2013 in Review: On my way to South Africa

Alright, so I’ve been playing some ringtennis during the past year. How did it go? I think it was a good year for me. Not perfect, but quite good.

First of all: In September, I’ve been nominated for the German national team that is going to participate in the 3rd world championships, which are to be held in South Africa in March/April 2014! Congratulations go to all my fellow teammates (7 more men and 8 women)! I think we’re an awesome team and can rock that fantastic event.

The nomination took place at the German championships, which were not that good for me. In men’s singles, I lost the final by 1(!) point to Timo Hufnagel, but still, it was my best performance in 4 years. Also, in men’s doubles—which is the only discipline I’ve not yet won at German championships—my partner Alexej Ermak and me lost the final to Christian Herzog and Fabian Ziegler of ESG Karlsruhe (however, by more than one point). In summary, I played very well technically but lost two finals, which is not really satisfying.

At the tournament in Konstanz—the only non-championship tournament I played last year—, I lost the singles final to Timo Hufnagel as well. Yet, I’m still second in the German ranking (1337 points), right behind my long-term rival, who collected 2194 points. Regarding the fact that I currently have very few opportunities for serious technical practice and can only try to keep me as fit as possible, I think this is still a very good performance.

My current focus lies on the preparation for the world championships, which are starting in about two months. It will be the third time I participate in world championships, after India 2006 and Germany 2010. The next training camp of the German national team is going to take place in February. I’ll keep you updated.