GOAT Index

Two legends at a time. Thousands of votes. One ranking.

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Who is the greatest table tennis player of all time?

Who's greater?

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    Men's table tennis GOAT ranking: the fans' top 18

    Based on 46 head-to-head votes from 3 fans. Updated live.

    1. Ma Long China · rating 1818 · 4–0
    2. Zhang Jike China · rating 1761 · 3–0
    3. Fan Zhendong China · rating 1736 · 5–1
    4. Wang Liqin China · rating 1708 · 5–1
    5. Wang Hao China · rating 1696 · 6–2
    6. Jan-Ove Waldner Sweden · rating 1613 · 4–3
    7. Timo Boll Germany · rating 1595 · 2–1
    8. Ma Lin China · rating 1592 · 5–3
    9. Kong Linghui China · rating 1509 · 1–1
    10. Liu Guoliang China · rating 1445 · 5–6
    11. Xu Xin China · rating 1431 · 2–4
    12. Zhuang Zedong China · rating 1395 · 0–2
    13. Jörgen Persson Sweden · rating 1382 · 2–4
    14. Werner Schlager Austria · rating 1334 · 2–5
    15. Wang Chuqin China · rating 1309 · 0–3
    16. Jean-Michel Saive Belgium · rating 1235 · 0–3
    17. Ichiro Ogimura Japan · rating 1223 · 0–3
    18. Truls Möregårdh Sweden · rating 1218 · 0–4

    Popular Men's table tennis matchups

    Questions

    Who is the Men's table tennis GOAT according to fans?

    Ma Long currently leads the GOAT Index Men's table tennis ranking after 46 head-to-head votes from 3 fans.

    How is the ranking calculated?

    Fans vote on head-to-head matchups between two legends. Every vote counts like a game result, and a Bradley–Terry model (the idea behind chess ratings) turns thousands of results into one ranking, where beating a highly rated legend counts for more than beating a long shot.

    More GOAT debates

    Men: NBA · Men's football · Men's tennis · NFL · MLB · NHL · Men's boxing · Formula 1

    Women: Women's basketball · Women's football · Women's tennis · Women's ice hockey · Women's boxing · Women's table tennis

    How the ranking works. Every head-to-head vote is a result, like a game. The standings use a Bradley–Terry model, the same idea behind chess ratings: beating a highly rated legend counts for more than beating a long shot. Ratings are shown on a chess-style scale centred on 1500.

    One vote per matchup per person. If you see a pairing again in another session your new answer replaces the old one, so nobody can stuff the ballot by repeating a matchup.

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