Almaty winner Ruwen Filus: "Last place is not Fulda's claim".
Ruwen Filus caused a sensation with his tournament victory at the WTT Contender in the Kazakh capital Almaty. In an interview, the defensive virtuoso from TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell talks about the significance of his success, the reasons for his decision not to participate in the World Team Championships in Chengdu/China and his team's bumpy start to the new season of the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL).
Ruwen Filus, your tournament win at the WTT Contender on the third weekend of September in Almaty was a big surprise. How much do you enjoy this success in Kazakhstan?
Some people wrote to me and congratulated me, but it's almost old hat again, because it goes on and on. But seriously, to win in the final against an Olympic fourth-placed and top-10 player after trailing 0:3 - I will think about that for some time.
How do you rate this title win against a world-class player like Lin Yun-Ju?
Already very far ahead. The Challenger I won in Bangkok in 2019 wasn't that well-staffed, the field in Almaty was already of a high quality, that's why this tournament win is also one of the top 3 of my greatest successes.
What are the other highlights?
Of course, my final last year at the WTT Star Contender in Doha, where all the top players were already there, and the silver medal at the 2018 World Team Championships in Sweden, where our way to the final was very emotional.
What was it that worked so well in Almaty for you to win the title?
It wasn't an easy road, I didn't always play my best table tennis. Maybe one or two opponents didn't have their best day, but the draw also had to be right, which has become a matter of luck. In the end, you have to play well enough to beat top players to win the tournament.
After the award ceremony, you said you had actually only expected to play two matches. Was your form really that far from your top level?
I won my first matches in a WTT tournament this year in Almaty. When you have been knocked out in the first round four times before, your expectations are not that high at first.
One or the other observer had also expected your nomination for the upcoming World Team Championships starting at the end of September in Chengdu. What are the reasons why you are not part of the line-up of national coach Jörg Roßkopf?
It was actually discussed with the national coach that I would not travel to the World Championships. Due to my well-known family situation, it is very important for me that I always want and need to have the possibility of a spontaneous return trip, even at short notice. But due to the Corona regulations in China, that was not possible without having to go into quarantine for seven days before an unscheduled return flight.
Just over 24 hours after your title win in Kazakhstan, you made your TTBL season debut for your club TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell at the beginning of the week, but lost your singles match against Kirill Gerassimenko 0:3 at Werder Bremen. Why didn't the debut work out as you had hoped?
It was a long journey back from Almaty, we were on a plane at night. But actually I didn't play that badly, but Gerassimenko also played very well and didn't let me into the match.
Your team as a whole didn't start the season well either. After last season's play-off participation, you all in Fulda surely expected more than last place for the new season, didn't you?
Of course we did. But it has to be said that we are in a bit of a crisis. We have to fight our way out of it.
What are the reasons for the bad start?
We had to accept too many breaks at the front positions, which always broke our back in the previous games. We have to get back to the point where we can win the games more tightly. In any case, the last place in the table is definitely not Fulda's ambition.
Against this backdrop, how important is Friday's cup round of 16 at second-division side Fortuna Passau?
It's very important, because every win can help us pull ourselves out of it. Then comes the long break, after which the difficult time is already somewhat behind us, so we practically start all over again.