Mr. Duckitt, you are the Chief Events Officer of the World Table Tennis Series (WTT) and are responsible, among other things, for the organization and design of the WTT tournaments. What is your conclusion about the WTT Champions in Frankfurt?
We are very happy to have been in Frankfurt. Everything went smoothly and we expected nothing less in a country with a long, proud history of hosting previous ITTF World Tour events and major international events such as the Table Tennis World Championships. The players said the event was great. And if you ask the viewers, I think they enjoyed it just as much.
The WTT series is three years old. How do you assess the development?
What we can observe after three years of WTT is continuous growth. Every year more and more hosts are added to the calendar. And for us as WTT, this is hopefully the last year of the post-pandemic hangover. For 2024 we can really come in with a strong calendar and deliver what we promised.
What is your vision of WTT?
If you look at how the sports world is evolving today, fans, spectators and even players expect not to just come, watch or play and leave. You need a unique selling point. When you go to Wimbledon or the Australian Open in tennis, it’s about more than just what happens on the court. The playing field is just the anchor point for everything else that happens around it. In table tennis we must do the same if we want to continue to grow and compete with and stay ahead of other sports. For this reason, at World Table Tennis we talk about events rather than tournaments.
Stephen Duckitt (left) with the Chinese Peng Xiang at the tournament in Zagreb in June: Image: picture alliance / PIXSELL
There has been repeated criticism of the WTT in the past. The DTTB criticized, among other things, the fact that the WTT has full control over the international tournament system in table tennis and that everything has to be based on it. Is the WTT the only powerful authority in international table tennis?
Everyone forgets that the owner of the WTT is the world association ITTF. The WTT is part of the ITTF and our decisions are not made in isolation. We are in constant communication with our players group, the athletes’ commission, with the organizers, the WTT board and the ITTF board members, with our continental presidents and our association members. I find it funny to hear that WTT wouldn’t do any communication. Because I spend most of my day talking to players, coaches and associations about the different areas of WTT.
However, there is currently a lack of coordination with the national leagues, which continue to play an important role, especially in Europe. For many players there is hardly any time left for their club due to the WTT series. How do you plan to solve this problem?
In the international calendar there is a place for every player in table tennis. We know that leagues are an important part of player development and earning potential. When I joined WTT, we worked with the ITTF early on to create a strategic calendar for the ITTF Group stakeholders. This was something that the sport didn’t have before and that we introduced so that all member associations on all continents, all leagues around the world know when the WTT is holding an event and when the ITTF is organizing an event. There will be weeks reserved for the table tennis family where they can host their own competitions. We know that from 2024, with a much clearer calendar, players will be able to decide for themselves where they want to play and free themselves from the pressure of where they have to play.
