Bundesliga

In a social media poll, fans of the Table Tennis Bundesliga were able to vote for their “TTBL Player of the Month for June” despite the summer break in the league, based on national and international individual results. From among five candidates, the new U21 European champion Andre Bertelsmeier (TSV Bad Königshofen) emerged victorious by a clear margin over two-time world champion Shunsuke Togami (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen) and German national champion Dang Qiu (Borussia Düsseldorf).

Andre Bertelsmeier had already been rewarded for his strong performances in his first TTBL season with a spot on the German national team at the World Team Championships in London. The 20-year-old himself put the icing on the cake of an eventful year with a spectacular June: At the TT Finals in Erfurt, Bertelsmeier successfully defended the doubles title with Wim Verdonschot and, after a quarterfinal upset against former champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov, claimed the bronze medal in singles; he then went on to become a two-time champion at the U21 European Championships in Romania—winning the singles final against Verdonschot and the doubles final with him— Verdonschot, and finally impressed at the US Smash with some surprise victories.

The TTBL community was largely in agreement: four out of five fans voted for Bertelsmeier as Player of the Month. As a result, the Westphalia native won the vote by a wide margin over the competition.

Bertelsmeier brought home the most momentum from the U.S. After victories over former two-time world champion Mattias Karlsson and veteran Andrej Gacina in qualifying, as well as top-30 player An Jaehyun, the right-hander even pushed Swedish top-five star and Olympic silver medalist Truls Möregardh to the brink of defeat in their 2-3 second-round match, having led in sets twice and held a 9-7 lead in the deciding set.

“The US Smash was a huge tournament for me. I’m very proud of my performance. Of course, the narrow loss is bitter, and I’m very disappointed that I couldn’t capitalize on my chance against Truls Möregardh. But I also know that it was perhaps the best match I’ve ever played, and that I’m making great strides forward. The match showed me that I can give even the top players a run for their money. That gives me a lot of motivation and encourages me to believe that I’ll soon be able to win a close match like this against the best,” Bertelsmeier said of his impressive performance in the U.S.

In Bad Königshofen, his adopted home in the world of sports—where the ninth-place finisher at the European Championships had wrapped up his debut season in the top division with a 5-12 record—teammates like former national team player Bastian Steger were only moderately surprised by Bertelsmeier’s recent successes. “You can really see his development and that he’s already playing at a high level,” says Steger. “He’s an incredibly hard worker and definitely has the potential to go far. In any case, I think he has a bright future ahead of him.”

Florian Manzke