In a sentence

In an era almost entirely ruled by the shakehand grip, he reached world No. 2 with penhold — something that last happened many years ago.

Playing style

  • Right-handed penhold with a reverse backhand, able to stretch the down-the-line backhand angle to its limit
  • Fast close-to-table attack with a strong ability to pin opponents on their backhand side
  • Bold at key points, willing to change lines on his own initiative after 9–9

Career and key moments

At the Paris 2024 Olympics, at just 18, he won bronze in both men’s singles and the men’s team on home soil. In 2025 he reached the men’s singles final at the WTT China Grand Smash, losing to Wang Chuqin for the runner-up spot. In August 2026 he beat Tomokazu Harimoto 4–1 in the men’s singles final at the WTT Europe Grand Smash in Sweden, becoming the first French player in history to win a WTT Grand Smash men’s singles title, and also won the men’s doubles with his brother Alexis; that event lifted him from No. 5 to No. 2 in the world, cutting the points gap to Wang Chuqin to 1,378. It was the first time in 33 years, since Jean-Philippe Gatien in 1993, that a Frenchman had stood among the world’s top two in men’s singles.

What he left the game

His rise broke two assumptions: that Europeans cannot play penhold, and that sustained dominant men’s singles players cannot come from outside China. He, his brother Alexis and a group from France’s youth system are turning France into a new high ground for European men’s table tennis.

In a sentence: When everyone is grinding it out with shakehand, penhold becomes the sharpest form of differentiation.