Truls Möregårdh on Throwing Rackets, Hercules Pose and Goals

Europe’s highest ranking table tennis player just turned 20 years old in February. Truls Möregårdh is on a roll! The Swede has taken the table tennis world by storm. At the 2021 World Championships the then teen managed to secure a spot in the final, winning silver after giving his all against China’s Fan Zhendong. In an exclusive interview we talked to Möregårdh about his idols, temper, goals and why he happens to do everything different from the rest of the field.

The Swedish native started playing table tennis at the tender age of six. He used to be coached by his father, his coach now is none other than his older brother Malte, who also was part of the national team. “It’s always very fun. You feel very safe with him [Malte]. I’ve known him my entire life.” As siblings, they know each other’s personalities and inner workings incredibly well. And it’s “worked very well for a long time.”

QUIT SCHOOL FOR TABLE TENNIS

And that is almost an understatement to be fair. Möregårdh was the youngest to compete in the Champions League. And won bronze at the 2019 European Championships, not to mention the list of junior and team titles and achievements. “It’s fun to have had an amazing career so far. I mean it was a very successful junior and cadet time for me.”

He outgrew the junior phase faster than his peers and started playing against senior athletes early on, and has gotten used to it. Being younger than his opponent no longer phases him. His focus lies elsewhere: “I’m very happy about my career so far, but I’m still hungry for more.”

For a while his academics clashed with his sport ambitions: “It was a tough time in school because I was away so much. You have to devote a lot of time to table tennis if you want to be really good at it.” To go after his dreams the athlete quit school after ninth grade, only completing the mandatory school time in Sweden. It was a risqué move, but the parental support never ceased. “I went professional at a very young age. And I’m very happy about that decision now.”

Nevertheless, sport shouldn’t be all-encompassing, says the Hovmantorp native. “I think it’s super important to have other things in mind. And have other things that are important to you, not only table tennis.” Möregårdh likes listening to old school music on his record player, which he was just gifted by his friends for his 20th birthday.

HERCULES: A STAR IS BORN

The young athlete is close to his family and friends, and it shows in everything he does, even in his patented Hercules pose. When he moved into the quarterfinals at the 2017 Junior World Championships his gaze fell upon his father in the crowd, and he struck the pose. “It just happened in the moment.” It’s an old inside joke with his brother and father, who used to tease his sons with that pose whenever he beat them at table tennis. Truls has kept the pose since, and made it his trademark.

The young Swedish demigod has since added new reasons to pose with pride. Winning silver at the last world championships was one of those moments: “It was very unexpected for me.” For him it “was a dream come true to win a medal at the championships.”

It wasn’t his only childhood dream, however. “Since I’ve been a little kid, I always said that I want to win a medal at the world championships and to be top 10 in the world.” After crossing off one of his goals in late 2021 he managed his second goal in early 2022, jumping all the way into top 5 in the world rank and topping the European charts.

PRACTICE, DEVELOPMENT AND FOCUS

His success hasn’t come without sacrifice, patience and an unstoppable willingness to work hard. “Many players just come to the practice hall, and they don’t really concentrate on every point, and how to do it perfectly. So that’s been super important to me to always be focused.” Möregårdh’s attitude is similar to Adam Ondra’s on sport climbing, as the unexpectedness of the sports forces peak focus at all times. “It’s a lot of things to develop in table tennis, that’s why I like it, because it’s so difficult.”

The Swede revels in the challenge of having to be quick on his feet and think on the spot. “You always try to read the game as best as possible,” he explains. His strength are his forehand, which he tries to use whenever possible and his creative play. “I have a lot of variations in the first strokes, and I can fool the opponent better than others can.” Nevertheless, he obviously has weaknesses, namely his backhand, and steps to the forehand, because it triggers an old knee injury, that he had surgery for.

SURPASSING HIS IDOLS

Overall, the 20-year-old tries to play a bit like the Swedish two-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist Jan-Ove Waldner. Waldner’s influence shows in his game, which the ex-professional has told the young Swede. Namely the clever and creative game play, but also the backhand punch are tactics Möregårdh has adapted.

He has been inspired by more than one player over the years. “I’ve had a few role models and I think that’s very important for table tennis players. […] Because you can learn a lot from watching them.” There is one active European athlete in particular, whom he’s been influenced by. “I’ve always looked up to Timo Boll.” Still, Möregårdh managed to defeat the German star at the last world championship. It’s a “nice feeling” to win against your idol, but “when you play them you don’t think about that you’ve been looking at him for a long time. […] You just want to win the match,” elaborates Möregårdh. Nevertheless, “it’s a little bit strange when you’ve always looked up to a person and you always wanted to practise with him suddenly you play him in such big matches.”

HOME ADVANTAGE FOR GERMAN STARS

At the last European championship, Möregårdh just played by ear, taking it one match at a time. But in 2022 the 20-year-old is looking at it differently. “I don’t see anything else but to aim for the medals.”

Though his idol Boll is just one of the athletes with home advantage on their side. “The Germans will play even better; it will be very tough for all the European players. And they’re really tough to play anyway.” This top-class athlete pool does not only include Boll, but also Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska (Olympic medallists), with Germany defending four out of the five titles at Munich 2022. Möregårdh is already full of anticipation. “There will be a lot of people watching us, because they [German players] are so good in table tennis. So, I’m really looking forward to the tournament.”

Table tennis will only be one of nine sports holding their continental championships in Bavaria’s capital. “I’ve seen the Instagram account and that it will be a lot of sports together in one big event, and I think that sounds super fun. When I saw athletics and more sports like that, I was super excited.” He’ll try to catch a glimpse of one sport in particular: “I think gymnastics is so cool. I watched it at the Youth Olympic Games and wow, they are such crazy athletes. And the things they can do are unbelievable to me.” Athletics is on his to watch list as well. With pole vaulter Armand Duplantis being a personified (Swedish) highlight he doesn’t plan on missing out on.

FULL OF EMOTION: OUTBURSTS AND RACKET THROWING

Möregårdh will have to focus on his own tournament before all else, however, which doesn’t only challenge one physically but also mentally. “You have to believe in what you can do. And what you’re always practising day in and day out.”

Some days the emotional toll becomes too much. “I throw some rackets sometimes and show a bit of temper when I play,” he admits. “When I do these things, I feel like I get the temper out of my body.” Afterwards he can focus back on the game. Others have told him to be calmer, but he doesn’t plan on listening to that advice: “This is how I am, and this is why I win big matches.”

The 20-year-old knows what he wants in life, and has learned to listen to his heart early on. When his best friend got cancer, he wanted to help in some way. So, he reached out to the non-profit organisation UNG cancer, who help young cancer patients, and became an ambassador.

UNLIKE ANY OTHER

All in all, Möregårdh likes to do things his own way. “I hold the racket in a strange way if you compare it to the other players. I hold it very loose.” He remembers having a too small racket as a child and suspects he started holding it loosely to counterbalance that, and just kept the grip whenever he got a more fitting bat. “Many coaches and players have said that I cannot be one of the top players in the world if I hold it like this. Yeah, I proved them wrong.” Speed climber Alexandra Mirosław had the very same deal with her beta. In an exclusive interview the Polish athlete explained why she kept it and how good it was to prove everyone wrong with her world record.

Möregårdh even has a completely different shape bat, which isn’t rounded, but more of an octagon shape. “It makes a difference for sure. It’s a little bit bigger, so you have a higher chance of hitting the good areas of the racket.” And the edge allows you to go deeper into the table.

The young Hercules seems to do everything just a bit out of the ordinary. “It’s not my intention but it just happened,” the Swede acknowledges with a throaty laugh. Though so far, he has proven to be on the right with the other way.

Let's see where his way of doing things will get him at Munich 2022. If you want to see Möregårdh play live, what are you waiting for? Get your tickets here before they're gone.