TTF President Kristijan Pejinovic: "Dusseldorf will be important location determination".

The TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen are preparing for groundbreaking weeks in the current break between matches in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). However, club president Kristijan Pejinovic talks in an interview not only about the expectations of the Upper Swabians for the upcoming summit at defending champion Borussia Düsseldorf and the subsequent cup quarterfinal against TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, but also about the development processes in his club.

Kristijan Pejinovic, after a strong start to the season, your team suffered an unexpected home defeat against FSV Mainz 05 before the break. This setback against an up-and-coming team was certainly not something that had been calculated for, was it?

No, but on the other hand, what else can be calculated in this league if you don't exactly meet the three strongest teams?

That a play-off contender wins against a previously winless promoted team doesn't seem so unrealistic....

That's true, but there are always several factors that play a role, such as how you want to approach the game yourself and, of course, what your opponent does. Mainz may have the label "promoted" attached to them, but other teams have had difficulties against them before, and others will have to dress warmly against Mainz. In addition, there was certainly the pressure on us to get the points, which made one or two of our players tense up.

Your leading player Simon Gauzy, at any rate, went out of the box twice as a loser....

Simon has been playing below his normal form for some time now. But that has several reasons, which he is also working on. He's trying to get into better shape and, after all, he was unbeaten until the game against Mainz. It's his tenth season with us, so we're patient and don't make a big deal out of it.

Your new signing Alvaro Robles gives you plenty of reason to be satisfied, doesn't he?

Alvaro has basically been with us for eight years and has played his part in our successes during that time, even without playing for us. But it was always his great wish to play for us. The fact that it has now worked out, he now gives back directly, and not only as a classic doubles player, as which he had already established himself in recent years. He can do more, and he's showing it.

Your team is considered a candidate for a play-off spot. How much do the two points lost against a supposed outsider hurt?

Of course, you can only really tell at the end. But I'd rather have a warning shot like that at this stage of the season than later. It makes you even more aware that no game is a foregone conclusion and that every victory has to be earned.

Despite the dampener against Mainz, Ochsenhausen is part of the summit clash with leaders and champions Borussia Düsseldorf at the restart of the season. How are you looking forward to the classic?

November and December are packed with dates for us, so you have to plan well and be prepared. Of course, the game in Düsseldorf will be an important test for us, but a defeat wouldn't be a disaster for us either, because from my point of view, the cup quarterfinal against Grenzau five days later is more important at the moment.

After the double in 2019, your club was considered a future permanent rival for Düsseldorf. However, these predictions have not quite come true so far. What are the reasons for the slowed-down process?

With our concept of moving forward with young players from our junior squad, we've already been on a good path. Our 2019 championship and cup titles also showed that. Then came successive unexpected challenges due to severe water damage to our performance center, the Corona pandemic, and the establishment of the new WTT series with the departure of Hugo Calderano as an understandable consequence. We also handled the dampeners from these adversities well. However, we feel that we are still at the beginning of our project, which is still quite young and still needs to be established, even though the two titles were very pleasing. However, we are concentrating on ensuring that our plans have a positive effect in the long term.

In the short term, you've already indicated that the Cup is your priority. After missing out on the 2022 finals, how important would it be for Ochsenhausen to be back in the Final Four at the start of the new year on January 8, practically on its doorstep in Neu-Ulm?

That is very important for us. Apart from the chance to win an important title, it's also particularly interesting this time that TTC Neu-Ulm might have a home game even more than we do and could therefore possibly be our opponent in the semifinals in a real derby. But as I said before: All games in the next few weeks, including the one against Grenzau, have to be well planned so that we can get through these stresses well.