33 Facts About Timo Boll

Timo Boll was ranked world No 1 in 2003,2011 and in March 2018.

Timo Boll started playing at age 4, and was coached at the time by his father.

Timo Boll was placed in position five on the team, but lost only one match throughout the whole season.

At age 14, Timo Boll held the title of youngest player in the national league.

Timo Boll celebrated his first international success during the Table Tennis European Youth Championships in The Hague in 1995, where he won three gold medals.

Timo Boll finished school with a secondary school level I certificate.

In 2002, Timo Boll became the first German player to win the Europe-Top-12-Tournament beating Vladimir Samsonov in the final.

Timo Boll was awarded the Fair Play Award from the ITTF after a referee's decision was reversed in favor of his opponent during the knockout rounds of that competition, leading to a defeat.

The year ended with Timo Boll winning the Champions League with TTV RE-BAU Gonnern, and the Table Tennis World Cup in Liege in Belgium, in which he defeated all three Chinese first-class players.

In December 2006, Timo Boll signed a 3-year contract with Borussia Dusseldorf, the current championship record-holding team, due to his former team's financial situation and loss of key players.

Timo Boll was active as a guest player in the Chinese Super League.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Timo Boll lost in the last 16 to Adrian Crisan but the German team won the bronze medal in the men's team event, losing to China in semi-finals but beating Hong Kong in the bronze medal deciding match.

At the beginning of 2011, Timo Boll was back at the top of the world rankings, having beaten Ma Lin in the Volkswagen Cup final.

Timo Boll kept his good form at the Chinese Super League in 2015, obtaining a result of 7 wins and 5 losses.

At the Olympic Singles event, Timo Boll lost against Quadri Aruna in the round of 32.

Timo Boll won the silver medal at the 2017 World Cup, defeating Lin Gaoyuan in the quarterfinals, Ma Long in the semi-finals but losing to teammate Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the finals.

Timo Boll won the silver medal in the following World Cup in 2018, losing to Fan Zhendong in the finals.

Timo Boll won another eight titles at the European Table Tennis Championships in 2009,2010,2011 and 2018.

Timo Boll then defeated Mattias Falck in the semi-finals and Dimitij Ovtcharov in the finals to clinch his record-extending eighth European Championship.

Timo Boll lost to Jeoung Youngsik in the round of 16 in the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics.

Timo Boll helped lead Germany to the men's team finals, and played a critical role as the third match against Taiwan and Japan.

Timo Boll participated in the 2022 European Championships in Munich, but lost to Dang Qiu in straight sets.

Timo Boll is a left-handed player whose best weapon is his forehand topspin drive but who is noted for his extremely quick backhand loop.

Timo Boll's blade is the "Timo Boll ALC" with Dignics 09c rubbers on both sides.

Timo Boll's technique was ahead of its time as he was one of the first two-winged loopers.

Timo Boll employs the spin-block instead of a passive block to put more pressure on his opponents.

Timo Boll is renowned for being one of the top players when it comes to generating elevated amounts of spin, especially in his opening topspin.

In recent years, due to the introduction of the plastic ball, which cannot be given as much spin, Timo Boll relies more on his counter-topspin technique from both the backhand and forehand side.

Timo Boll has played for TSV Hochst, FTG Frankfurt and for TTV Gonnern.

Timo Boll married his long-time girlfriend, Rodelia Jacobi, on 31 December 2002.

Timo Boll has been sponsored by Butterfly table tennis since 1993.

In May 2007 Timo Boll extended his sponsorship until 2015 and is still playing Butterfly to this day.

Timo Boll has gone on to say that he is most satisfied with the agreement.