The "TTBL Player of the Month January": Timo Boll from Borussia Düsseldorf

TTBL fans had the opportunity to vote for their "TTBL Player of the Month January" in a social media survey. This month's candidates were Fanbo Meng (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell), Timo Boll (Borussia Düsseldorf), Maciej Kubik (TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau) and Yongyin Li (1. FSV Mainz 05). TTBL fans voted German table tennis icon Timo Boll "Player of the Month" by a wide margin.

Timo Boll - who else? Not really surprisingly, the TTBL social media community voted the almost indestructible top star of German table tennis "TTBL Player of the Month January" after his brilliant successes at the beginning of the year with Borussia Düsseldorf and on the WTT Tour.

Two titles in 14 days - Boll had probably dared to hope for such a haul himself at the turn of the year. While winning the trophy with Düsseldorf's champion team at the Liebherr Cup Final Four in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, including an important contribution from the 42-year-old, was certainly within the realms of expectation, Boll's triumph at the WTT Contender tournament in Doha was almost a sensation after a breathtaking run.

"I now enjoy every title win very intensely. At my age, you can no longer predict exactly whether other successes will follow," says Boll, describing his emotions after major victories realistically and with a twinkle in his eye.

However, his feelings differed at the cup finals and in Qatar. While the team player par excellence felt above all "relief" on the Danube at the loss of pressure for his entire Borussia team, pure happiness flowed through his body around two weeks later in the Gulf after the tournament victory: "There was just pure joy that I was able to experience this moment again."

In retrospect, his great success in the desert had at least been hinted at in the cup final in the "eternal duel" with Champions League winners 1. FC Saarbrücken TT. Boll, who had already won his match against Ricardo Walther in the semi-final, did not show his age in his decisive 3:2 win against Europe Top 16 Cup winner Dark Jorgic: The left-hander shone in terms of his play as well as his fighting spirit after trailing 1:2 in sets.

In fact, this success must be seen retrospectively as a sign of Boll's even greater brilliance in Doha. The "phenomenon" (national coach Jörg Roßkopf) marched through the field with unerring confidence, defeating several top aces from Asia and crowning his triumphant march to his first tournament victory in almost three years with a 4:3 win over Japan's still not half as old "prodigy" Tomokazu Harimoto.

"World rankings and all the statistics," said Boll at the award ceremony, "don't interest me at all at the moment. I'm very grateful for the feeling of winning the tournament once again."

Florian Manzke

Featured image above: Timo Boll (Photo: BeLa Sportfoto)