Félix Lebrun ends his crazy year without shining at the final tournament of the season

For Félix Lebrun, this first round of the very tough WTT Finals against the German Benedikt Duda had the air of revenge. A month earlier, in Linz (Austria), at the European Championships, the Frenchman had thrown his racket in frustration after the German table Tennis player had knocked him down, after seven rounds, in the quarter-final of the European Championships. – ultimately won by his older brother, Alexis Lebrun. An immense disillusionment that the European number 1 hoped to erase, Wednesday November 20 in Fukuoka (Japan). This was without taking into account the state of form of Benedikt Duda, 30 years old and 20 places gained in the world rankings in a little over a year. Drafted thanks to the withdrawals of the Chinese Fan Zhendong and Ma Long in this tournament which brings together the 16 best players in the world – equivalent to the Masters of non-table tennis – on the 18th.^e world once again defeated Félix Lebrun in five sets (11-9, 6-11, 12-14, 11-9, 9-11).

With the exception of a fourth round dominated by the Frenchman, the German left-hander controlled the match, excelling in reading his opponent's game, particularly on serves. He did not let the Montpellier, dulled by an extraordinary season, settle his game and himself, sometimes with a little success, knew how to accelerate to put his rival under pressure. Eliminated, the French world number 4 did not quite finish his season, playing the doubles in this tournament bringing together the elite of world table tennis.

On Thursday, the Lebrun brothers, world number two, will face the Japanese pair Sora Matsushima – Tomokazu Harimoto in the quarter-finals on Thursday (at 6:10 a.m. Paris time, live on the RMC Sports Youtube and Twitch channels). Qualified at the last minute following a withdrawal, the other Montpellier duo Esteban Dorr and Florian Bourrassaud will be opposed to the Hong Kongers Lam Siu Hang and Ho Kwan Kit a little later. In the event of a double victory, the French will face each other in the semi-final.

For his part, Alexis Lebrun, reigning French and European champion and 14^e world player, faces a big pitfall in singles on Thursday: world number two, Lin Shidong (12:20 p.m. Paris time). Recent winner of the WTT Champions in Frankfurt and the Grand Smash in Beijing (equivalent to a Grand Slam tournament), the Chinese table tennis player is considered the best player in the world currently.

Chasing Chinese table tennis players

For the Lebrun brothers, the challenge is to close the year 2024 at the top. beyond expectations », savored their trainer Nathanaël Molin, interviewed by Agence France-Presse. The season which is ending is marked by the historic bronze medals gleaned by Félix Lebrun in singles and by the French team – Simon Gauzy and the Lebrun brothers – at the Paris Olympic Games. Two European champion titles – in singles for Alexis Lebrun and in doubles – before the 18-year-old's victory at the end of October at the WTT Champions in Montpellier, brightened up a year already well underway in February with silver at the Worlds by teams in Busan (South Korea) against the unbeatable team from China.

« This is more than exceptional for us, the French ping, even the ping as a whole. It’s completely crazy what we’ve been through. », underlined Nathanaël Molin. By enriching their track record and dusting off that of the French ping, the two brothers have changed their status and their lives, accumulating requests from the media and sponsors (Carrefour, Optic 2000, Jules now support the two brothers who we also saw in an advertisement for Nintendo). Enough to revive interest around their discipline, which is quite popular. The number of licensees is exploding at the French Table Tennis Federation: from 126,000 table tennis players in 2021, the FFT was proud, in July 2024, to now have 228,000 licensees.

After the WTT Finals, time to rest for the two brothers. If 2025 will not be an Olympic year, it will be marked by the Individual World Championships in Doha (Qatar) from May 17 to 25, where the Lebrun Brothers will have to perform well if they wish to establish themselves in the long term at the table of Chinese giants.