Table Tennis has mutated in the last few decades: rallies have disappeared and ping-pong has turned into chitty-chitty bang-bang.
Previous years’ smash and rally were far more exciting than today’s smash and counter smash. But at times, the rallies became infuriating.
The table tennis match between Alex Ehrlich of Poland and Rumania’s Paneth Farcas went on and on … and on. In a crucial Swaythling Cup match at Prague in April 1936, it became a cat and mouse contest, as both players depended on the other’s mistake to win a point.
They began their historic match with a rally that incredibly lasted for two hours and 12 minutes before the first point was decided. “The ball went back and forth for an estimated 12,000 times with neither player making a mistake,” wrote the Daily Mirror.
Then Ehrlich’s attention wandered, and instead of pushing the ball back to his opponent’s forehand, he directed it to his backhand. Farcas was caught on the hop and Ehrlich won his first point.
Imagine 132 minutes for a single point!
You can watch a full length movie in that time or a Twenty20 cricket match. You can almost overthrow an Australian Prime Minister in that period.
Another rally followed for the second point. After it had gone on for 20 minutes, Ehrlich thought it was time for some gamesmanship. He told his Polish teammates to set up a chess board on a side table.
To annoy Farcas, he began calling out his chess moves while continuing his table tennis match.
The ploy worked as Farcas’s nerves exploded. With one wild stroke, he threw both bat and ball over Ehrlich’s head and ran screaming out of the room.
Richard Bergmann, the King of table tennis from 1937 to 1950, was known for his unflappable concentration and grim determination. Born in Austria, he represented Austria and then England and won seven World Championships.
He won his first World Championship in 1937 when only 17. His opponent in the final was none other than Alex Ehrlich, the marathon maharaja.
Nicknamed ‘The Flea’ because of his diminutive size, Bergmann was a colourful eccentric who, according to Sportsweek magazine, played with three alarm clocks under the table until they were banned.
They were set to go off at 12, 17 and 19 minutes to warn him of the 20 minute time limit per game introduced after the Ehrlich–Farcas fracas of 1936.
A wrist watch would have served the purpose, but Bergmann refused to wear one when playing. “It impairs my rare balance,” he explained. It takes all sorts to make this world.
Another five hour table tennis marathon in the Swaythling Cup in Sarajevo in 1973 between Japan and China ended only when one of the players dropped on the floor, according to The Australian (10 April 1973).
This allowed Li-Ching-Kuang of China to smash home the winning shot and win the match after prolonged and agonising periods of the ball crossing the net in a white blur.
The Guinness Book of Records gives a weirder instance: “The longest recoded time for a marathon singles match is 59 hours and 30 minutes by Graham Shires and Peter Shaw of the Leigh Park Community Centre Youth Club in Hampshire on 29 to 31 May 1971.”
Call it ping-ponging forever.
This puts the recent eleven hour Wimbledon ‘Tennis-athon’ between Mahut and Isner in the shade. About time we have tie-breakers in the final set in a tennis match.
What do you say, Roarers?
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Mark, Congratulations on your incredible marathon record in table tennis and making it to Guiness Book of Records. I will certainly add your name and your brothers' and friend's names to my article printed last July. Please convey my congrats to your brothers Phil and Lance and your friend Bill Weir. Wow, 101 hours of non-stop TT. That is over 4 days!! Unfortunately, Vinay cannot answer your comment. He passed away this March at the youngish age of 62. My obituary on him appeared on the Roar web-site on 8 March. Below is the link: http://www.theroar.com.au/2011/03/08/vinay-verma-a-titan-among-cricket-writers/
Mark Warren
Guest
Hello Vinay - I read your response. My name is Mark Warren, and I am the current Guinness Book of World Record holder for the doubles table tennis marathon. Phil and Lance are my brothers and Bill Weir is our good friend. Even though that was back in 1979, I still have fond memories about this LONG event. We actually did a similar doubles table tennis marathon a few years earlier (1976), and played for 72 hours, but our record was broken with a total of 100 hours. So, we tried again in 1979 and went the 101+ hours (beating the foursome that beat us). Take care. Mark
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Wow! Keep them coming. Thanks ohtani's jacket. What next? For once, I don't want to go back to the rallying 1970s. First the Japanese and then the Chinese and Koreans have changed the game and made it super quick.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Expert enough for me,Kersi
ohtani's jacket
Guest
According to the Guinness book of records website: "Singles; The longest table tennis marathon singles match is 132 hr 31 min by Danny Price and Randy Nunes (both USA) at Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA on 20-26 August 1978. Doubles: The longest table tennis doubles marathon is 101 hr 1 min 11 sec by Lance, Phil, and Mark Warren and Bill Weir (all USA) at Sacramento, California, USA on 9-13 April 1979."
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Good question, Vinay. Richard Bergmann was in the Federer class, but very very defensive. He was one of the all time greats along with Viktor Barna. Alex Ehrlich, Paneth Farcas and Li-Ching-Kuang were good enough to represent their country but not great. So little is written on TT. Besides, I don't claim to be an expert in this much-neglected sport.
Vinay Verma
Roar Guru
Kersi, this little gem of research shows the endless possibilities of endeavour.But you forget to mention the respective credentials of the two men. Where were they ranked. Was it a Federer -Nadal or Isner-Mahut.?
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Yes, indeed, Brett. The most famous timeless Test was played between South Africa and England from 3 to 14 March 1939 in Durban. That is 10 full days with 5th and 12th March as rest days and no play on 11th. And yet it ended as a draw because the tourists (England) had to begin their two-day rail journey to their ship at Cape Town. It remains as the longest (10 days) first-class match ever played and produced the highest aggregate of 1981 runs (S Africa 530 and 481, England 316 and 5-654 after being set 696 to win.) But cricket marathons are properly recorded. Not Table Tennis. No Wisdens or Frindalls or CricInfo in TT. It took me ages to research and there could still be some omissions. And thank you mds1970 for your comments.
Brett McKay
Guest
Two words, Kersi: timeless Tests!! Anything less is soft!!!
mds1970
Roar Guru
Two hours 12 minutes for a single point is amazing. What a war of attrition! I can see why the players started trying to psych each other out after that..... Table tennis has amazing speed, and the ability to concentrate for so long with so little reaction time between hits is something special. As to the final paragraph with the question about whether we should have a tie-break in the 5th set in Grand Slam tournaments, I don't see the need for it. The US Open has it, the other grand slams don't. But what happened with Isner and Mahut was unique - the exception rather than the rule. There's been classic matches before which have gone past 6-6 in the 5th set, I don't see the need to throw the baby out with the bathwater on the basis of one extraordinary match.