Bundesliga

Match day #2 of the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) brings the first major highlight of the season: On Saturday, Fan Zhendong will make his home debut for Borussia Düsseldorf against TSV Bad Königshofen—the record champions will play the match at the Mitsubishi Electric Halle. As early as Friday, 1. FC Saarbrücken TT will host Post SV Mühlhausen. Derbies are on the schedule for TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell and ASC Grünwettersbach. These and all other TTBL matches will be broadcast live on Dyn.

1.FC Saarbrücken TT – Post SV Mühlhausen

The German champions have made an impressive start to the new season: 1. FC Saarbrücken TT won 3-0 in their season opener in Dortmund—and did so without Hugo Calderano. Eduard Ionescu defeated Wim Verdonschot, Patrick Franziska beat Joao Geraldo, and Alvaro Robles won against Kristian Karlsson in his FCS debut. This coming Friday, the FCS will play its first home game of the season at the Joachim-Deckarm-Halle—and this could mark Calderano’s first appearance in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) since winning the championship with Ochsenhausen in 2025. The Brazilian proved just a few weeks ago that he remains in top form: Calderano won the Star Contender in São José dos Campos and was voted Player of the Month by the TTBL community. Post SV Mühlhausen, on the other hand, suffered a bitter defeat to start the season: against Grenzau, the Thuringians let a victory that seemed all but certain slip away and ultimately lost 2–3.

ASC Grünwettersbach – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen

The Baden-Württemberg derby between ASC Grünwettersbach and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen pits two teams that won their season openers against each other—both secured their first victories of the season in the final doubles match. For Grünwettersbach, the 3-2 victory in Bad Königshofen was a statement: After four and a half hours, Ricardo Walther and Tiago Apolonia sealed the win and proved that the ASC is a formidable opponent even without Tao Yu-Chang. The new signing is still awaiting clearance from the Chinese federation and will not be available on Friday either. Ochsenhausen, meanwhile, turned things around in their home opener against Bergneustadt: Shunsuke Togami won both singles matches, while Iulian Chirita and Tiago Abiodun clinched the point in the decisive doubles match after trailing 0–2 in sets. The odds in this derby favor the visitors: Last season, Ochsenhausen won both matchups—3-1 at home and even 3-0 in Grünwettersbach. “If we stick together as a team again and fight for each other, we have a good chance of winning this second match as well,” says Abiodun.

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg

This Hessian showdown pits two teams against each other that both lost their season openers—though under very different circumstances. TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell fell to Bremen 2–3 only in the final doubles match; Dimitrij Ovtcharov won both of his singles matches. The East Hesse team’s goal for the season is clear: they’re aiming for fourth place, and Fulda wants to keep the race for the Liebherr TTBL Final4 open for as long as possible. TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg, on the other hand, had an all-around sobering start against Düsseldorf—a 0–3 loss without winning a single set. New coach Slobodan Grujic nevertheless expressed optimism afterward in an interview with Dyn: “The fact that it was such a lopsided result is a bit of a disappointment. But it was only the first match; the important matches are still to come,” said the 52-year-old. He added that the team had prepared well for the season and that morale was high. In the derby in Fulda, Bad Homburg now aims to pick up its first points on the path to its season goal of avoiding relegation.

Borussia Düsseldorf – TSV Bad Königshofen

It’s the match Borussia Düsseldorf has been eagerly anticipating for months: On Saturday evening, Fan Zhendong is set to take the court for the first time in the record champion’s jersey. Due to high demand, the record champion is moving the match against TSV Bad Königshofen to the Mitsubishi Electric Halle, which seats more than 4,000. As many fans as possible should be able to witness Fan Zhendong’s first appearance in Düsseldorf. On the court, Borussia has already delivered even without the Olympic champion: In their 3-0 victory in Bad Homburg, Li Yongyin, Kanak Jha, and Anton Källberg shone and didn’t drop a single set. Borussia coach Danny Heister therefore pointed out afterward that he has five good players at his disposal. He said that deciding on the lineup is like solving a Sudoku puzzle every time. Bad Königshofen heads to North Rhine-Westphalia on the back of a nail-biting loss: On Tuesday, the TSV fell to Grünwettersbach 2-3 after four and a half hours. At least Bastian Steger made a strong statement: The 45-year-old kicked off his 27th TTBL season with a 3-2 victory over Ricardo Walther.

TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – Borussia Dortmund

Two teams that lost on the first matchday, two teams with much higher aspirations: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt and Borussia Dortmund want to make up for their first-matchday losses as quickly as possible and secure their first win of the season on Sunday. The Schwalben, who surprisingly finished third in the standings last season before falling to Düsseldorf in the semifinals, lost 2–3 in their season opener in Ochsenhausen; Dortmund fell 0–3 at home to Saarbrücken, although the match wasn’t quite as one-sided as the score suggests. Still, Joao Geraldo put on a strong performance in his TTBL comeback against Patrick Franziska, losing only 2-3. “A lot of things were still new to me in general—the arena and the atmosphere, for example,” Geraldo said afterward, adding, “I’m sure I’ll get used to it and play better.”

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – SV Werder Bremen

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau heads into its first home game of the season on a high note: The 3-2 victory in Mühlhausen was a perfect debut for new coach Chen Zhibin. Feng Yi-Hsin came back from a 0-4 deficit against Kay Stumper in the fourth set, while Maciej Kubik and Martin Allegro sealed the victory with a 3-0 win in doubles. Now, however, a team of such caliber is coming to the Zugbrückenhalle that Markus Ströher ranks among the league’s top teams: “Bremen is certainly one of the top teams in this league,” says the TTC manager. “After all, two playoff appearances in the last three years don’t happen by chance. Nevertheless, we’re naturally assessing our chances.” Last year’s semifinalist, SV Werder Bremen, kicked off the season with a 3–2 win over Fulda: Kirill Gerassimenko won 3–0, Mattias Karlsson defeated Jonathan Groth in five sets, and in the final doubles match, Irvin Bertrand and Karlsson prevailed 3–1. For the Hanseatic team, the match in the Westerwald is part of a challenging opening schedule: After Grenzau come Düsseldorf and Saarbrücken.

Match day #2 at a glance

Friday, August 21
6:30 pm: 1. FC Saarbrücken TT – Post SV Mühlhausen
7 pm: ASC Grünwettersbach – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen

Saturday, August 22
7 pm: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg
8 pm: Borussia Düsseldorf – TSV Bad Königshofen

Sunday, August 23
2 pm: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – Borussia Dortmund
5 pm: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – SV Werder Bremen

All matches will be broadcast live on Dyn.

Header photo: TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell's Jonathan Groth (by Patrick Wichmann)