Late Bloomer Benedikt Duda: "I'm still looking for areas I can improve"

I'm often called "a well-aged red wine." Boll played until he was 42, so I want to keep going until I'm 43

Even after joining the German national team, Benedikt Duda was not in the front line, but waiting for his chance in the back row behind Boll, Ovtcharov, Franziska, and Dang Qiu.
At 28, he was finally selected for the World Championships Team Event, reached the Final in the singles at the 2024 European Championships, and in 2025 consistently advanced to the top rounds in WTT events, lifting his world ranking to No. 8 before he knew it. In the opening match of the 2025-26 Bundesliga season, he proved his strength by defeating Olympic gold medalist Fan Zhendong. Let's listen to the "determination he pours into table tennis" from the man who, after turning 31, secured a place at the center of German table tennis.

Since adding a full-time coach in 2022, he has grown rapidly. That was a major turning point and an important key

●─This is your first interview. Right now, you are one of the players attracting attention worldwide. You were born in 1994, so you're 31 years old (in 2025).

Benedikt Duda (hereafter BD)　Yes, that's right.

●─When did you start playing table tennis?

BD　When I was 10.

●─At 10? That's late for a professional table tennis player.

BD　Yes. Before that, I played soccer, sprinting in athletics, and the high jump. My parents played table tennis, but one day I got tired of my soccer coach and told my parents I wanted to play table tennis, and after that I became completely absorbed in it.

●─Your father was also a table tennis player?

BD　Yes. He was on Poland's junior national team. He came to Germany when he was 18, and he still plays in Germany's third division.

●─You were born and raised in Bergneustadt, Germany.