46^th World Table Tennis Championships

Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001

By Larry Hodges

Below: Waldner wins another title.

Warning to Coaches – Don’t let your students read this!!!

On Saturday, April 21, two days before the Worlds began, Eric Owens and I had the opportunity to watch how two of the greatest players of all time practiced as they prepared to defend their Men’s Team title here in Japan. It would undoubtedly be a sweatfast of footwork drills and sweat. After all, that’s what was happening on all the other tables. Without further ado, here’s a rundown of actual drills the two did. Not rallies – these were actual practice drills! So mark these down for your next practice session – and hope your coach doesn’t see it!

File Photo of Waldner by John Oros, copyright 2000

Drill One: Persson looped his forehand from his backhand corner, alternating one to Waldner’s wide backhand, one to Waldner’s middle. Waldner, keeping his body rigid, leaned side to side, so one foot would come off the ground, and he’d rock the other way, balanced on the other foot, until he was in position to block. Then he’d rock back the other way.

Drill Two: Persson looped his forehand from his backhand side to Waldner’s backhand. Waldner alternately blocked with the shakehand grip and the Seemiller grip.

Drill Three: They hit backhand to backhand, except that Waldner alternated hitting normal backhands, and slashing sidespin backhands.

Drill Four: They hit backhand to backhand, corner to corner, to the same spot each time. However, Waldner would move to his left, then lean right to hit one backhand, and then move to his right and lean left to hit the next backhand.

Drill Five: They took turns doing chop kills while the other chop lobbed.

Drill Six: They played a game where they alternated serves, and the receiver had to play all chop. Waldner seemed to win.

To quote USA Team Member Eric Owens, "It must be a total nightmare for Persson to practice with Waldner because Waldner is a professional goof-off."

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