Bye, Timo - (Part 5 with Christian Süß): “Timo made everyone else even better”
Germany's top star Timo Boll has been on his announced farewell tour of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) with Borussia Düsseldorf since the start of the season. Here, at regular intervals, important companions formulate thoughts and memories of the most successful player in Bundesliga history and his incomparable career. In the fifth part of our series “Bye, Timo”, Christian Süß, who became one of the most and most decorated players in German table tennis history* alongside Boll through successes at the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships, DM events and with Borussia Düsseldorf itself, looks back on their time together.
“It's well known what a fine character, nice person and fair sportsman Timo is. He's always been a bit of a 'dream son-in-law'.
In the many years I've been with him, I've always felt that he's pulled every player around him along, in fact he's made everyone even better. He never saw training with the rest of us as a competitive situation, at least that's how I always perceived it. On the contrary: Timo was always genuinely happy when others made progress and played well, when they got to the front. That was another of his traits, although I don't think he was even aware of it, it was just his way.
As a result, the team always had a very good feeling about him. Of course, having Timo Boll in your team has always given you a sense of security because he's usually more likely to win one or two points than lose two. That can generally have a negative effect on other players and possibly lead to pressure to perform less well. But that never really happened in his presence, there was always a good feeling.
Exceptional flair for table tennis
When Timo joined us at Borussia Düsseldorf in 2007, it was great and I was really happy about it. Of course, also because he made us brutally strong as a team and club. But there were never any hierarchy problems internally, the roles were clearly distributed, which is perhaps what made the many successes in those years and to that extent possible in the first place and which have become unforgettable for me.
One of Timo's special talents was always to play big tournaments with incredibly little preparation. Whether he was injured or ill beforehand, Timo always improved from round to round and then played his best game in the final. That's the ideal case, but usually after a long and focused preparation and some tricky games in the first rounds, but he was able to do it practically from a standing start like no other, and then play like a young god in the final a few times, even though he had been 'completely out of sorts' just a short time before. From an athlete's point of view, that's real skill and a really great talent to be able to do that - unlike practically everyone else. His exceptional feel for table tennis without any major preparation is certainly also an important factor in Timo being able to play at a high level for so long up to his current age.
Joint successes at the World Championships and Olympic Games
Of course, I have special memories of the 2005 World Championships in Shanghai. Our victory in the semi-final against Ma Lin/Chen Q in front of 10,000, 12,000 fanatical spectators was one of the best matches of my entire career, and then came his brutally feverish illness the night before the World Championship final, which I found out about at breakfast. When I was in his room afterwards, I quickly realized that it wouldn't be gold in the evening, which was certainly an unspeakable shame, but nevertheless this World Championships remains a great experience for me thanks to our great matches, which in retrospect ultimately also includes Timo's fair play in the singles round of 16 against Liu Guozheng, when he indicated an edge ball from Liu on his own match point in the seventh set, but lost shortly afterwards despite another great tournament. We were probably both in a kind of tunnel and flow, which made his singles exit all the more bitter for Timo, because he could certainly have gone very, very far if he had won. I've never forgotten all that.
I also have very fond memories of the silver medal I won with the team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It was a mega highlight for me, partly because it was my only game, but also because of Timo's decisive point in the semi-final against Japan, after which we stormed into the box and just fell on Timo. That was fantastic, and we had a really great party after the final - first in the Olympic Village, and then we went to a club with the handball players, where Timo completely escalated in a way you don't really know him for.
Our celebration after our first Champions League win together against TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen was similarly great a year later, when we won 3:0 after losing the first leg in Ochsenhausen and crashed their party, which had already been planned. That was also a really nice moment in our time together.
Reunion last summer
But we also had lots of great times together outside of table tennis, we often went out to eat together, but as dog lovers we also had an additional connection beyond table tennis. The same applies to golf, which we both love, which is why we played a few rounds together. I also remember that we used to go to soccer matches together - he was a Borussia Dortmund fan and I was a Schalke 04 supporter, which always provided plenty of material for mutual banter. You could say that we got on well with each other. Unfortunately, we haven't seen each other that often in recent years, but I was all the happier last summer when we saw each other again at a birthday party in Düsseldorf, told each other stories from the past and agreed that we unfortunately only see each other too rarely.
All in all, my time with Timo was incredibly enriching for me and it was an experience to be a part of his career, just as he has of course been a big part of mine. I can only describe this journey together as unique and great. Without Timo, the successes I was able to celebrate internationally and at Borussia would not have been possible. I can only say it again: this period with Timo was a great experience.”
*Christian Süß and Timo Boll share numerous successes at different levels. A small excerpt: Olympic silver in 2008 (team), World Championship silver in 2005 in doubles, three times World Championship silver with the team and once World Championship bronze with the team, four times European Championship gold in doubles and with the team, twice Pro Tour Grand Finals winner, four Pro Tour titles, twice German doubles champion, three times Champions League winner with Borussia Düsseldorf, once ETTU Cup winner with Düsseldorf as well as six times German team champion with Düsseldorf and five times Cup winner with Düsseldorf.
Recorded by Florian Manzke