Tomislav Pucar – Interview

Q&A with Tomislav Pucar

TTfit are thrilled to publish a recent interview we had with current World # 32 ranked Table Tennis player Tomislav Pucar.

Tomislav is 24 years old, was born in Croatia, and currently plays full time for TTC Rhonsprudel Fulda-Maberzel in the Bundesliga, Germany. He recently reached the last 16 of the World Singles Championships in Hungary in which he defeated Bastien Steger and even more impressively the World # 12 Dimitrij Ovtcharov along the way.

Tomislav also had a brilliant junior career and among his many achievements were a silver medal in the European Youth Singles Championships in Ostrava in 2013 and a gold medal in the European Under 21 Singles Championships in Sochi in 2017.

TTFit want to thank Tomislav for taking the time to do this interview and wish him all the best in the future!

10 Questions with Tomislav Pucar

1. Who are/were your inspirations and why, and did you model your game on a specific player?

• My inspiration at a young age was Kalinikos Kreanga, but as we are completely different body types I didn’t model my game on his style. I tried to model my game for my body type.

2. You have unbelievable touch and feeling on the ball, can you give any tips on how to improve this?

• I think talent is one of the crucial things to have good feeling but also a lot of practice will help you to improve it.

3. Your reverse serve has so much variation and is one of the most difficult serves to master, how often did you practice serving when you were younger?

• I started to serve reverse service only 4 or 5 years ago because after that service I felt that I can play much easier than after any other service. I was practicing it alot, and it helped me to come among best players in the world.

4. How do you like to be coached, in other words, which coaching style brings out the best in you?

• I had the same coach over 10 years and he is strict and he notices every little thing in the game. Without him, I wouldn’t achieve any of my results.

5. You move incredibly well for a tall man, did/do you play other sports which in your opinion help your physicality and movement?

• I think I am really fast in table tennis for my height, but I think that’s due to my genetics. I never practiced or played any other sport except table tennis. Only at my young age I played football and tennis in free time but I stopped so I wouldn’t get injured.

6. What mental tools do you use under pressure?

• Under pressure, I try to be calm as much as I can because I know that getting angry and upset can only bring me closer to defeat.

7. Do you think attitude is a factor in winning?

• I think it has some impact because if an opponent sees you confident, calm and hungry to win, it is harder for him than if you are scared and upset.

8. What from Table Tennis brings you the most joy?

• The most joy in table tennis I get in winning. But to win you constantly need to improve and learn new things.

9. If you could choose one player to watch who would it be?

• I would watch Fan Zhendong.

10. What is your favourite sports quote?

• “The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory”

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions and good luck in your next matches.