Dang Qiu: I will definitely not rest on my successes

Dang Qiu has had a steep rise: The 25-year-old celebrated a successful debut season with Borussia Düsseldorf, won the championship in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) a month ago and also celebrated numerous successes internationally. In the interview, Qiu talks about the move from ASV Grünwettersbach to Borussia, the rise into the top 10 of the world rankings and the latest round of titles.

Dang Qiu, on the first Sunday in July at the France Festival in your adopted home of Düsseldorf, you performed the award ceremony after a vintage car rally. What was the experience like on the other side?

That was really something quite different and therefore also very interesting. In any case, it was also nice to hand over a prize for once and share the joy with the winners.

Without a doubt, the task was also an expression of increased appreciation for your achievements. What does that mean to you, and how do you deal with your increasing popularity?

I don't like to be the center of attention; I don't have to be. But of course I'm also aware that with success comes a certain amount of attention, which I want to enjoy as much as possible. But generally I'm a very modest person and try to do my thing. But one is always connected to the other, so I have to be able to deal with that. As my career progresses, I hope I'll be able to gain more experience and learn more from it.

The organizers of the France Festival have certainly made a connection between your successes and the 2024 Olympic Games in the French capital, Paris. Do you see one as well?

Yes, of course for the sports city of Düsseldorf that was the link to the Olympics in Paris, and it also seemed to me that I should be highlighted as a candidate for Paris 2024.

Your rise to the top 10 in the world rankings has been nothing short of meteoric. Apart from your WTT tournament victory in Lima, you are currently also the most decorated player in Germany with European team and mixed titles as well as DM crowns in singles, doubles and with Borussia Düsseldorf as well as a "half" Champions League success. Have you already been able to realize all this?

I don't like being the center of attention, so I don't have to be. But of course I'm also aware that with success comes a certain amount of attention, which I would like to enjoy as much as possible. But generally I'm a very modest person and try to do my thing. But one is always connected to the other, so I have to be able to deal with that. As my career progresses, I hope I'll be able to gain more experience and learn more from it.

Would you have thought that you had developed in this way a year ago?

The results have all come in a very short period of time, but I'd say that I've been playing pretty consistently and very well for almost the whole of last year, actually for two years now, in which I've been developing consistently and producing consistently good results. That has brought me a lot of confidence and accordingly the successes. But what has become of it and that I have become the number ten in the world, I had actually not imagined.

What has been the decisive factor for your improvements in recent months?

There's really no secret as to why I've improved so much now in such a short time and also in general. I think it was important that I worked on consistency, which is very high with me. But I also had the opportunity to train a lot all the time and was able to make good use of the different training and competition phases. I also stayed injury-free, which is very important.

Your penholder style has been your trademark for quite some time, but has now attracted attention from the wider public. There are several versions of the story circulating about how you came to do it. What was it really like?

It happened that I actually started with the shakehand grip, but I couldn't play backhand because of the longer grip, because it always touched my forearm or wrist. That's when my father jokingly said, why don't you try playing penholder? That actually worked out really well, and that's why I stuck with it, although at six or seven years old you can't really know where your journey will take you, and that's why penholder was just really fun and cool at first.

Everywhere your diligence is emphasized, through which you have earned the successes. Do you ever switch off from table tennis - and if so, how?

I like to meet and talk with friends, which is always a lot of fun. I also enjoy watching series and going out to eat when I have the time. But I can switch off from table tennis relatively well the moment I leave the hall. I don't need anything else to do that.

Your parents - the former student world champion Qiu Jianxin and the former Chinese national player Chen Hong - sort of put the table tennis talent in your cradle. What role do they both play in your career?

My parents are still very important to me, of course. I have constant contact with my father and am in constant exchange with him about table tennis and my own game. There is probably no coach who knows me better than my father, because back then he also coached me every day. We still discuss almost every game of mine. My mother supports me with many things around it, often visits me in Düsseldorf, if we don't also talk on the phone every day, and then often cooks for me, as so many mothers do for their children. That makes things a lot easier for me.

In the German Table Tennis League (TTBL), you moved from ASV Grünwettersbach to Borussia Düsseldorf a year ago. What was the biggest change for you?

Grünwettersbach was exactly the right club for me at the time and helped me become a better and more mature player. In Düsseldorf, the first thing that was different was that I no longer had to drive three and a half hours to a home game and can only walk five minutes across the street. But above all, at Borussia it's much more about the titles, which automatically means there's a certain pressure, but that's also good because you want to play as well as possible even in the constellation. The schedule is also different, which is extremely demanding in three competitions with dates right up until the end and involves extreme periods of competition, but that has also helped me move forward.

There are several myths surrounding Düsseldorf's successes. Have you already felt the special Borussia touch?

The successes in Düsseldorf don't just happen by themselves; a lot of things work very, very well at Borussia. We had a very successful season, but I can't say whether it was due to the Borussia touch, because every player in the team played very well. In any case, we had a very good team chemistry and fitted together well.

In the upcoming TTBL season, your team is the hunted as defending champions. Is Düsseldorf the favorite again?

I already see us in the inner circle of favorites again. But with Neu-Ulm and Ochsenhausen, there are two bombshell teams in the new season. Neu-Ulm in particular, if they field their entire squad, might even be the best team in the world, with the exception of the Chinese. Saarbrücken, like Ochsenhausen, will be even stronger, so I expect a really hot battle. This will possibly be the most exciting and strongest season in Bundesliga history.