10 years after his last appearance for Ochsenhausen in the Tischtennis Bundesliga, Liam Pitchford returned to the table, in 2026 for TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau. 

Returning to the table after hip surgery, at the 2026 US Smash, the English 4-time Olympian has seemingly fought back to full strength, with a new lease of pain-free mobility. After a close defeat to Shinozuka in California, Pitchford was disappointed, having not played any matches in 10 months, but still having a chance to take the win. 

No doubt the return to one of the world's strongest leagues is a move towards piling up some frequent and high level match practice on his road to recovering in the international standings on the road to LA 2028. 

Grenzau faced off against TSV Bad Königshofen, with Pitchford playing 2 singles in the team fixture. 

He was able to record a 3-1 victory over Liao Cheng Ting in the opening match. The two had met in Ljubljana in 2023 where Liao had squeezed a 5th set win, but Pitchford was full of confidence in his first bundesliga match in a decade.

In his second match he repeated the successful 4-game scoreline in his second match against the experienced Bastian Steger. 

The two matches anchored Grenzau in landing a 3-2 victory over their opponents. 

Pitchford's comeback coincided with his adoption of his new signature JOOLA blade, the Liam Pitchford Aramid Carbon, which is launching for retail soon!