The “TTBL Player of the Month May”: Patrick Franziska from 1. FC Saarbrücken TT
TTBL fans were able to vote for their “TTBL Player of the Month May” in a social media poll. Patrick Franziska and Darko Jorgic (both 1. FC Saarbrücken TT), Dang Qiu (Borussia Düsseldorf) and Hugo Calderano (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen) were put to the vote. For the third time in the past six elections, the majority of supporters of the German top flight opted for Patrick “Dragonslayer” Franziska.
No question: Patrick Franziska has elevated frustration management to a very high art in recent weeks. The 30-year-old reacted to the disappointment of his elimination from the race for a place in the German Olympic trio in an almost sensational way even before he made it to the TTBL final with Champions League winners 1. FC Saarbrücken: At the Grand Smash in the first half of May in Jeddah, “Franz” reached the final after another coup against China's world champion Fan Zhendong and further victories over European champion Dang Qiu and South Korea's ace Jang Woojin, thus moving into the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time and also becoming Germany's number one for the first time.
Unsurprisingly, the fans in the social media community of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) voted the former Europe Top 16 winner “Player of the Month” in May - for the third time in the last six votes.
“It feels really cool,” said Franziska in an interview after the “biggest success of my career so far”, describing his emotional state, “and it also makes me a bit proud.”
Anything other than pride would be too much modesty, even for the down-to-earth Hessian, who was the first non-Chinese player to reach the final of a Grand Smash: Franziska first achieved another success against Olympic champion Ma Long in Qatar in March and even won in Saudi Arabia with the icing on the cake of a second victory against Fan.
The crowning glory for Franziska was making it into the top ten players in the world. “To have achieved that means a lot to me. It was a goal I've been working towards for a long time. I don't normally look too much at the world rankings, but the top 10 has always been my dream,” said the right-hander, emphasizing the importance of this highlight of his career.
But Franziska doesn't just deliver on the international stage. In Saarbrücken's play-off semi-final duel with Werder Bremen, the Olympic team silver medallist paved the way for his team to a 3-0 victory in game one with a win against former World Championship silver medallist Mattias Falck, before Franziska and Cedric Meissner sealed FCS's return to the final in game two after a defeat in the next duel with Falck.
In the third final duel of the season with champions Borussia Düsseldorf after the finals at the beginning of the year in the cup (0:3) and at Easter in the Champions League (3:2), Franziska is hoping for a second triumph. But for the veteran, no team is the favorite: “Our games are always 50:50 matches.”
Florian Manzke
Featured photo: Patrick Franziska (Photo: Hansruedi Lüthi)