WTTC 1997 Highlights: Jan-Ove Waldner vs Vladimir Samsonov (Final)

Review all the highlights from the Jan-Ove Waldner vs Vladimir Samsonov in the Men's singles final match at the 1997 World Table Tennis Championships in Manchester, England
©TMS International
Thanks to Reflex Sports for use of footage from their videos. See tabletennisvideos.com for DVDs and tt-news.tv for online viewing of WTTC events in HD.

[@Detherocable]

21-0...all that can be said. a whole wttc without dropping a set.

[@g4mbl4er]

Still better quality than 2013 german open, probably the same cameras as someone mensioned

[@TheOlzee]

I was there at only 14. Great experience.

[@sergioaguilar2908]

7:04 the greatest ace serve in history...i remeber watching with my friends the vhs video and getting crazy...rewing it! WTF was that!

[@junkiatfighting4sab477]

That look back was cold

[@dariogutierrez6716]

Samsonov head: this a final, my country in on the line. Waldner head: woah this dude's really tall.

[@gustavoleal5318]

the best table tennis player ever !!

[@christiangro2991]

+Gustavo Leal no way lol

[@GenyaArikado]

Ma Long is the best player of all time. Waldner is second best because of his longetivity.

[@GenyaArikado]

@Nermin Huskic And Ma Long won the last WTTC without losing more than 1 set and that's even harder because the sets are to 11. Waldner has overwhelmingly had the best longetivity of any table-tennis player though.

[@thenewguy7527]

@@GenyaArikado that title belongs to Chuang, Timo and Vladi who, unlike Waldner, took care of their body and are much better sportsmen.

[@GenyaArikado]

@@thenewguy7527 i am swedish and Waldner is the second best player of all time..first is Ma Long...he has been the most dominating..i am sad he hasn't won a title for some time now though...

[@Miguel53de]

Interesting Samsonovs Service. It is still the same now, 16 years later.

[@thenewguy7527]

5 years later...

[@ahhdodbegyd]

23

[@ingullar]

That used to be times of European WTTC final... Two TT legends...

[@kortlandlfskdjflaskjdf7979]

The smaller balls made it a thinking game

[@ty0ung0s]

The young and inexperienced Samsonov was devoured by the Scandinavian old fox Waldner at the 1997 WTTC. Haha! Now that is 16 years later, Samsonov lives a second life at 37 as he transforms into an "old fox" himself who tries to prey on some young and rising top players of the world with the same but improved blocker style. ★★★★★

[@climhyung]

Samsonov had no answer. Waldner was looping down the line to his backhand all day/night.

[@christianwhite9583]

This video reminds me of when I was in my table tennis prime.

[@andrewparlby3019]

Me too !!!

[@zairiliskandar4310]

one of the best if not the best pendulum server (7/11/24)

[@hanzblicks6343]

5:32 This is the most important part and a preliminary decision: Waldner making 3:0 points at Vladis serve.

[@bjorn5814]

Waldner GOAT, he never had the same resistance as Ma Long had during his early training days. Sure Sweden had some good players in the history of table tennis, but to compare with china in table tennis is like comparing Egypt to Norway in skiing.

[@Youtube_Globetrotter]

Sweden won 5 man WC 1989 so, not exacly Egypt.

[@bjorn5814]

@@KZbin_Globetrotter true but you see the point I try to make, maybe an bad example.

[@martinskanal]

Waldner is a true legend, a raw natural, perhaps with the deepest understanding of the game, but it is hard to argue with the championship statistics of Ma Long.. he had tougher competition when he was at his best and was physically superior, faster and better footwork. Hard to compare the two as they dominated the sport at different eras. If Waldner was born 15 years later and had received the same training regime as Ma Long in his youth.. who knows? I am not sure how Waldner would have responded to the die-hard discipline in such a system, though - perhaps he was too much of an individualist?

[@Abcdef12396]

Sweden has taken the second most medals in the world championships in modern era. I guess you should compare Sweden in table tennis to Sweden in skiing then. And I bet you are from Norway (: haha

[@martinskanal]

@@Abcdef12396 haha you are right about me being from Norway. I grew up watching a flickery broadcast of Lilla Sportspeglen every week and my hero was Gunde Swan. I was 14 when Waldner won in Dortmund. Both were childhood Heroes of mine.

[@jessicaderoubaix254]

J adore ce joueur il est génial

[@alexisseron]

The best ever!!

[@ShamDiscTV5K]

waldners best form id say

[@gab5012]

BRUH THIS CAMERA ANGLE WAS WAY BETTER!

[@ldjstudy]

Too good. Legend~!!!

[@alberthuang4868]

Samsonov style is reactive and passive counter attacking - defensive and preying on opponents mistakes. Samsonov should have developed a more aggressive proactive approach but perhaps it is hard to change the DNA of his playing approach

[@GenyaArikado]

2017 WTTC-> Ma Long vs Fan Zhendong is on a whole other godly level! I am swedish telling you all this.

[@arielpefaur1136]

Ohhh yes, best match

[@TheMrBennito]

Waldner true gentleman, shake hands with Samsonov in th end not the cool indifferent stuff we have seen so often

[@trentbrown9346]

Was this match televised?

[@JoKiTrOn]

same cameras xD

[@mypekicks]

Samsonov was too young that year. Waldner was playing phenomenally and Vlad kept serving long…

[@benpork8533]

Waldner plays like Ma Long.

[@environmentalvid1]

Correction: Ma Long plays like Waldner :)

[@hangintree33]

no...waldner is a genius...ma long a athlet. waldner more tactic...ma long more power! both are the top players...but diffrent time!

[@Galimah]

@PingPong tt Nah Ma Long is Waldner, only more dynamic with his hurrcane rubbers

[@dickn.ormous1064]

@@Galimah Ma Long is a smasher and mostly plays to the middle.Waldner was a looper who went for the angles.

[@Sergietes]

If you look the end of the video seems like he didn't sweat even a drop haha

[@ottostrid8124]

Jo waldner best pleyer ever.

[@GenyaArikado]

fan heller

[@jonoloko8112]

Waldner the legend and clever player all time..but the Blade waldner made of donic why don't famous like the Blade player legend other Made of butterfly ?

[@multiio1424]

Watching Samsonov's long winded theatrical serve movement makes me aggressive. 😂

[@蘭夢-e2p]

このときのワルドナー強いな〜

[@Nerdcrusher]

Is Samsonov the demon responsible for normalizing the shouting that is ubiquitous in modern TT?

[@dickn.ormous1064]

Jiang Jialiang did it in the 80's.

[@Женя-д9г5б]

Вальднер зверь за 9 мин ЧМ выиграл!

[@GenyaArikado]

Even Waldner in his prime would get crushed by Ma Long!

[@NoodleEntertainment]

Genya Arikado honestly, I think so too. I mean you can't really compare them because of the different time and different rubbers they had, but yeah.. I think Ma Long would win against Waldner at his prime cause he has just so much speed and such a perfect technique. Waldner would play too passive and give Ma Long too many opportunities

[@OrlandoLeal]

No

[@IcoachTT]

absolute nonsense. Ma Long is mechanically trained and has nowhere near the touch that Waldner naturally possessed. Given the same equipment etc Waldner wins.

[@eduardosena8579]

Genya Arikado are you crazy?

[@GenyaArikado]

@?,?,IN 2009 Ma Long was much more insecure and his backhand wasn't as good as after 2013.