In a sentence

She left Liaoning for Germany at 19, tore both Achilles tendons around the age of 40, and at 42 was still pushing top-four players to a deciding game.

Playing style

  • Right-handed shakehand chopper, with spin variation and placement control as her core weapons
  • Over the past two years she has deliberately shifted from pure defense to combining attack and defense, raising her attacking share
  • Superb footwork and touch, able to complete difficult retrievals in high-speed exchanges

Career and key moments

She was born in Shenyang, Liaoning, moved to Germany at 19 because competition at home was fierce, and took German citizenship in 2010. In 2016 she won women’s team silver at the Rio Olympics as a German mainstay and became the first German to reach an ITTF Finals women’s singles final. 2024 was her toughest year: after tearing her right Achilles tendon she rested only three days before surgery, returned forcibly 176 days later, then tore her left Achilles tendon at the Bangkok Challenge and missed the Paris Olympics entirely. During rehab she chose five high-intensity physiotherapy sessions a week. After returning in February 2025 she won the Europe Top 16 Cup women’s singles, beat Wang Manyu in early 2026, and in May won the Champions League women’s team title with her club — at 43 she remains Europe’s top chopper.

What she left the game

She is almost the only living answer to the question of whether chopping can still work in the modern game. For young Chinese players she is also the special-style opponent they must specifically prepare for.

In a sentence: Coming back after tearing both Achilles tendons takes not fitness but grit.