With the World Table Tennis Tour coming to Slovenia this week for the 2025 WTT Stars Challenge Ljubljana, the sport is gaining more attention than ever in the country.

Darko Joczyk returns the ball during the final of the 2025 World Table Tennis Championships in Doha

A lot of this goes to one player – Darko Joczyk. Joczyk, currently ranked 10th in the world, is the only table tennis player in Slovenian history to reach the top 10 in the world rankings, having reached a personal high of sixth in 2022.

Last month, Slovenia broadcast the final stage of the World Table Tennis Championships live for the first time, although it is better known for its cyclists (Tadej Pogachar and Primoz Roglic), basketball players (Luka Doncic), footballers, skiers and sport climbers.

"We in Slovenia have a lot of elite athletes, so there's always a lot of competition for TV resources. I am very happy that the World Table Tennis Championships will be broadcast live on Slovenian TV. Jochik said in an interview with the official Olympic website in Doha a few days ago.

"Representing Slovenia is remarkable in itself. Of course, I also have a responsibility to play well. I always look forward to representing my country in the best possible way. ”

Darko Joczyk: The rise from a junior player to a top 10 player in the world

Darko Joczyk's upward trajectory is steady. Winning the Euro Cup of 16 for three consecutive years (2022-2024) and finishing runners-up this year is key to his continued breakthrough.

The Slovenian broke into the top 40 for the first time in late 2019, 30 in 2021 and the top 20 and 10 the following year, and has not fallen out of the top 20 since then.

"The most important reason I was able to jump from the top 50 to the top 10 in the world was because I started training a lot." Jochik recalled.

"My technique has improved – before I was only strong with my backhand and weak with my forehand. But now I'm playing well on both sides and that's a threat to the other guys, and they know that. ”

For the 26-year-old, this is the reward of his and his coaching team's continued hard work over the past 15 years.

"When I was 10 or 12 years old, my coach said I had the potential to be a good player. But I didn't believe it at the time – I was just happy to do well in Slovenia and win some medals. He recalled.

"But when I won my first international medal, I started to realize: I can make a living from this sport, I have the opportunity to be the best in the world. My coaches were able to spot this early on, and I'm really grateful to them. ”

"Now I just have to focus on myself and I believe I still have room for improvement – as for what my ultimate goal is, let's wait and see."

"We are getting closer and closer to China": Darko Joczyk on the changing landscape of men's table tennis

The Chinese team still dominates the table tennis world. At the Paris 2024 Olympics last summer, Chinese players swept all five table tennis gold medals. However, athletes from other countries and regions have also been making breakthroughs recently.

At the World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, the top two seeds in the men's doubles were not Chinese, and Japan's Daito Shinozuka/Hayasuke Togami won the title. Back in April, Brazil's Hugo Calderano became the first men's World Cup singles champion from outside Asia and Europe.

This may have something to do with the fact that the Chinese men's table tennis team is in the transition between the old and the new, with table tennis legend Ma Long fading out and Olympic champion Fan Zhendong taking a break (he recently made his debut in the Chinese table tennis league and joined Bundesliga club Saarbrücken).

"I grew up watching the Chinese team play," Joczyk said, "and I think the whole of Europe was watching the Chinese team play at that time — for me, the best era was Zhang Jike and Ma Long; My idol is Zhang Jike, which is why I am so strong on my backhand now, and I can say that I am one of the strongest backhands in the world. ”

Calderano's performance in Macau, China, to win the World Cup "is an inspiration to all the players and makes us feel like we are getting closer and closer to the Chinese players," Joczyk said.

"It's not just China, it's Asia as a whole. We just have to believe in ourselves and play our own style. ”

Joczyk is one of the new generation of European men's table tennis players, joining the likes of France's Lebrun brothers Alexis Lebrun and Felix Lebrun, Germany's Qiu Dang, Sweden's Trulls Moregaard, and Germany's veterans Duda and Franziska, who are challenging the traditional landscape of Chinese and Asian table tennis, and Calderano is also part of this wave of change.

However, Joczyk also paid tribute to his predecessors, including the recently retired Timo Bol and the 1997 World Table Tennis Championships runner-up Samsonov.

"Of course, we can't forget what Timo and Vladdy achieved in their prime," Joczyk said, "and they also won big tournaments like the World Cup. ”

'We've got a lot of good young players now – I'm the older one of my generation,' said Joczyk with a smile (he will turn 27 at the end of July), "and it's all fantastic, and we're pushing each other to give our best and hopefully we can give our best." ”