTT incompetency and lack of respect toward players, he definitely would’ve been able to improve his legacy in 2025. It’s rare to see the best player in the World to retire at the peak of his powers. Nevertheless, he’s retired and now we can only look back and admire his past achievements.
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