Tricks in table tennis: Looking for the wet ball imprint

Ladies and gentlemen, it is autumn. It may be that politically it will be a hot autumn, perhaps the hottest since weather records began, but for the table tennis playing community this is first and foremost good news. It's autumn, the start of the season, the championship is finally starting again, and above all: the sweating in tropical halls is finally over.

In my small Viennese club, which plays in a former factory hall in an industrial monument that is not registered as such, there was even a petition in the summer calling for the installation of air conditioning. No wonder, when it's more than 30 degrees in the hall, even the otherwise climate-friendly table tennis becomes a challenge. You sweat, sometimes you sweat a lot, which means that the sweat drips everywhere, not least on the ball, and you can't play a wet ball, it doesn't take on any spin, but falls quite quickly onto your own half of the table.

The rules for this are quite difficult. Actually the point bears repeating; In the hobby and amateur area, however, people usually just keep playing. It's your bad luck if the ball flops down because it's wet: point for the opponent. There are even stories circulating about people who secretly make the ball extra wet when serving in league games; a little spit is enough, the opponent cannot return the ball because it simply falls off the racket. The rule is: “Points played count.” Side effect of this rule: Even when mistakes are caused by other means, players like to look first at their own hitter, looking for the wet ball imprint.

But a wet ball is definitely a disadvantage in its own right. This is one of the reasons why, at professional games, you often see the professionals drying tables and floors between rallies. Darko Jorgić, top player from Slovenia, even blows on the ball before serving to keep it dry.

Speaking of Slovenia, the highlight of this fall takes place in the middle of autumn: the European Championships in singles and doubles competitions, i.e. without a team competition. Sounds a bit complicated, but the ETTU decided some time ago that two tournaments is one more, so the European Championships take place alternate years: this year the singles/doubles, next year the teams again. I'm looking forward to Ljubljana, it's not that far from Vienna. While I'll probably have to skip Porto in 2027, I'm targeting Cluj (Romania) for 2028.

Things could definitely get exciting in Ljubljana - Dang Qiu (D), the penultimate European champion, won a high-level WTT competition in Astana at the weekend and seems to be in top form; Final opponent and defending champion Alexis Lebrun and his brother Félix will certainly be a force to be reckoned with. Truls, my personal favorite player, is also one of the favorites, he recently won a “Champions” in Macao.

For the women, it will be exciting to see whether Annett Kaufmann takes the next step or whether Sabine Winter wins another big title in the autumn of her career. Defending champion Sofia Polcanova, although a bit on the decline, and her last opponent in the final, Bernadette Szőcs, are also playing for the title.

Before it starts on October 12th, there is the Bundesliga with Fan Zendong, a China Smash, and before that the Asia Games for those in Asia and four competitions for us in Vienna, so three different championships and the Cup. So far we are undefeated. But we've also just begun.