News

Germany's top star Timo Boll has been on his announced farewell tour of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) with Borussia Düsseldorf since the start of the season. Here, at regular intervals, important companions formulate thoughts and memories of the most successful player in Bundesliga history and his incomparable career. Before the former world number one's last Bundesliga match on June 15 in the Liebherr TTBL final, Düsseldorf manager Andreas Preuß looks back on 18 years together with Boll in the eighth part of our “Bye, Timo” series.

“Timo's time at Borussia is of course an epoch for our club. In our club's 70-year history, his 18 years with us were not only a complete table tennis life by normal standards, but were also formative for our future.

When Timo joined us in 2007 - despite previous successes with our world champions Jörg Roßkopf and Steffen Fetzner, for example - the lights really came on for us. He put the club and all of us in a previously unimaginably brilliant light with his radiance. Timo gave the club a face. As a German player, as an incredibly successful player, as world number one, European champion, Olympic medal winner, as one of very few players who almost guaranteed a title for every team. Our philosophy has always been a quintessentially German team, but with an appeal beyond Germany thanks to top international players who we develop further and who stay for a long time - and Timo has combined everything in himself, with an appeal even beyond our sport for the first time; our sport also owes him a new existence on a social level. When you think about it all together, you realize what a loss Timo's departure is.

But it's not just Timo's successes that are impressive. It's his manner, his calmness, his personality, the way he won his games. He has led teams through his presence alone, not through words, but simply through his presence and his demeanor in the dressing room; he has given his teammates an incredible amount of confidence.

Timo is no less impressive as a person. He is very intelligent, humorous, eloquent, has a wide range of interests and knows how to move confidently in the most diverse circles. In this respect, too, Timo is certainly an exception; in the most positive sense of the word, you could certainly call him a people catcher. You only have to look at how much time he has always taken for his fans. In all these years, hardly a single request for an autograph or later a selfie has gone unfulfilled - that must have been unique and the basis of his enormous popularity. I don't think there is a professional sportsman who has made so many people happy - and has earned the respect of the whole scene. Timo has always been aware that his fans are his capital as an athlete, and he has cherished his relationship with the fans - practically everyone has always received his genuine smile. That was his inner attitude, not only, but also in victory and defeat - and always with respect. We will also miss these qualities in Timo.

In our years together, Timo and Borussia have certainly made each other better. When he came to us from TTV Gönnern in 2007, he came with mixed feelings because, in keeping with his down-to-earth nature, he still felt that he had a lot to give back to Gönnern for the many years of support. But things were no longer really going well there, and we already had a more professional infrastructure with more power and partners and the performance center. In general, his move to Düsseldorf was a smart decision: Timo was able to become even bigger at Borussia, and Borussia has become bigger because of Timo. Timo has also been a door opener for us on more than one occasion. I was also very often touched by the commitment and joy with which Timo supported us in our social projects and often accompanied us to a children's hospice or to families in need.

If Timo retires soon, Borussia will still be Borussia, but it will be different because of Timo's attitude and spirit. Those who will continue to play have all learned a lot from him, including all of us at the club. Borussia always stood for an attitude, for fair losing, for seriousness at the table and outside the hall, for professional behavior. Timo has given all this even more meaning, which will remain. His ambition, his diligence, his respect, his power and his willingness to always give his all - Timo left his mark on our club, because everyone saw how he lived it every day and took it with him. Timo treated each individual differently, in a special way. That's why people love him, at Borussia and everywhere: because he's just such a great guy.” 

Recorded by Florian Manzke