The “TTBL Player of the Month March”: Kirill Gerassimenko (Werder Bremen)
TTBL fans were able to vote for their “TTBL Player of the Month March” in a social media poll. After the last four main round match days, six candidates were up for election based on consistently good performances in the TTBL (in alphabetical order): Feng Yi-Hsin (TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau/5:1), Simon Gauzy (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen/5:0), Kirill Gerassimenko (Werder Bremen/7:0), Eduard Ionescu (1. FC Saarbrücken-TT/3:1), Kristian Karlsson (TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg/6:1) and Steffen Mengel (Post SV Mühlhausen/4:2). Gerassimenko received the most votes.
Unlike Daniel Habesohn in his farewell game in the Mühlhausen jersey, the Kazakh was not able to tip the scales in the play-off race, but nevertheless caused quite a stir in the “month of decisions” for the Oberhaus with his brilliant winning streak. Gerassimenko's flawless record is all the more remarkable given that his opponents were anything but run-of-the-mill: The 28-year-old began with successive victories against European runner-up Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt), Olympic team silver medallist Anton Källberg (Borussia Düsseldorf) and Li Yongyin (Borussia Dortmund) and was later unstoppable against Feng Yi-Hsin (TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau) in a duel with last year's “Player of the Season”.
Gerassimenko's run of success meant that Bremen's record for the season was brightened. The high level of professionalism of the “Germany scare” from the 2024 World Team Championship in Busan, South Korea, right up to the end contributed significantly to Werder's successful final spurt of four wins in the last five games of the season and thus to their final position in the top half of the table in sixth place.
“We are very happy to have Kirill in our team,” said Bremen manager Sascha Greber about Gerassimenko's final spurt: "He has developed enormously under our coach Cristian Tamas in recent years. Thanks to that and, of course, his spectacular style of play, he has long been a favorite of the Bremen public and is celebrated at every home game."
The renewed strong support from Werder fans is likely to have been an important piece of the mosaic for Gerassimenko on the way to his best individual record since moving from Grenzau to the Weser in 2019. With 22 wins in 32 matches for the former champions, the right-hander, who had already won the “TTBL Player of the Month” award in February last year, smashed his way into the top five of the German elite class.
Unsurprisingly, Gerassimenko's contract extension with the cup semi-finalists until 2027 caused great joy in the Green-Whites' camp. “He is,” emphasizes Greber, “an absolute top player and can really beat any opponent in the TTBL.”
His ambitions to repeat the play-off appearances of 2020 and 2024 with Werder also match his performance: "Next season, I want Bremen to be one of the four best teams in the league again. That will be a very difficult task, but I believe we can do it."
Florian Manzke