Final4 stars in interview: Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt): “We’re not done yet and we want a bit more”

Benedikt Duda is set to compete in the semi-finals of the German Championship with TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt at the Liebherr TTBL Final4 in Frankfurt (30–31 May). In this interview, the European silver medallist discusses the significance of reaching the Final4 for his club, key strategic decisions and the impact of the format changes to the Bundesliga finals.

Benedikt Duda, the Liebherr TTBL Final4 in Frankfurt is just a few days away. How fit are you and your club, TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, at the moment?

We’ll be preparing intensively for it in Bergneustadt during the final week before the Final4. I think the lads are all in good shape, physically fit and hungry to play a good semi-final there.

Frankfurt is your first competition since the end of the Team World Championships in London at the start of the month. Did that mean the result in London stayed on your mind for even longer?

Personally, I wasn’t satisfied with the results in London; I wanted to go further, but that’s sport, unfortunately. I’ve drawn my conclusions from it and will keep working on myself so that I can take the next steps forward.

How did you recover after the World Championships and fill the time?

I took a break for just under a week, spent time with my family, enjoyed being at home and then got back into training.

This is only the second time Bergneustadt have reached the semi-finals of the championship since their debut in 2019. How significant is this for your club?

For Bergneustadt, this is of course an absolute highlight. We’ve been working towards results like this for a long time, and it’s obviously brilliant for the fans and for the club as well. But we’re not done yet; naturally, we want a bit more.

In your view, what made Bergneustadt one of the four strongest teams in the regular season?

I think we laid a solid foundation; we communicated very clearly what the goal is, what we need to do to achieve it, and what preparations we need to make.
All of this together simply led to us being among the four best teams in the league.

What made the difference compared to previous years?

Before, some things weren’t running smoothly within the team. We weren’t working professionally enough. As a leader, I then raised the bar a bit higher and set certain standards to build a better team. And the lads have really done well this season. That’s why we’ve got this far this season.

As a regular player, you yourself recorded the best record of all TTBL players. How were you able to manage the often-lamented balancing act between the Bundesliga and international tournaments so successfully?

To be honest – I don’t know myself. My international performances suffered, particularly at the start of the year, with all the Bundesliga matches we had. Looking back, it just so happened that I played very well in the league. Unfortunately, my international results suffered as a result. All in all, it’s simply not easy to manage everything, and I’m just glad that we’ve reached the semi-finals with Bergneustadt.

Borussia Düsseldorf, as the group stage winners, have chosen your team as their opponents for the semi-final. What do you think were the reasons behind this choice?

I can imagine that, on paper, we might simply appear to be the slightly weaker opponent. Otherwise, you’d have to ask Borussia Düsseldorf why they chose us in particular.

The semi-final will be decided in a single match: what are your chances of reaching the final?

Given that there’s only one semi-final match left, everything is of course still up for grabs. If we give it our all and the team has a great day, the result could go either way. In any case, we’re ready and we’re going into the semi-final against Düsseldorf at full throttle and with our heads held high.

If it had been possible, which of the other three Final4 teams would you have chosen for the semi-finals?

To be honest, I haven’t given it a second thought. The situation didn’t really allow for that, as we didn’t finish top of the group. Had that been the case, we would probably have chosen the team that suited us best.

The new Final4 format was also introduced to ease the pressure of the packed schedule in table tennis. Do you think the reform is likely to have a positive impact on the players?

Yes, to be honest, I do think that the Final4 format will ease the pressure on our schedule a bit and give us a bit more breathing space. It’s certainly a good thing that the league has responded in this way. Hopefully, the league will introduce further measures to further ease the schedule.

Thank you very much for talking to us, Benedikt Duda.

Florian Manzke