Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt): "The turnaround will come".
Team runner-up Benedikt Duda is stuck and the TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt stuck in the table tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) in a low and have had to accept their fifth defeat in a row on the third weekend of Advent at the Champions League club Post SV Mühlhausen, In the interview Duda looks back and explains why his team does not fear the relegation battle.
Benedikt Duda, Bergneustadt forced Champions League club Post SV Mühlhausen into a double last weekend, but then suffered its fifth defeat in a row and completely lost contact with the midfield for the time being. There can certainly be no talk of a reflective mood in your team despite the Advent season, can there?
The mood is still good after the defeat in Mühlhausen, even if we are of course all disappointed about it. We now have a small negative series, but we could have won against TSV Bad Königshofen and now in Mühlhausen, so the defeats with only one set less were all the more bitter. But you also have to see how the whole year has gone: The season is always long and we hardly get any recovery phases and still have to try to be at 100 percent every weekend, which is almost impossible. That's why it's not ideal at the moment, but I know that we have everything at that level to be able to win many games in a row again. It's a disappointing phase, but things will pick up again.
What are the reasons for the misery?
In the meantime, everything is pretty much scheduled one after the other. You come from a tournament, have to play and then fly straight back to the next tournament, then you have training and then the World Cup - you don't really have any rest periods to enjoy what you've achieved in the past few months, but always have to be at 100 percent, and that doesn't always work out. We didn't get off to such a good start after the World Cup break, and we still have to find our feet again before we can start winning our games again. Overall, such a phase is just as much a part of table tennis as a winning streak. That's why we don't get too crazy and don't look for reasons everywhere. We just have to and want to stay calm, after all there is still a second round in which there are still 22 points in it. That's why I'm not too worried overall, and besides, all the important games that we've lost now will take place in Bergneustadt in front of our fans. We'll certainly be able to make the most of our home advantage.
Twice your team has gone into doubles, twice Bergneustadt has lost in different lineups. Is the doubles a problem for your team?
No, there is no problem in the double and not elsewhere. That is definitely not the case. Not every defeat directly means problems. Some decisions were made in doubles that led to a loss of points, but we have to learn from them. We'll analyze that, too, so that when it comes to the doubles again, we'll win.
In the bottom of the table, your team is not in a relegation spot only because of the match difference. Are you afraid of being dragged even deeper into the relegation battle?
As things stand, we really are in the relegation battle, but we could have won two more games, and with the two wins we would already be far away from the relegation battle, which would also correspond to the potential of our team. Our game difference also shows how close we have sometimes been to losing our games, which is why we are not in a relegation spot. That's why I'm still hoping for a win before the turn of the year and I'm firmly convinced that we can go full throttle in the second half of the season and do very well.
Do you and your team have hopes of rolling up the field from behind with a winning streak like last season?
Of course you get your hopes up, because you have chances in every game against every team. All the games against teams we see ourselves on a par with we've had so far have unfortunately been away from home, but at home we could certainly have won those. But it's just the same, but I firmly believe in a series at the latest in the second half of the season, which will then also bring us the class preservation.
For you, too, the season has been rather mediocre so far since the restart after the World Cup, with three victories in eight games. Can you explain that to yourself?
I don't only look at my TTBL results, but also at my international matches - the World Championship in Chengdu, the WTT Contender in Slovenia and the WTT Feeder in Düsseldorf, where I played very well. As I already said, you can't expect players to roll at 100 percent all the time, that's not possible physically and mentally. That's why I had to accept a few defeats in the TTBL, but there's nothing to explain. My level has increased drastically in the past few months, but I'm physically at the end after a long season, which meant that I couldn't maintain my concentration for long in the TTBL. That's why I've only won three matches in my last eight singles matches, but that's also part of the sport and I don't have to justify myself for that, despite a highly positive result in the previous season. My focus is also on higher goals at the moment, which is perhaps also reflected in my TTBL record. But when I've refueled, things will look different for me again.
What is the most important reason that your team will turn things around?
The most important reason is that we function as a team. We stick together and are very close. We also have the level to be able to win games again. But right now we all need time off and then we'll attack again in the second half of the season. The point for a winning streak and the turnaround will come.