In Memoriam of Andrzej Grubba

By Bill McLaughlin

I don't recall exactly when I deemed the late Andrzej Grubba my all-time favorite table tennis player, but I do recall why.

Andrzej Grubba - 1958-2005

Grubba, who died of lung cancer on July 21, was an exciting (and excitable), flamboyant, emotional, topspinning player, who inadvertently or otherwise, drew attention to himself with both his spectacular shot-making and his extroverted nature.

While the Swedes (excepting Erik Lindh) showed all of the emotion of an ice cube, Grubba wore his heart on his sleeve. One of his trademarks was his battlecry of "DOBRY!!", yelled out when he won key points in critical matches. {Ed. Note: I'm not sure of the spelling of his yell, but I've been told the word translated to "good" in English, hence "dobry" - I thought it sounded like "dohb-jay" (phonetic) myself.] If he lost a hard-fought point in a big game, he'd often fall to the ground and simply lie there for a spell in his emotional agony.

There was also his in-between point mannerism, the "Gru-bounce", named by Gary Ruderman of Reflex Sports, where he'd keep physically active and in my opinion, use to almost hypnotize himself in preparation for the next point.

I have a 1981 video of a then 23 year old Grubba playing against the Chinese great, Guo Yuehua. It was clear that Grubba even at that fairly young age was a wunderkind, and in one of the games, had the exasperated Guo down 13-0 at one point. Interestingly, he was very much a backhand dominant player, using that side as his favored side, both on serve and shot. He'd clearly move to his forehand side to make a backhand topspin shot. His forehand serve was somewhat awkward, but his backhand serve was both simple and effective, as Guo netted a number of "easy" serves. In a few years, he'd develop a more reliable and stronger forehand.

The flashing backhand arc of Grubba

Grubba could do it all when it came to making shots. Though his developed forehand wasn't the strongest in the world, it was effective, whether by loop or smash. His most beautiful shot though was his favored backhand, which had a great aesthetic follow-through - racket arm finishing high and to the side. But Grubba was also a lefty, and could readily switch hands in mid-point. He was also a preeminent lobber, and could play wonderful defense when forced away from the table. Chops, drop shots, backhand flicks. He was a wizard.

Unfortunately, Grubba's personality may also have contributed to his inability to win the "big one". Though he won a World Cup, he never made it to the finals of a World Championship, nor a singles European Championship. Grubba had at times an unfortunate tendency to "whiff" at shots, usually during key points in the match. And there was his "Buckneresque" moment in 1991 where against a literally fallen Jorgen Persson, he tepidly pushed the ball back, wherein Persson popped up off the ground and backhand killed a winning point, taking the match shortly thereafter.

I met Grubba when the World Cup Doubles was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1992. All of the sports top stars at the time were there: Waldner and Persson, Rosskopf and Fetzner, Yoo and Kim, the Mazunov brothers, and of course Kucharski and Grubba. While sitting in the audience during warm-ups, Grubba chanced to wander near my seat, wherein I offered him a can of Coke and asked for his autograph. He politely declined the former and graciously provided the latter.

Grubba's flamboyant style of game and his tempestuous personality made for a compelling, exciting table tennis figure and with his untimely passing, an end of an era. But he'll always be my favorite table tennis player.

A video tribute to Andrzej Grubba courtesy Bruce H. Liu. (Must have QuickTime to view.)