JO Waldner has had his own tournament – where the world’s best players participate – named after him.
Then the icon can’t help but send a pass to Björn Borg.
It was this week that the incredibly powerful announcement came: The icon JO Waldner, one of table tennis’ and Swedish sports’ greatest, will have his own competition named after him. At the end of November, the Waldner Cup will take place for the very first time in Stockholm, and some of the world’s absolute best players will participate.
The fit for Björn Borg
In golf and tennis, the tournament format has been around longer. In table tennis, five Asian players will now face five players from the rest of the world. It is already clear that the super legend Ma Long, considered by many to be the best player of all time, is the team captain of Team Asia. In the second team, among others, Timo Boll and the super talent Truls Möregårdh will play. And the team is led by none other than JO Waldner himself.
And it makes one deliciously think of another Swedish sports legend. In the world of tennis, there is already the Laver Cup, where Europe meets the rest of the world. The team captain for the European team is precisely Björn Borg, which means that Sweden now has two team captains in team competitions within racket sports. However, JO Waldner can’t help but send a pass in Borg’s direction.
– But he doesn’t have the name of the tournament, says Waldner to SVT.
Joking aside, table tennis has spoken to Borg about the whole thing.
He thought it was great fun and was very happy for JO, says agent Mattias Frisk.
READ MORE: Björn Borg’s honest confession about his son Leo Borg – that’s why the icon didn’t want him to play tennis
The tribute from the giant icon
In table tennis, the dates of the tournament will now be kept open so that nothing collides, so that the best players in the world can participate. JO Waldner believes that he himself was a reason why it was possible to get such extremely strong players already during the tournament’s first edition. Including Ma Long, with five Olympic golds and 13 World Cup golds on his track record.
– He had me as an idol when he was growing up and was easy to get here, says Waldner.
It is now hoped that the Waldner Cup will become a recurring tournament on the schedule, and there should already be great interest for other cities to host it in future years. And according to Waldner, it hasn’t been particularly difficult to get people to participate.
– The players we asked said yes in two seconds, says Waldner.
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