Who Was Marty Reisman's Wife? All About Yoshiko Reisman and Her Relationship with the Ping-Pong Star
- - Who Was Marty Reisman's Wife? All About Yoshiko Reisman and Her Relationship with the Ping-Pong Star
Katie MannionDecember 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
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Marty Reisman.
Marty Reisman, the self-proclaimed “bad boy of table tennis,” was known for his eccentric and flamboyant style as well as his courtside showmanship. At home, though, he was a husband to his wife, Yoshiko Reisman.
The legendary ping-pong champion serves as the real-life inspiration behind director Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme. Starring Timothée Chalamet in the titular role, Marty Supreme follows Marty Mauser, a working-class hustler in 1950s New York who navigates the underground table tennis scene to make money.
The film isn’t a biopic, but a fictionalized story loosely based on the life of the award-winning ping-pong player. Safdie was inspired after his wife gave him a copy of Marty's 1974 memoir, The Money Player: The Confessions of America's Greatest Table Tennis Player and Hustler, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Notably, Marty and Yoshiko didn’t get married until several years after his memoir was published, so their relationship isn’t memorialized in print or in a fictionalized way on screen. Instead, the film version of Marty has two love interests: Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone, an older movie star with whom he has an affair, and Odessa A’zion as Rachel, a childhood friend of his.
The real Marty became a loyal husband when he met Yoshiko. “I’m very devoted to her,” he said in Fact or Fiction: The Life and Times of a Ping Pong Hustler, a documentary released in 2014, two years after his death. When Marty died in 2012 at the age of 82, per The New York Times, he and Yoshiko had been married for three decades. It is unclear whether Yoshiko is still alive today.
So who was Marty Reisman's wife? Here's everything to know about Yoshiko Reisman and her relationship with the table tennis star.
They married in 1982
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Marty Reisman practices his table tennis for the World Championship.
Marty married his second wife, Yoshiko Koshino, in 1982 in Manhattan. Although it’s not clear when the two started dating or how they met, Marty told filmmakers for Fact or Fiction that they had been together for nearly 32 years.
The documentary was filmed during the final three years of his life, between 2009 and 2012.
Yoshiko was a model and actress
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Marty Reisman in his ping pong parlor in New York City, NY, circa 1971
Although Marty was a colorful, sometimes controversial figure who was known for his public persona as a showman, he and Yoshiko were very private in their personal life.
However, in his documentary, Fact or Fiction, Marty did show filmmakers several personal photos of him and Yoshiko together. He also shared that she had been a model and an actress in her younger years. “She was gorgeous,” he said.
They didn't welcome any children of their own together
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Marty Reisman attends PUMA Introduces CHALK designed by Aruliden at Conran Shop on June 3, 2010 in New York City.
In 1958, Marty married a woman named Geri. The couple welcomed one child together, Deborah, on March 9, 1960, before ultimately getting divorced by 1970.
“I was proud and happy, but I knew it meant more responsibility,” Marty wrote of welcoming a baby girl in his autobiography, The Money Player. “Responsibility was something I was not accustomed to.”
After he and Geri married, Marty tried to “provide a stable livelihood,” even getting a regular job at a department store, although the stint only lasted four weeks. “I worried I was not meeting my responsibilities. Now, with Deborah, the responsibility was even greater," he wrote.
Marty and Geri got divorced sometime in the mid-60’s before he married again in 1982. Although he and Yoshiko didn’t have children together, the couple did have several cats.
Yoshiko was supportive of his career
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Cover of New York Daily News Sunday News Magazine March 18, 1979.
While Yoshiko preferred to stay out of the spotlight, she was a constant presence at Marty's matches.
“She supported me all the way,” he told Fact or Fiction filmmakers. “My playing career, she was very enthusiastic about my game and what I was doing.”
Between 1946 and 2002, Marty won over 20 major titles, including two U.S. Open championships and the U.S. National Hardbat championship at age 67. Yoshiko was by his side for all the tournaments and games that came after 1982.
“She was also, strangely enough, my table tennis coach during the course of a match,” he said. “She lived and died in every shot that I made.”
Marty took care of her in his last years
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Marty Reisman attends SPiN New York's 2010 World Champions Exhibition at SPiN New York on June 24, 2010 in New York City.
Fact or Fiction: The Life and Times of a Ping Pong Hustler showcased a more personal, vulnerable side of Marty, one that stood in stark contrast to his flamboyant public persona. In the documentary, he revealed that he had spent the past several years caring for his sick wife.
“I’m very devoted to her,” he said, adding, “She’s not as well as she could be.”
He went on to say that a few years earlier, she became very ill, and since then, most of his time had been spent taking care of her. Although he didn't give many details about her illness, he described Yoshiko as “pretty much bedridden,” explaining that she could only move around the house a bit here and there.
“She did everything for me. I couldn’t imagine life without her. She’s very important in my life,” he said. “She fed me well. She cooked for me. She tended to all my necessities.”
Marty's friends also spoke about their relationship in the documentary, telling filmmakers that the ping-pong star “totally relied upon her," describing how she took care of him.
“It’s really amazing how my life and my existence with Yoshiko has taken a 180-degree turn,” Marty said. “Everything she did for me, I now do for her.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
