Interview with Andreas Preuß (Borussia Düsseldorf manager): "The cards will be reshuffled in the final"
Record winners Borussia Düsseldorf want to successfully defend their championship title in the Liebherr TTBL final against 1. FC Saarbrücken TT. In an interview, Borussia manager Andreas Preuß talks about the special features of an Olympic season, the distribution of the role of favorite and the significance of Timo Boll's farewell announcement for the final.
Andreas Preuß, in the run-up to the Liebherr TTBL final against 1 FC Saarbrücken TT, the headlines are dominated by Timo Boll's imminent departure from the international stage and the WTT competitions in preparation for the approaching Olympic tournaments. Under these circumstances, how is the preparation for the championship final going in Düsseldorf?
A lot is different this year, everything is focused on the Olympics. For a long time it was all about qualifying for Paris, now everyone is already preparing. We are of course proud that three Borussia Düsseldorf players will be at the Olympics, and we therefore also accept that our preparation for the Liebherr TTBL final is different to previous years. After the Slovenian Open we have a few days to train together, followed by the German national team's Olympic training course until four days before the Bundesliga final. That leaves our coach Danny Heister another three days with all the boys to fine-tune their game against Saarbrücken. All in all, it may not be ideal preparation, but it is still good preparation for a big final.
Your Borussia will be playing in Frankfurt as champions of the past three years and also as record champions overall, while Saarbrücken are the winners of the main round and Champions League winners. How do you think the balance of power should be assessed?
From my point of view, the balance of power is open. I think Saarbrücken are stronger this season than in previous years. Darko Jorgic is much more stable, Patrick Franziska plays consistently at an incredibly high level, Yuto Muramatsu has strengthened the team enormously as a defender because he can be dangerous for any of our three players, the numbers four, five and six are a bit better than ours, and finally Saarbrücken is very strong in doubles. All in all, I think Saarbrücken are slightly favored going into the final.
As the season drew to a close, Düsseldorf allowed themselves the odd downturn or even an unusually long period of weakness on the way to the final. What does that say about your team?
Saarbrücken have clearly been the better team so far this season. We've had several highs and lows, which were certainly also linked to the international calendar, so it was clear that it would be a difficult second half of the season for us. Saarbrücken have probably also played more consistently than us due to their greater variation.
Did the bumpy course of the season and, in particular, the three defeats in the four previous season duels with Saarbrücken across all competitions play a role in the final?
We wanted to make the play-offs and then preferably not play Saarbrücken in the semi-finals. Now that we've done that, the cards have been reshuffled in my opinion. You shouldn't overestimate our head-to-head matches either, because both teams only played in their strongest line-ups in the finals.
Düsseldorf and Saarbrücken will meet for the third time in the third final of the season and will face each other for the fifth time in five consecutive finals over the course of the season. With this sequence, is it even possible to want revenge for lost finals like Düsseldorf's recent defeat in the Champions League final?
To be honest, after our bitter 3:2 defeat in the Champions League final in Saarbrücken after a comeback from 0:2 to 2:2, it's a bit of a revenge. We want to make up for that somewhere.
The players from both finalists repeatedly emphasize that they know each other very well by now. How can you surprise each other under such circumstances?
All our matches are highlights, are always 50:50 in some way - and always have special twists and turns. I'm generally expecting a final at a level that we haven't had for a long time, because everyone is full of energy from the Olympic preparations and already highly motivated in their heads. It will be great sport.
How important would Düsseldorf's fourth consecutive championship be and why?
The title would also be very important for the fourth time in a row, because in my experience, series before and after the Olympics are always very complicated, and if we were to win a second title after the cup in such a special season, it would actually be outstanding. It would also have to be judged against the fact that three of our players qualified for the Olympics, which is outstanding in itself.
Timo Boll may be playing his last TTBL final for Düsseldorf after 17 years. What emotions and memories does this thought trigger?
Timo's announced retirement from professional sport in 2025 makes the final even more special. Like the whole of table tennis Germany, I can only let the prospect of his retirement get to me little by little at the moment. I'm slowly starting to enjoy every match he plays. But because it's not yet certain that we'll reach another final next year, Frankfurt is special simply because it could be his last final for and with us. Of course, that triggers special emotions, the team knows that, Timo knows that, and everyone will get involved.
Thank you very much for the interview, Andreas Preuß
Interview: Florian Manzke
Featured image above: Andreas Preuß (Photo: Hansruedi Lüthi)