Jan-Ove Waldner's Greatest Match!

Listen to the roar that greets the announcement of Waldner's name. That's the esteem in which he's held in table tennis. At this stage the player is entitled to two minutes knock on the table. Just simply going through a few simple routines. Backhand and forehand drive, just keep the ball on the table. Get a feel for the conditions. A whole wealth of experience between the two players. Part of the Swedish contingent, a big contingent here to watch this. Sen, only 21 years old at the early part of his career against Waldner at 31, who's achieved everything and still wants this title badly. Jan Sen, as we can see, a penhold grip player. Uses the smooth type rubber, the black side there. Jan Sen, excellent footwork. He'll be looking to play his forehand topspin whenever he can, but of course Waldner will be doing everything he can to prevent him doing so. Last minute advice from Wolf Carlsen, himself a former world champion, 1985 world doubles champion. And he'll be giving last minute words of wisdom to Waldner. The umpire now calling the player to the table and to serve. So here we go then, the first men's singles semi-final. Fantastic start, what a shot. Is he sharp or what? He's certainly buzzing in the first two points. That's a very, very difficult shot. What he's actually doing, he's not using the black side, he's maintaining the penhold grip, but he's actually using the opposite side of the bat. Very difficult skill. Well, this is unbelievable. This is what Gatjan was suffering at Waldner's hand in the quarterfinal, but he's straight in taking the initiative. Here's Jan. Magic beginning, all five points off his serve. Penhold grip for the service, the high throw up, fast accelerating wrist, can almost see the spin on the ball there on the slow motion. But now one of the finest servers in the world. Two points on service there. This is just fantastic. Jan making his tactics very clear. Waldner has seen everything in his career. They've seen opponents start like this. He won't be fazed. Forcing Jan to play backhand from the backhand side, then the winner into the forehand. But again, Jan there. He's looking to get his forehand in at all costs. He's coming around the backhand side. He's got excellent footwork and this really is going to be an interesting tactical battle. It's there by Waldner. Even though he lost the point, he was going out wide to the forehand and then I'm sure he would have gone into the backhand. Picking that forehand across and giving Waldner absolutely no chance to launch the backhand reply. Slight kick on the table there. Waldner misjudging the return. It's deja vu, but it's exciting stuff. Eight-point lead. Just a point of attack and misses it. It was a more simple shot. I think it's the first one he's missed so far this game. An absolutely magnificent start by Jansen. 5-12. A good return of serve by Jansen. What's been very impressive is his touch over the table. Quite clear that he's got superb footwork and a fast forehand topspin, but he's also got very good touch around the table. 6-12. Fast serve. Sets up the rally. The fast serve. And then Waldner's in with that forehand topspin. 7-12. 14-7. Well, Waldner just fetching it back to a certain extent, the momentum, but still the sharpness that Jan began with is with him. Six-point cushion and now his sequence of serves. Well, wherever he goes with the forehand, it seems he's striking gold. 14-8. Both these players using sidespin to great effect as well. It's not now just a case of topspin. They're actually putting the spin on to angle it away from their opponent. 15-8. And remember, in Jansen, you're watching the guy who's ranked eighth in his own country, ranked 47 in the world, and yet playing like a god right now. Nothing he can do with that. Jan not sure which way the ball was going to kick. And here we see it. Quick wiggle of the wrist underneath the table. Difficult to see. And excellent slow motion there. You could see the ball kick to the right. 11-15. Waldner's beginning to come at him. Stopped the hemorrhaging of points. Wonderful action shot there. Just three points adrift now. Forcing Jan to block off the end of the table. The margin now down to two points. You can't believe it. It's the first cross-court forehand that he's missed, I think, all game. Totally missed the push from Jan. Flew off the end of the table. Here we see the service. Comes out underneath the arm. The topspin. And misses by a long margin. So from seven points down, Waldner is now on level terms. 15 each. And that's very difficult to predict what Waldner is going to do. On that occasion, the long push to the forehand. Good tactics. As Waldner begins to impose himself on this match. There laid out wide to Jan's forehand. Invited the topspin. Punched it back into Jan's backhand. Forced him to play backhands from the backhand side. Waldner. Three successive points against serve. Oh, yes. He's still there, Jan. Still capable of untold brilliance. Again, the same tactics into the backhand. But this time, Jan quick enough to get round and make that forehand topspin from the backhand side. Well, he stopped the rot. Two points in a row. Waldner is looking pretty at the moment. 18-17 with his serves to come. Waldner, of course, took all five points with his last series of five serves. Closer to the first game. 19-17. Extraordinary shot. Almost a hook here. He comes round. It's sidespin on it from that position. Taking it wide to Jan Sen's backhand. Three game points for the Swede. Just off a note, you saw everything that makes him the figure he is in world table tennis. He was under the cosh there. He was seven points down. He was up against a guy playing unbelievable tennis, table tennis. And he counted it. And he must be feeling very, very good indeed. And he won the game going away. 21 points to 17. Welcome back. And the atmosphere evident, I'm sure, for you at home. It's an atmosphere that's been building for the best part of an hour. 3,000 people packed round this number one court here to watch Jan Ove Waldner of Sweden. 31 years old. The world number two. Up against an opponent who played just staggering tennis at the early part of that game. But Waldner held. He's nervous. We knew he would. But could he have the form to counter it? Well, he did so in spectacular fashion. Best of five. Game two. Second game. Serve Sweden. Lavla. Great serve there from Waldner. Good use of the wrist. The fast serve down the line. The flat backhand there. Only just missed. Very clever service there. Cut underneath the ball. Heavy backspin. Jansen in the net. Again, heavy backspin. Jansen simply can't read the spin. Completely misread it there. The ball almost hit the table before it reached the net. Excellent service. Well done. The important thing for Jan is not to lose his nerve here. He must be feeling a little vulnerable. He's played phenomenally well. And yet he's staring at a game deficit. I don't think he's ever played so well and lost in that first game. And of course, that can be very disturbing. Just moving off balance. Again, Waldner outmaneuvering him. Three points in front. And he seems to be reading him now. Forehand down the line. Looked a pretty good shot. Waldner was there with time. The hallmark of a great player, isn't it? That he had so much time. Saw it before anybody in the hall. That's the top spin. Thank you very much. The block down the backhand. Wonderful play. The side spin as well. He's got to keep himself together. Otherwise, he could be blown apart here. This is a big test right now. Of Jansen. Even though he missed the service. Jansen, again, is causing confusion. The long fast serve to the forehand. Just overhits it there. It bounced a fraction too high on his side of the table. And that really is the problem when you're up against the master Waldner. You're never sure what shot he's going to play. Or where he's going to play it to. Got a top spin there. Excellent use of the wrist. Brushed the back of the ball. Top number service there. Pushed by Jansen. Virtually impossible to keep it tight when you push the long top spin serve. There he's pushing it. And Waldner in with the top spin. Well played. He was about four meters back when he played that one up. Interesting backhand here from Jansen. If we look carefully. He's playing his forehand top spin away from the table. Just didn't quite see that backhand. Well Waldner thought he'd got it. Played for that. Forcing him wide. Just couldn't control the top spin. Now Jan looking in better shape. And from Waldner there. Pushed it back short to Jansen's forehand. The service. He read it well. He touches it short there. And Jansen's top spin catches the top of the net. Oh gorgeous shot. And that shot said a lot about Jan. It shows he's not lost his nerve or his guts to play the difficult shot. Great drop shot there from Jansen. Heavy backspin on the serve. Jansen completely misread the spin. Again heavy backspin. It looks so simple. But it's so difficult to do to return these serves. Can't see the point of contact between bat and ball. Got the first one. Misread the second. And once again Waldner racing away from him. 15-8. 16-8. Again an outright winner with the serve. Jan is just completely struggling now. He just can't pick Waldner's serve. And all round Waldner just seems to have too much for him. 8-17. 8-18. So a 10-point lead. 9-18. 10-18. Well he lost the point there. But he's playing phenomenal table tennis. As he had all day. Remember earlier on today he beat Jean-Philippe Gatien of France. The former world champion beat him in straight games. 18-12. Struggled on the serve there though. A bit of his own medicine there. Completely misread that himself. Excellent serve from Jansen. But now of course Jansen has a big problem. Waldner's got five serves. Blistering shot. Waldner can hurt you in so many ways. And here's another. Bops up the serve as Jan and then crash. 20-12. And he hasn't fallen off his pinnacle since the middle of the first game. Eight game points. 20-13. 20-14. It's hardly a crisis. Yet. 15-20. But now. Moments of difficulty because serve changes. Three game points saved. Let serve there actually. Jansen. A very sporting give the let serve. Waldner noticing that someone hadn't changed the score back. Let's do the game point. And the game. Extraordinarily high performance from Jan-Ove Waldner. Playing as well as he has at any stage in his career. And just remember the Olympic. Champion in ninety-two. The world champion in eighty-nine. Could he win the world championship. Eight years after he won it in Dortmund. Still keeping cool. Which is above all his trademark. Two games to love he leads. He'll be back for the third. So the hand clapping begins as we await game number three. Jansen has had a tremendous tournament. Ranked 47 in the world. Unseeded. He's blasted his way through to the semi-final. But he's found it just. Himself just unable to cope with Waldner. Game three. This could be a critical moment actually for Waldner in the match. He's two games to nil up. And the only weakness I've ever seen in Waldner is. At times he can lose his concentration a little bit. But semi-final of the world championships. I'm sure he's going to be completely focused. Good use of the push there from Waldner on the return. Use the wrist. Dug underneath the ball. Rocket topspin off the bounce there from Jan. Just caught the edge of the table. But nevertheless a very fast forehand topspin. Just flicked over the top of Jan's back. And there he read it. The return seemed to be almost off the end of the table. But he was still good enough to pick his own edge. Again it's the sidespin. Hooking the ball. Failing the ball. Using sidespin to take it to extremes on both sides of the table. 6-3. Topspin on the service. Jan flicking off the end of the table. Well he only won the point in the end by a good deal of fortune. Topspin there. Just catching the top of the net. Desperate lunge from Waldner. 5-6. 5-7. Mesmerizing stuff. Just a little flick. There's another former world champion Jorgen Persson watching on. And who succeeded Waldner as the world champion. 5-8. Again heavy backspin on that push return. Jan Sen pulling the ball in the net. 5-9. And the worry grows now for Jan against the serve. Jan is picking up points and he has four point advantage. So easy with the foot to embellish it. Amazing football skills here. Let alone table tennis skills. And then as the ball goes up he kicks it up in the air with his foot. I hope Glenn Hoddle's watching. 11-5. 11-6. Well it was impossible to pick. There was a terrific take back wasn't there? But you still didn't know if he was going to go down the line or across. Exactly. You can see here that Jan says he's not sure. Is he going to go out wide there? Wide the other side. 13-6. And of course when you're not sure. When there's doubt in your mind. Very difficult to react. And then Valdner very rarely misses. Well played Jan. All the trickery from Valdner counted there. So he starts his next sequence of serves. Six points adrift. 8-13. 9-13. Well played. He's still got his head up. He's still trying everything he knows. Now wasn't that brilliant? Full marks to Jan. He's still playing very positive table tennis. Looking to get in with that forehand topspin. That 10-13. The reactions are phenomenal here. A rocket topspin from Jan. But the block there from Valdner. Incredible. 4-15-10. Sweden. Well, a big mistake at an important juncture. And Valdner now has a five-point cushion. Plus five serves to come. It could be very near victory after these. 16-10. Backspin on the service. Came underneath the ball. Very difficult for Jan to see the change in points of contact. 17-10. Again the backspin on the serve. 14-10. Ruthless. 18-11. And he hates himself for missing that. What a perfectionist. First sign that Jan just might have resigned himself here. The first sign after what's been an extensive drilling by Valdner. 11-20. I'm not sure there whether Valdner was inviting the topspin to have a bit of fun at the end of this game. Jan missing it. Let's wait and see if Valdner wants a bit of fun. Nine match points. 12-20. Yes. It's a big salute from Valdner's point of view. He doesn't give too much away. But he has performed in unbelievable fashion here tonight. And here's the moment we knew it would end in the grand manner. And it sure did. Just waiting for the big forehand which finished it. The backhand setting it up. Here it comes. Right to the very corner. Thank you very much. And he deserves the applause. Valdner then the world champion in 1989. Is through to the final in 1997. He beats Jensen. Three games to love.