Fulda's chairman Stefan Frauenholz: "Who likes to be last?"

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell was one of the surprise teams in the past season of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL), especially due to its entry into the play-off semifinals. The start of the Hessen into the new play year ran however at least bumpily. In an interview, Fulda's club chairman Stefan Frauenholz explains some of the reasons for the problems and looks ahead.

Stefan Frauenholz, your TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell went into the break of the table tennis Bundesliga with only one win. You surely had imagined the TTBL season start differently, didn't you?

Yes, we really had imagined it differently than being in last place in the table with 2:6 points. But in our first four matches we have already played the two strong teams from Ochsenhausen and Saarbrücken. But for us, especially the game at Werder Bremen was unexpected.

In what way?

Well, we've always played well in Bremen, but this time we didn't stand a chance.

What do you think are the reasons for the false start?

In the second half of last season, Alexandre Cassin played outstandingly well and only lost one game. He played a key role in getting us into the playoffs. Now, this season, he has only won one game so far because he has problems with his racket and family worries are also weighing heavily on him. Quadri Aruna has not yet played as well as we had hoped.

As a result of the defeat in Bremen, your team has slipped to the bottom of the table and cannot relinquish the red lantern at the bottom of the table. Does this unpleasant situation have an effect on the atmosphere?

Who likes to be last? But on the other hand, with just one more win, we would be in the upper half of the table. If you look at it that way, not that much has happened yet. Nevertheless, we have to make sure that we get away from the bottom as quickly as possible. To do that, we should win at least one of our next two games in Mühlhausen and Grenzau.

As a play-off participant last season, Fulda must at least want to reach the semifinals again this season. How do you rate your team's current four-point gap to fourth place?

That's already a lot, especially since we already have a poor game difference. But despite our participation in the play-offs last season, we see ourselves as just one of several candidates behind the big three - Düsseldorf, Saarbrücken and Neu-Ulm - who are playing for fourth place. However, according to our calculations, a lot would have to fit together for us to make it.

But Fulda also has the cup as an iron in the fire and is in the quarterfinals against Borussia Düsseldorf...

We calculated that we only need one more win to reach the Final Four....

What importance do you attach to your home advantage against Düsseldorf?

We really hope that the home game will also be an advantage for us. In the playoffs against Düsseldorf, we were already leading 2-0 and almost knocked Borussia over. Maybe we'll be able to do that in the Cup.