Former World champion Wilson calls time on his brilliant career
Former World and Commonwealth champion Ross Wilson has announced his retirement from table tennis after the latest in a series of injuries that have plagued him throughout his illustrious career.
The 30-year-old three-time Paralympian from Minster in Kent won Paralympic team medals in London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 and reached a career high of world number two in men’s class 8. In April 2018 he won gold in the men’s class 6-10 singles at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and later that year became men’s class 8 World champion after beating the double Paralympic champion from China in the final.
“I know my body really well after all the injuries I’ve had,” he said. “Last year I had my labrum repaired because I’d torn it and then they reshaped my hip. Pre-surgery my bone was getting bruised which can result in a fracture and I’ve also got cartilage damage which was a bit too far gone to repair but the doctor said if they shaved the bone down so it was not bone on bone contact the hip should recover and I’d be good to go. So, I did seven months of rehab and worked really hard and then when I came back, they found my hip was fractured anyway so I was going to be out again for a long time. It would probably take me about a year to get back to any sort of decent level, and I just thought, ‘I don’t want to do it again’. It’s just not there for me now and it’s not something I really want anymore.”
Wilson first played table tennis while on holiday at Center Parcs and a watching member of staff, noting the Arsenal shirt he was wearing, christened him the Thierry Henry of table tennis. As a junior he was ranked in the top ten in the country, winning two National doubles titles before being diagnosed with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, which affects the growing ends of the bones. He joined the GB Para squad in 2011, winning bronze in the men’s class 6-8 team event in London 2012 at the age of just 17. He overcame a series of injuries and two years out of the sport to qualify for Rio 2016 and take bronze again in the men’s class 6-8 team. Despite further injury problems he competed in his third Paralympic Games in Tokyo and took team bronze with Aaron McKibbin and Billy Shilton but missed out on qualification for Paris 2024 having been reclassified into class 9 on the eve of the European Championships in 2023.
“Injuries have definitely been the biggest challenge throughout my career,” he said, “and it has shaped a lot of how I’ve been able to train and play which has been a bit restrictive. To be as good as I had to be - that in itself was a huge challenge because there are some amazing players out there. I guess when I look back for me to come away with the career that I’ve had, and when I look at the people I’ve competed against I’m really proud of that.
“I’d probably say winning the World Championship is the number one highlight for me. That was always my dream growing up; I remember when I was little and someone came to interview me and he said, ‘what are your goals?’ I said I wanted to be world champion and he said, ‘yes but what is your realistic goal’ and I looked at my mum and said, ‘what is this guy talking about, that is what I’m going to do’. I must have been younger than ten years old so to have worked as hard as I did for all those years and then to be able to come away with the World Championship gold and with the title to my name is something I’ll be able to have with me for the rest of my life.
“Winning gold at the Commonwealth Games was also a massive highlight for me and being able to do that with Team England was a very different experience. I think it was my first multi-sport event that wasn’t a Paralympic Games and my family travelled out to Australia to watch me, so it was lovely to share such an amazing experience with them.
“London 2012 was definitely another huge highlight for me. I remember my first match, I was playing against a Polish player who was really good, and it took me the whole of the first game to realise the crowd was actually supporting me because it was so loud that it took a couple of seconds for the noise to actually reach me. That was a great experience and so different to anything I’d ever experienced before. I lost 3-2 in the semi-finals to the Chinese player Zhao Shuai, who won gold in London, Rio and Tokyo, and then I lost the bronze medal match to the Swedish player Emil Andersson. Losing in the singles motivated me even more for the team event and I went unbeaten in the singles matches in the team event and we managed to come away with the bronze medal which was amazing.
“I’m definitely going to miss competing. I think one thing I’ve learnt throughout my career is how to be disciplined and hardworking and I think I’ll miss the work towards those competitions because although it can get a bit boring and repetitive I found that I could improve and develop best in those boring times. I’d try and work a bit harder than everyone else and I think that made the world of difference and I ended up enjoying those times so I’m going to miss the general day to day work in the hall as well as the actual competing.”
Wilson has recently graduated with a first-class degree in psychology which may well form the basis for the next phase of his life.
“I’ve got a few options and I’m not sure which way I’ll go with it,” he said. “I’ve been doing some coaching over the last few months which I’ve actually enjoyed, and I’ve also been doing some psychology work, so I don’t know if I’ll end up in a general psychology role or a sports psychology role. I really enjoy the psychological part of sport so maybe I’ll do something that incorporates that into what I do next.”
The late Gorazd Vecko MBE played a huge part in Wilson’s career and nurtured the 15-year-old when he moved to Sheffield to train full-time with the British squad.
“The first time I met Gorazd I’d never met anyone like him,” recalled Wilson. “He was very different to anyone else, and I ended up moving into the bungalow quite early on with him and some of the other players. Gorazd was like a second father figure to a lot of the members of the team and he’d bring his family over, so I’ve grown up with and been close to his son and daughter, Alex and Pia. We talk a lot about the family structure that Gorazd brought into the programme, and I think that came from the very beginning when we all spent so much time together and basically did everything together like a family.
“Throughout the whole of my career Gorazd was there. A lot of things have happened in that time, and he has been the biggest support you could ask for - not just for me but for pretty much every member of the team. He was an amazing person and he has an amazing family – his family has become our family now which really shows that the family structure he brought in was something quite special.
“Greg Baker, Andrew Rushton and Jason Sugrue have also played massive parts in my table tennis career, and I’d really like to thank them all.”
Paying tribute to Wilson’s career, British Para Table Tennis Programme Manager Shaun Marples said: “Ross is a brilliant person to be around, and he’s been amazing for the programme over the years with his fantastic achievements in winning the World title in 2018 and being a three-time Paralympic medallist. He’s had an incredible career and an amazing journey – it is a sad time for the programme that Ross has decided to move on, but we appreciate why, given the circumstances. He’s always had to manage the injuries but while he’s been in Sheffield he’s grown as a person - he’s completed his university degree and he’s got married. We all feel the warmth and love that Ross has given to the programme, and he’ll be missed but he will always be welcome at any time. A lot of people are proud of Ross and what he has done for the sport, and we would love for him to remain involved with us in the future.
“Thank you, Ross, for everything you’ve done for British Para table tennis - along with others you’ve taken the sport to a new level in this country so thank you for your contribution and what you’ve done for Para table tennis.”