For the first time in 31 weeks, there’s a new number one men’s singles player in the world.
China’s Wang Chuqin surpassed Lin Shidong to become ITTF’s top-ranked men’s singles player on Tuesday. Winning WTT Champions Macao 2025 earned Wang 1,000 points, just enough to put him ahead of Lin by 50 points.
Wang has been the world No. 1 before, most recently during Week 6 of 2025. He was the last player to hold the title before Lin took it from him on Feb. 11.
Lin and Wang were separated by 925 points before WTT Champions Macao 2025 began on Sept. 9. Wang lost just two total games before going undefeated from the quarterfinals, the same round where Lin exited the tournament.
The final player Wang defeated in Macao was Brazil’s Hugo Calderano, who took the No. 3 spot from Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto on Tuesday. His performance at Macao also earned him a coveted spot at WTT Finals 2025, making him the fifth male player to do so.
To make it to the finals, Calderano defeated Denmark’s Anders Lind, who jumped five spots to No. 14 on Tuesday. Lind’s shocking upset over Lin earned him 350 points and the first WTT Champions semifinal appearance of his career.
Korea's Jang Woo-jin (No. 21) rose seven spots after his semifinal loss to Wang at Macao, a spot he earned after defeating Germany’s Benedikt Duda (No. 8) in the quarterfinals. France's Thibault Poret (No. 34) rose five spots after making the Round of 16 at a WTT Champions event for the first time in 2025.
WTT’s next major event is China Smash 2025, which starts on Sept. 25. This tournament could change these new rankings, and a strong performance from Lin could earn him the world No. 1 spot again.
