Table Tennis World Stage: Behind the Chair with Clayton Pavlicek at US Smash 2026
Updated: Aug 13
The eyes of the global table tennis community were on Southern California from June 26 to July 5, 2026, as the United States Smash brought elite table tennis to American soil. Spanning 11 electrifying days and boasting a $1,550,000 prize pool, the World Table Tennis (WTT) Grand Smash event showcased the top-ranked players on the planet.
Right at the center of the arena was Clayton Pavlicek, one of our coaches at the Austin Table Tennis Club. Taking his seat in the umpire's chair for viral calls, marquee matchups, including Men’s Finals, Clayton represented the ATTC community on table tennis’s biggest international stage.
We caught up with Coach Clayton to get his perspective on the tournament, his viral moment, and what is next in his table tennis journey.
Viral Sora Fault
Q: Can you walk us through what happened in the moment?
Clayton: "At the time it was one of the easier calls I had to do during the tournament. The fault itself was easily seen as over 40 degrees. The hardest part was making the decision between whether it was a fault from myself or a challenge from his opponent. Since both happened at the same time, though the moment I awarded the point automatically the only correct decision was to have Sora challenge my call of fault and not his opponent's challenge."
Men's Final
Q: What was it like to umpire the Men's Finals?
Clayton: "This is the first time I have umpired a Finals in a Smash as the umpire. I have been the assistant umpire now in two other finals at a championship level in the Mixed Doubles US Smash 2025 and Women's Singles US Smash 2026."
Tournament Surprises
Q: Looking back at the whole tournament, what was your biggest surprise?
Clayton: "The biggest surprise to myself was the level of umpiring and the willingness to help each other learn. Looking back now I noticed what makes the best umpires in the world is the moment after the match where we sit back and go over what we went through and if we could have handled the events during the match better. Also the referee's team is willingness to work with the umpires and our growth."
Fondest Memory
Q: What is your favorite memory from the event?
Clayton: "My favorite memories of this event are going to have to be the Sora match and the Wang Chuqin match because I think both matches I was in a sort of flow state as an umpire and just did whatever I thought needed to be done. All while large crowds were cheering quite loudly but I barely noticed during the match but I felt it in my ears after the match like I just got back from a concert."
Next Steps
Q: Tell us about your trip to Thailand after the US Smash
Clayton: "Yeah I spent the last month decompressing and trying to reset myself both physically and mentally. While I was in Thailand I went to a talk from an old coaching colleague of mine where he had some medical and economics professors talking about the future of Table Tennis. The medical professor spent a good amount of time talking about the health benefits of playing the sport while people are aging which I think will influence some of my priorities this year as I push harder on trying to get more elderly into the sport."
Whether making judgment calls under the bright lights or developing grass-roots programs back in Texas, Clayton continues to push table tennis forward. Here at the ATTC, we are thankful for Coach Clayton’s influence on our community as he shares his world-class experiences and insights with our members and coaching program students.
Yes, table tennis is the best sport for healthy aging because it promotes both physical and mental agility without a need for much physical strength or risk of serious injury!
Welcome back, Clayton.