You may have heard the name "Timo Boll" in the news lately. Or, at least, you may have been hearing about the nearly homophonous telecommunications company T-Mobile and its imminent merger with Sprint. (Incidentally, Timo Boll and T-Mobile are both from Germany.) The one making headlines in the world of sport is the 38-year-old Boll. His ranking still hovers around the world's top ten after hitting #1 in 2003, 2011 and as recently as 2018. Boll recently surrendered his top-ten ranking to compatriot Dimitrij Ovtcharov. He now stands outside but with his foot in the door at #11. As it has so many times before, fate recently brought Boll and Ovtcharov again. This time, the occasion was the 2020 Europe Top 16 Cup, a World Cup qualifier held in Montreux, Switzerland. (Yes, rock historians, that's the very same Montreux whose 1971 casino fire was immortalized in Deep Purple's classic "Smoke on the Water.") Ovtcharov, a five-time winner of the Cup, trailed Boll's record by one. Boll, in turn, trailed all-time great Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden, winner of a record seven European Cups between 1984 and 1996. Fate again intervened, as fate is wont to do, as Ovtcharov fell ill and was forced to withdraw. This left Boll as the second-highest seed after 2019 World Championship finalist Mattias Falck of Sweden. Falck, like so many there in Switzerland, was stunned by the renaissance of 41-year-old Robert Gardos of Austria. Gardos, seeded 14th, upset Falck in the quarterfinals, 4-2. This set Gardos up against Boll in the semifinals. Boll, in no mood to indulge Gardos' Cinderella story, efficiently claimed a spot in the finals with a 4-1 win. There he met another brand of upstart in the form of Slovenia's Darko Jorgic, the 14th seed who had pulled off a string of upsets to reach the final, including one over four-time champion Vladimir Samsononv of Belarus (#6). Jorgic, 21, has tremendous power from both wings, often stepping around to his forehand side to end a point with a crushing backhand. Boll, who had not dropped more than one game in any set en route to the finals, lost the first game as Jorgic simply overpowered him. From there, however, Boll began to find his footing. Putting his experience to work, he confounded Jorgic with off-speed loops and occasional displays of his own firepower. In the end, Boll proved too much for the promising Slovenian, from whom he can certainly expect more resistance in the future. With a (8-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9) scoreline, Boll equaled Waldner's record of seven European Cups. With the title, Boll is assured a spot in the ITTF Men's World Cup this October 16-18 in Boll's native Germany. Also reserving World Cup invites with their podium finishes are Jorgic and good old Robert Gardos, who secured the bronze in a clutch seven-game win over Croatia's Tomislav Pucar. For now, however, the day belongs to Timo Boll. Tomorrow, we can ask him what in the world he's doing trying to merge with Sprint.

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