Ricardo Walther (ASV Grünwettersbach): "We still have to get one or two points".

Ricardo Walther has advanced from "problem child" to guarantor of success at ASV Grünwetterbach for the relegation fight in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) within a few months. In an interview, the team runner-up talks about his winning streak of eleven victories and his team's chances in the race to stay in the relegation zone.

Ricardo Walther, do you still have memories of November 26 last year?

Yes, actually I remember that day because I lost to Ovidiu Ionescu in our match at Post SV Mühlhausen. After coming from the feeder tournament in Düsseldorf, I performed very poorly that day and was very unhappy with my performance, which was one of my worst in the TTBL in a long time. I didn't get into the game at all then and I didn't feel good at all.

Playing around with the question of the date was a bit of an imposition, because since that day you have won all eleven of your singles matches in the TTBL and have thus advanced to become the player of the hour or, better, the winter champion. What are the reasons for your string of successes?

Whether you want to call me winter champion or otherwise means nothing to me. I'm happy about my streak, because eleven wins in a row is a great thing, which I haven't had before either. I think self-confidence plays an important role in this. After the defeat against Ionescu, I also continued to believe in myself, because I already know how well I can play, and that's why I kept believing in myself and continued to work on myself in training. In December, I played better again in the TTBL and won two matches by fighting. That did me good and, together with the belief in myself, was probably the basis for this nice series. Of course, it was also very important for me at our home matches that our fans stood behind me during the difficult time and pushed me forward.

Your run stands in sharp contrast to your results in the first phase of the season with only one triumph in six matches and the mediocre World Team Championship despite silver. What caused the change in trend?

Such a balance sheet at the start often distorts reality, which is why I wouldn't call it extreme at all. We have an incredibly balanced league with two absolute top teams and ten teams behind them at the same level, and the fact that the most successful player in the league at the moment comes from the bottom of the table is not the norm. That's why, contrary to what many people think, it's not normal to be guaranteed to win against teams from the bottom of the league. You also see a lot of newcomers who you didn't expect and who play very well, so you can lose to them sometimes. I lost to Dimitrij Ovtcharov on the first day of the tournament after 2:0 and 5:1, but such a crazy match can also be a trend-setter. Then I soon found myself at 1:5, but I still didn't doubt myself because I know that it's usually all about the little things. Mentality is always an issue, of course, and I know that I can fight my way out of such phases. I didn't go crazy at 1:5, because negative runs like that happen to a lot of players. The World Championship silver also helped me, that was a huge success and for me the biggest success ever, which also boosts self-confidence in the long term and only helps with a little delay and not immediately after the medal.

Your club ASV Grünwettersbach also benefits from your successes. Also due to the extension of your winning streak, your team managed a "big point" in the fight for class preservation before the carnival week with the 3:1 against TSV Bad Königshofen. Do you think your team is already saved despite the ambitious remaining program?

You're only saved when you've made it mathematically - and that's not yet the case. You don't know whether one or two teams will be promoted at the end of the season. But we can also look for our chances in our remaining matches against strong teams, because after all TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau has won both matches against Borussia Düsseldorf and once against 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT this season. You always have to wait and see what lineup and condition the top teams are in. On a good day, you can crack any team. In any case, we are aware that we still have to get one or two points because a lot can and will happen. In any case, we can't rest on our laurels yet, and we'd better aim for the 20-point mark.

If you take a closer look at the course of the season of your club, you will notice the difference in performance between home and away games. At home, Grünwettersbach can be described as a power with three wins in a row and a total of seven victories in nine matches, but in away matches there has only been one win from eight away games. Where do these two faces of your team come from?

Grünwettersbach is really a power at home, and has been for some time. At home, we have our fans who push us incredibly and turn the hall into a cauldron, we know the conditions, we're used to everything. Those are absolutely real home games, where it's difficult for any opponent with us. Away from home, of course, it's the other way around: without fans behind us, we're on our own, have to push ourselves and cope with unfamiliar conditions. In addition, due to injuries, such as to Wang Xi or Tiago Apolonia, we couldn't always play with our best players away from home, and there were one or two drops in form. But the most important difference is really the playing conditions at the table, because the bounce of the ball changes considerably. Overall, I believe that home matches are not only an advantage for us, but we still have to pull ourselves out of them differently, prepare ourselves differently, push ourselves even harder and act as a team even more as a unit. After all, we don't want to be last in the away table.

The start of spring traditionally brings the playing carousel into high gear. What strategy is your team pursuing in terms of personnel planning for the coming season?

All of our players still have contracts, and no one on our team has asked for an early contract termination after the end of the season. That's why our squad for the new season will look exactly the same as in the current season. It's up to the club to decide whether to add a fifth player to the squad. Basically, after the signing of Tiago Apolonia, the plan was to keep this core of the team together as long as everyone is fit and can compete at TTBL level.