Slobodan Grujic (coach TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau): "At some point we will reward ourselves".
Despite their dream start to the new season, former champions TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau are in a deep relegation battle in the table tennis Bundesliga. Ahead of the basement duel on the last weekend in November with last-place FSV Mainz 05, which could be decisive for staying in the relegation zone, coach Slobodan Grujic describes the effects of the recent setbacks on the atmosphere at the Westerwald team and reasons for his optimism in the race against relegation.
Slobodan Grujic, behind you and your TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau team lies a black weekend - first the cup quarterfinal loss to TTF Ochsenhausen and then the home defeat in the TTBL against TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell. Which hurt more?
The defeat before these two games at TSV Bad Königshofen even still hurts the most, because we had it in our hands to win. I had the feeling that it was our game - and yet we still lost. For all three games you can say that we had a lot of chances but didn't take them.
So the double task afterwards is all the more difficult, isn't it?
In the cup in Ochsenhausen, of course, we don't have to win from the paper form, but we tried everything and also really played very well again, because after the first games it could have been 2:0 for us with a little luck. But because we want to concentrate on the TTBL and keep the class, the cup exit doesn't hurt as much as the games in Bad Königshofen and also afterwards against Fulda. We also gave everything again, but were not rewarded.
How do these setbacks make you feel?
It's still fun, and I'm proud of my team, because the attitude and usually the performance are right. Our young players in particular are showing that they want to get better and are working hard. We can't do any more than we are doing now, because we always give 100 percent. We just have to be patient that we will be rewarded again for what we invest. It's important to me that we show our potential, play well and try to get better bit by bit. In any case, we don't have to be afraid of any other team.
Your team really underlined this at the start of the season with its success at cup runners-up and cup winners 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT. But in retrospect, didn't this surprise victory prove to be more of a curse than a tailwind?
First of all, of course, you have to put into perspective that Saarbrücken didn't travel to Grenzau completely and that its top player Patrick Franziska wasn't in top form. So we didn't catch them cold, but we had to play well. Nevertheless, this did not cause any euphoria in our team, because we were already aware, despite all the joy about the two points, that this initial success in this uniquely strong league does not mean anything and that we could still lose any further match. That's why every win is like a little surprise. All in all, though, looking back, you can't say that the win against Saarbrücken did us any harm. Defeats hurt more in any case.
From your point of view, what are the reasons why players like Patrick Baum or even your newcomers Maciej Kubik and Sam Walker have not yet reached the form you had hoped for?
Patti didn't get off to such a good start, but we're hoping that he'll stabilize, and in the cup against Ochsenhausen he already won again against Alvaro Robles. So he's coming along slowly. He didn't have enough match practice, after last season it was four and a half months and now because of the World Cup he's had another month. That certainly doesn't do him any good. In addition, he lost a few close games at the beginning of the season, which was not good for his self-confidence. With Maciej Kubik and Sam Walker, we hope that they will continue to develop well as younger players and quickly become better. Especially with Sam, I am sure that he will help us in the future.
Grenzau's problems also include the doubles. If Baum and Kubik had won their two deciding doubles so far, your team would already be rid of most of its worries about staying in the class....
That's right. We certainly expected more from the doubles. But the difficulties of the players in the singles are also reflected in the doubles, and they are also playing together for the first time without much training. Of course, we still have to analyze whether another doubles team might be a better fit and keep looking. We already have some other possibilities that I would like to try out.
Your team now faces a basement clash with FSV Mainz 05, who are level on points, on the last weekend in November. A defeat could mean a drop to the bottom of the table. How great is the pressure?
We knew that it could be very difficult this season, and the situation is not completely unexpected for us. We also know that things won't look good for us if we lose in Mainz. But we put our hopes in our team, which is getting better from game to game and month to month, so that we can still look for our chance in one or the other game. That's why the game in Mainz is important, of course, but still probably not decisive.
What do you think speaks in favor of Grenzau's class preservation?
The mixture of the potential of our young players, who are getting better and better, and the experience, especially of Patti, who knows how to win important games. If we keep our heads up, we can hope that we'll be rewarded at some point.