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TSV Bad Königshofen have slipped to the bottom of the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL) table. In this interview, TSV fan favourite Bastian Steger talks about the team’s current situation, possible reinforcements for the second half of the season, his own impressive record despite being 45 years old, and when the right time might come to end his career.

Bastian Steger, after the long battle against relegation last season, the relief of staying up and the determination to avoid another relegation fight were both very strong at TSV Bad Königshofen. But after just over a quarter of the new season, your team are once again at the bottom of the table. How disappointed are you?

I had already expected things to be difficult again and that we would have to fight to stay in the league. Everything is so evenly matched and so incredibly close that there are also other teams down there that nobody expected to be involved. We can only hope that we start picking up points quickly so that we don’t remain at the bottom of the table.

What has gone wrong?

The defeats against ASC Grünwettersbach and, even more so, against TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, where we had match point in the deciding doubles, were extremely close. We really can’t blame ourselves for much. There wasn’t much that went wrong apart from the fact that it came down to one, two or three points. If those points had gone our way, people would have said everything was fine.

Are there any other reasons?

No, really not. The matches were okay, and nobody really played badly.

Has the change in coaching, from Koji Itagaki to Timo Neumann, played a role as well?

In my opinion, Timo has done a very, very good job so far. He is doing a great job. We all have a very positive impression of him. We certainly can’t blame him for the matches we have lost or for where we are in the table.

It is noticeable that doubles, once one of Bad Königshofen’s trump cards, have almost become a weakness: two doubles matches this season, two defeats. Is that just a coincidence, or is there a bigger problem?

We actually talked about this recently. During the years with Martin Allegro, we played a lot of deciding doubles and benefited from the fact that he is an extremely good doubles player. We won almost half of all our deciding doubles matches. Last season, we hardly played any doubles, and after just two doubles matches this season, we still don’t know 100 percent which combination and pairing works best. Even though we are actually not bad in doubles and there isn’t that much wrong with our game, other clubs may currently have more established pairings. We still have to find our rhythm. In general, it’s simply not that easy to put together a good doubles pairing.

Rivals from last season’s relegation battle, such as TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, have strengthened significantly with new signings like Liam Pitchford. Was it perhaps a strategic mistake to rely on Xue Fei returning in the second half of the season as a designated backup?

I don’t even know whether Xue Fei’s return for the second half of the season is already absolutely certain. In general, though, during the crucial phase of planning for this first half of the season, it wasn’t even clear whether we would stay in the league or be relegated. That naturally made it extremely difficult to sign a top-class number one player at the end of the season. Grenzau, on the other hand, have made a really good signing in Pitchford. All the more reason why it would be great if things work out with Xue Fei, because even though there are still some points for us to win in the upcoming matches, he would certainly be able to help us again.

Looking at the current table, is it a consolation or perhaps even a source of encouragement for your team that Bad Königshofen have already played against the current top three?

Of the three strong teams, Borussia Düsseldorf, 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, Ochsenhausen did not come with their strongest line-up, so perhaps we could have got a little more out of that match. Of course, we didn’t expect to take points against Düsseldorf and Saarbrücken, but we had hoped to win at least one match against Grünwettersbach or Grenzau, which would already have put us in a pretty good position. When you then lose against direct rivals, it obviously hurts. But the season is still long, so there is still a lot that can happen.

Would you already dare to make a prediction about the relegation battle that is gradually taking shape?

Predictions are always difficult, but I am very optimistic that we will manage to stay in the league again.

Finally, a question about you personally: you turned 45 in March, yet you are once again boasting an impressive 5–1 record. What is your secret?

Sometimes I really have to rub my eyes and wonder how it is still going so remarkably well at my advanced age. The fact that my record is once again so good at the moment is certainly not something I can take for granted. But because I am aware of that, I also try to enjoy it. Every moment and every victory feels really good and gives me confidence.

Have you already made a decision about how long you would like to continue your career?

Because of the good results, it is actually difficult for me to think about the end of my career right now. As long as you feel that you can still compete at this level and even win matches, it’s difficult to say when it will be time to stop. But when you realise that you are no longer quite good enough and that winning matches has become extremely difficult, I could imagine that it might also become mentally challenging. But at the moment, I am still having an incredible amount of fun, and I hope it continues. As things stand today, I would also say that a few more years could definitely still be possible.

Thank you very much for the interview, Bastian Steger.

Florian Manzke