Paddling in uncharted waters

Despite the challenges of adapting to a new environment far from home — without his usual team support and while facing a language barrier — China's "Grand Slam" paddler Fan Zhendong has embraced his groundbreaking journey in the Bundesliga with 1. FC Saarbrucken.

His start was a rocky one, suffering a surprising 2-3 defeat to world No 302 Romain Ruiz of France on his debut on Aug 31, followed by a 1-3 loss to Benedikt Duda.

Fan, however, quickly found his form.

The 28-year-old Olympic singles gold medalist and two-time world champion bounced back strongly on Sept 6, securing two 3-1 victories against Filip Zeljko and Andre Bertelsmeier to lead Saarbrucken to its first team win of the season against TSV Bad Konigshofen.

Fan's momentum continued. On Sept 14, he delivered a clean 3-0 sweep against Cedric Nuytinck of Borussia Dortmund, contributing to Saarbrucken's dominant 3-0 overall victory. The two clubs met again on Sept 20 in the German Cup quarterfinals, where the Paris Olympic champion overpowered Adam Szudi 3-0, propelling Saarbrucken to another 3-0 team triumph.

That momentum, unfortunately, stalled on Oct 5, when both Fan and Saarbrucken lost on the road to SV Werder Bremen. Fan's shock 3-1 defeat to 193rd-ranked Paraguayan Marcelo Aguirre saw the team leave northwest Germany empty-handed with an overall 3-2 loss. Fan, however, finished the day on a high note, swatting aside Mattias Falck 3-0 in his second match.

"Regardless of who my opponent is, each match is a fresh experience on this stage. I will prepare seriously for every one of them," said Fan, the former world No 1, who is currently unranked after withdrawing from International Table Tennis Federation events last December.