Table tennis is enjoying a revival in the United States, driven by the release of the Oscar-tipped biopic Marty Supreme, industry figures say. Long dismissed as a basement game, the sport has entered the pop-culture mainstream, with clubs reporting surging interest and professional leagues selling out matches.
David Silberman, co-founder of PingPod, which operates table tennis venues in the north-east US, said the film had been a catalyst. 'When the movie premiered on Christmas Day we saw a 20-40% spike in year-on-year new customer reservations, and existing customer utilisation went up 10-15%. Clearly a wave of new people are picking up the paddle.'
Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), the first professional league in the US, set an all-time regular season ticket sales record after the film's release. Its founder Flint Lane said, 'No doubt some of that is Marty related.' An event in Portland, Oregon, sold out earlier this month, marking the first sellout in league history with more than 2,000 tickets sold.
Six-time US national champion Lily Zhang, who reached the round of 16 at the Paris Olympics, welcomed the attention but noted challenges. 'Marty Supreme has launched table tennis into the pop culture mainstream, but I would love to see more of that interest translate over to the professional side. People are often surprised when they hear that I'm a professional player – there is such a lack of understanding of how intense the professional game is.'
In a recent BBC interview, actor Timothée Chalamet, who won a Golden Globe for his role as Marty Reisman, said there was less than a one-in-a-million chance he could make the US Olympic team in 2028, despite training since 2018. Meanwhile, MLTT said wagering is set to launch in the coming months to expand fan engagement.
