After the 2023 Chengdu Mixed Team World Cup, the ITTF announced two happy events.
On the day the Mixed Team World Cup came to an end, ITTF President Petra Solin, ITTF Vice President and Chinese Table Tennis Association President Liu Guoliang made the big announcement: the men's and Women's Singles World Cup will be resumed in Macau, China, in April 2024.
The 2024 WTT Singapore Grand Slam will be held at the Singapore Sports Hub from March 10 to 17 next year. This will be the third year in a row that Singapore has hosted the Grand Slam, all of which have been held in March.
The ITTF has restarted the men's and Women's Singles World Cup, so players can compete for a real Grand Slam again.
In the past, when we talked about Grand Slam, it meant that a player won the Olympic singles gold medal, the World Table Tennis Championships singles championship, and the World Cup singles championship. By collecting all three World Series singles titles, the player achieved a grand Slam.
Ten players in the international table tennis world have achieved Grand Slams. The male players include Waldner, Liu Guoliang, Kong Linghui, Zhang Jike and Ma Long, while the female players include Deng Yaping, Wang Nan, Zhang Yining, Li Xiaoxia and Ding Ning. The national table tennis team accounted for 9 places, of which Zhang Yining and Ma Long achieved a double circle Grand Slam (three major singles have achieved two wins).
So which player will be the next Grand Slam?
First of all, it must be stated that the player who wins the WTT (Singapore) Grand Slam singles title is not a Grand Slam in the traditional sense.
In addition, the WTT World Cup should not be counted as one of the three major world competitions. Winning the WTT World Cup championship rewards 1,500 points, which is lower than the WTT Grand Slam, Olympic Games, and World Table Tennis Championships. The singles champions of these three events earn 2,000 points. The WTT World Cup is only a second-tier event.
Since the International Table Tennis Federation is preparing to restart the men's and women's Singles World Cup, then the players who have won the Olympic singles gold medal, the World Table Tennis Championships singles gold medal and the World Cup singles championship will be considered to have achieved a grand Slam.
There are two players in the national table Tennis team who are only one step away from achieving the Grand Slam.
Like Chen Meng. She won the World Cup women's singles title in November 2020 and the Olympic Women's Singles gold medal in July 2021. She competed at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in women's singles. If she wins the women's singles title at the World Table Tennis Championships, she will become the player who achieved Grand Slam in the shortest time. Unfortunately, she didn't make it to the final four that time. In 2023 Durban World Table Tennis Championships, Chen Meng only won the silver medal of women's singles at the World Table Tennis Championships, and once again missed the Grand Slam.
If Chen Meng wants to achieve Grand Slam, she can only hope to win the women's singles championship in the future World Table Tennis Championships. With the growth of age, Chen Meng's competitive state has slipped a bit, to see if she can achieve her dream in the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships. If she calls until then. By 2025, Chen Meng will be 31 years old.
Fan Zhendong also has high hopes for a Grand Slam. Fan Zhendong won four World Cup men's singles gold MEDALS, two World Table Tennis Championships men's singles gold MEDALS, only missing an Olympic gold medal. With his current competitive condition, he is expected to win the men's singles gold medal in the Paris Olympic Games next year. Fan Zhendong could very well be the next Grand Slam.
Sun Yingsha and Wang Manyu also have a chance at a Grand Slam.
Sun Yingsha won the women's singles title at the Durban World Table Tennis Championships on May 28 this year, becoming the first post-00s singles champion in the history of the World Table Tennis Championships. She has a chance to compete in the women's Singles World Cup next April and the Paris Olympics starting in late July. With the strength of Sun Yingsha, there is a chance to win the World Cup women's singles champion and the Olympic women's singles gold medal.
Zhang Jike achieved the Grand Slam in 445 days, becoming the shortest time for a Grand Slam in the international table tennis world. Sun Yingsha has a chance to break Zhang Jike's record, but it will be difficult. It is very difficult for Sun Yingsha to win the World Cup singles champion and the Olympic singles champion. But Sun Yingsha can go for a rush.
Wang Manyu can also be rushed.
Wang Manyu won the women's singles gold medal at the World Table Tennis Championships in November 2021. She also has a chance to compete in singles at next year's World Cup and the Paris Olympics. Don't be surprised if she achieves the Grand Slam one step ahead of Sun Yingsha. That is, of course, if she can compete in the World Cup and Olympic singles next year.
Therefore, Fan Zhendong, Chen Meng, Sun Yingsha, Wang Manyu and other four people have the chance to achieve the Grand Slam, of which Fan Zhendong is the most likely to achieve.
Of course, that said, it does not rule out that none of them can achieve a Grand Slam. After all, the competition in table tennis is very big, and no one has the certainty to win the singles championship of the three tournaments.
As for the rest of the players, they don't have a triple singles title, let alone a Grand Slam, that's too early.
