US Open of Table Tennis Comes to the QC 

When I picked up Danny, my friend from Chicago, at the airport and told him the first thing we would be doing in Charlotte was attending the US Open, he guessed I was referring to nine different sports (including barbecue eating) before giving up befuddled. Danny forgot about a sport named after the sound that playing it makes: ping pong.

Oops, I mean table tennis. "Ping pong is what you play in your neighbor's basement," said Ray Filz, vice president of the Charlotte Table Tennis Club. "Table tennis is at a higher level." The higher level was apparent in the opening rounds where even amateurs took the game (sport) seriously. After most points, players approached the net to wipe their feet on paper towels placed on the ground to limit the friction that was accumulating on their sneakers. Most players spread speed glue on the sponge side of their racket to add more spin and a few extra miles per hour on each shot.

In the opening rounds of the tournament -- held at the Charlotte Convention Center July 7 and 8 -- players ran the age and ethnicity gamut. I watched a middle-aged black player in a wheel chair play a 9-year-old Asian boy. A yarmulke worn by another prepubescent boy looked as if it was about to fall off his head.

It took Filz three years and the help of Visit Charlotte to lure a major table tennis tournament to Charlotte. The US Open became available after Ft. Lauderdale, it's previous home, was damaged by hurricanes last year, and a hotel in line to get the tournament couldn't deliver on a private room they promised for officials and umpires.

Filz said he wanted to bring a world-class table tennis tournament to Charlotte in part to correct the poor image the public has of the sport. Not too long ago the club got a call from a reality TV producer searching for talent for a show called Beauty and the Geek. The producer didn't call looking for beauties.

Although somewhat peeved, John Pahl, the Charlotte Table Tennis Club's president, informed the club members because the show was offering a top prize of $100,000. One of the members, a bespectacled accountant, sent Beauty and the Geek an audition tape that included highlights of his table tennis career. The accountant was rejected from the show because the producers decided he wasn't geeky enough.

In an editorial written on the club's Web site, Pahl wrote they celebrated the rejection over drinks. "Adult, manly beverages," wrote Pahl. "Hold the umbrellas."

Other lessons from the experience, he continued. "#1: Don't celebrate too much the day before a tournament. Lesson #2: Video is the number one way to promote table tennis, attract new players, and change the old tired mindset that this is just a pitty-pat recreational game."

One would assume the US title is a highly coveted prize in the table tennis world, but after speaking with a few people at the tournament, I got the impression it was about as prestigious as winning a Miss Siberia bikini contest.

Tournament Director Alan Williams said not having the ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) tour at the tournament in Charlotte accounted for the absence of 180 of the top 200 players in the world. Lacking major sponsors, the prize money could not attract the top players.

"We're very embarrassed about this prize money," Filz told me. "What makes me sick is Wachovia spends six and a half million dollars on the Wachovia Golf Championship. The winner gets $1,035,000. One million is pretty good, why throw them 35 more grand? It would be nice if they could give that to table tennis.

"You can come in here and win $2,800 against a weak field, just the Americans. On the world scene, we suck. Our men's team is ranked like 40th or something." (Actually the US is ranked 30th in the world, behind number 28 Egypt and number 29 Singapore.) The highest ranked American player ponging for the US championship in Charlotte was only ranked tenth in the US. The nine American players ahead of him were too afraid of getting beat by the few international players to show up, said Williams.

"But if you see world number 150 play 160 it's a hell of a match. It's not that different from seeing world number six play world number seven."

With the ball traveling 70 mph, and up to 100 mph for smash shots, seeing the ball nick the table can be impossible, said umpire Patrick Collins. More than sight, a keen sense of hearing is essential for a good umpire, he told me. "Table tennis players as a rule are honest. They refuse to take a point unless they deserve it. In tennis everyone will cheat to get a point."

So are table tennis players classier than their table-less companions? "It's because of money," said Collins. "If the difference between a tick and not a tick was the difference between $50,000 and $100,000, what would you do? It's a low-money sport, so you can afford to be honest. It's a terrible thing to say, but that's what I think."

The biggest issue the umpires face is monitoring the serve. A few years ago players would turn their backs to the opponent during the serve, and the ball would fly out of their armpits, disguising direction, speed and spin. The armpit serve has since been outlawed. Now the serve toss must be six inches high.

"The game's evolving. Every year it evolves. Players get better; they get faster, they get spinier," said Collins.

Exiting the tournament, my friend Danny noticed a sign pointing to the first aid. First aid for table tennis seemed like a premise for a Saturday Night Live sketch, so I walked in to see what the job entailed. The woman working first aid had her feet up on the desk while she watched TV and was startled by the sight of another person. I asked her what kinds of injuries she had treated at the tournament.

"Well some people get headaches. And there's some blistering. But most people take care of that stuff themselves."