Timo Boll

Boll was born in Erbach im Odenwald, Hessen. At the age of four, Boll was playing table tennis and at that time was coached by his father. In 1987 he became a member of TSV Höchst and played there at association level. At the age of eight years, he was discovered by Helmut Hampel, a Hessian trainer who promoted him. In 1990, he started to train at the training centre Pfungstadt and four years later changed teams to FTG Frankfurt (de) with whom he took part in the second division, at which time other table tennis associations became interested in him. TTV Gönnern (de) hired him in 1995. Timo Boll was put in position five on the team but, nevertheless, lost only one match in the whole season and thus contributed to the rise of the team in the table tennis national league.

National league and international junior results

At the age of 14, Timo Boll held, together with Frank Klitzsch, the title of the youngest player in the national league. Timo Boll celebrated his first international results during the student European championships in Den Haag 1995, where he won three gold medals. After a second-place finish in his first junior European Championship 1996, he won the singles title at that championships for the following two years, as well as in the doubles and with the team. He finished school with a secondary school level I certificate.

International results

In 2002, Timo Boll enlisted the ranks of the world top 10 players with his Europe-Top-12-Tournament victory against Vladimir Samsonov. He reached the final of the European Table Tennis Championships in Zagreb in the singles and in the doubles with Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth (de). The German team was defeated in the final by the Swedish team. The score was 2–3. With his victory in the 2002 Table Tennis World Cup held in Jinan, China (where he beat the world champion Wang Liqin and the Olympic champion Kong Linghui), Timo Boll finished the year in first position in the world rankings. During the European Championship 2003, Vladimir Samsonov led the Belorussian team to victory in the final against the German team. After his elimination in the 2003 singles world championship in the second round, Boll lost the rank of the world's number one table tennis player.

Injury and comeback

Back problems troubled Boll during the first half of 2004. These problems handicapped his preparation for the 2004 Summer Olympics, in which he was outclassed in the quarterfinal by Jan-Ove Waldner. After a period marked by public criticism, Timo Boll registered tournament victories in Poland, Austria, and Germany. He also reached the semifinal of the Pro Tour in Peking, where he was edged out 3–4 in games by Ma Lin. Early in the 2005 season, Boll's back problems struck again; nevertheless, he won the silver medal in doubles with Christian Süß at the World Championship. After correcting a referee's wrong decision in favour of his opponent in the singles round of sixteen (in which he was defeated), he received the Fair Play Award from the ITTF. The year ended well as he won the Champions League with TTV RE-BAU Gönnern (de), and the world cup tournament in Liège in Belgium, in which he defeated all three Chinese first-class players. In 2007, he won the European Championship in singles, doubles, and in the team competition.

Draft to Borussia Düsseldorf

In December 2006, Timo Boll signed a 3-year contract with Borussia Dusseldorf (de). Apart from the financial weakness of his old team and various other considerations, Timo Boll moved for the good training possibilities, in view of the upcoming Olympic Games 2008 and because of the possibility to be able to train there with his doubles partner Christian Süß.

During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he participated again with the German national team. After victories over Croatia, Canada, Singapore and Japan in preliminary rounds and the semi-final, the team lost 0–3 against the host Chinese team. As the first-seeded player in 2008, Boll defended his three European Champion titles from the year before.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, 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 their semi-final but beating Hong Kong in the bronze medal deciding match.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Boll along with partners Bastian Steger and Dimitrij Ovtcharov won the bronze medal at the team event.

Timo Boll is a left-handed player whose best weapon is his forehand topspin drive but is also noted for his extremely quick backhand loop. His blade is the "Timo Boll ALC" with Tenergy 05 rubbers on both sides. His present doubles partner is Ma Long.

On July 1, 2007, his three-year contract began with Borussia Düsseldorf.

Timo Boll married his longtime girlfriend, Rodelia Jacobi, on December 31, 2002.

• 1997 Table Tennis Junior Player of the Year
• 1998 German Table Tennis player of the Year
• 2005 Bambi Sport
• 2005 German Sportsmen of the Year 3rd position
• 2006 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen
• 2007 Fair-Play-Award of Minister (Secretary) of the Interior Home Secretary
• 2007 German Sportsmen of the Year 2nd position
• 2008 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen
• 2010 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen
• 2010 German Sportsmen of the Year 2nd position

• World Cup 2002 and 2005, silver 2008 and 2012, bronze 2010 and 2014
• Single European Champion 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012
• Team European Champion 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011
• Europe Top-12 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010
• European Super Cup 2007, 2008 and 2009
• ITTF Pro Tour (19) and Grand Finals (1): Brasil 2001, Austria 2002, Japan 2003, Poland, Germany and Austria 2004, Japan, Sweden and Grand Finals 2005, China, Germany and Poland 2006, Austria, Germany and Poland 2008, Qatar, Germany, and Poland 2009, Japan 2010, Korea 2017.
• Double: European Championship 2002 (together with Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth (de)), 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (together with Christian Süß), Japan Open 2005, Pro Tour Grand Final 2005, 2009 (together with Christian Süß)
• Double: 2nd position World Championship 2005, 3rd position European Championship 2005 together with Christian Süß
• Team: 2nd position Olympic Games 2008; 3rd position Olympic Games 2012, 2016; 2nd position European Championship 2000, 2002, 2003, 2014, 2nd position World Championship 2004, 2010, 2012, 2014; 3rd position World Championship 2006.
• German Championship: 11-times Single-Winner (1998, 2001–2007, 2009, 2015, 2017), 3-times Double-Winner (1999 together with Lars Hielscher (de), 2005 and 2007 together with Christian Süß
• Champions League: Winner 2005 and 2006 with TTV RE-BAU Gönnern (de), 2009, 2010 and 2011 with Borussia Düsseldorf
• 3rd position Qatar and Kuwait Open Single 2007
• 3rd position World Championship Single 2011
• As the first German number one of the world table tennis rankings (January 2003)