By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday, October 3, 2024
Carlos Alcaraz AND Jannik the SinnerOtherworldly tennis rivalry has been compared to ‘ping pong’ by many pundits.
This week at the China Open, Olympic men’s silver medalist Alcaraz, who claimed the singles title in Beijing, met the real table tennis pros.
Paris Olympics medalists gathered at the China Open as Alcaraz mingled with table tennis gold, silver and bronze medalists from China, Sweden and France, respectively.
Alcaraz, who defeated Sinner in a thrilling three-set final on Wednesday night, met Olympic gold medalist Fan Zhengdong, who was also in attendance for Alcaraz’s round of 16 match, taking part in a ceremonial coin toss.
“Obviously a special guest in China, getting the gold, great to have him here. I hope he enjoyed my match,” said Alcaraz, who picked up his 200th tournament win on Sunday . “Yes, it was a great day for me.”
After his first-round victory over France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Friday, Alcaraz met table tennis singles and team silver medalist Truls Moregardh of Sweden along with French team bronze medalists brothers Alexis and Felix Lebrun and Simon Gauzy . 18-year-old Felix Lebrun, who is one of the sport’s young stars, was also a singles bronze medalist in Paris.
Table tennis stars have followed Alcaraz’s match and are big fans of this sport. They took overtime in Beijing in preparation for the WTT China SMASH event, which started on Saturday and runs until October 6.
“I’ve always loved watching tennis and my brother (Alexis) and I try to play tennis when we go home to Montpellier,” said Felix, who is world No. 5 in table tennis. “It was great to go to the China Open and see the best tennis players and also meet different players like (Carlos) Alcaraz and (Daniil) Medvedev.”
Not surprisingly, Lebrun is impressed with Alcaraz’s dynamic court coverage.
“Carlos is so fast and very dynamic on the pitch,” he said. “He’s very good to look at and he’s a good guy too. When we met him, we talked a little about the Olympics and a little about his game, but it was a pleasure to meet him and it was fantastic to watch him play.”
The French team are also friends with compatriot Eduoard Roger-Vasselin, who after his double victory in the first round, met the bronze medalists in their seats on Lotus Court to watch the finish of the Alcaraz-Mpetshi Perricard match.
The 22-year-old Moregardh, who was a two-time silver medalist in Paris, also enjoyed his day at the China Open. “My experience at the China Open was fantastic, great players, great people, fantastic arena, fantastic tennis matches, super high quality and activities for fans to come and watch,” said the Swede.
Co-tournament director Lars Graff, who hails from Sweden, added: “It was great to have the silver medalist from Sweden at the Paris Olympics come here. I was extremely proud to have him here and also the French players , the future of table tennis, two young brothers, one was a semi-finalist and won the bronze medal, and they won the team bronze medal. Now in table tennis, China, Sweden and France dominate.
“They really enjoyed coming to the China Open and I enjoyed going to the WTT to see how they put on a world-class table tennis tournament.”
