Bundesliga

Kirill Gerassimenko will be competing in the semi-finals of the German Championship for the third time in his career with Werder Bremen at the Liebherr TTBL Final4 in Frankfurt (30–31 May). In this interview, the crowd favourite talks about his strong World Championship performance, Bremen’s preparations for the clash with cup winners and Champions League winners 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT, and the lessons he has learnt from his previous appearances in the final stages.

Kirill Gerassimenko, the Liebherr TTBL Final4 in Frankfurt is just a few days away. How are preparations going at Werder Bremen?

The tournament is important for all of us – not just for me, but for the whole club, for us as a team, and for everyone in our squad and our coaching staff. We’re taking it very seriously. We’re all working hard. The training programme has been really tough recently; we’ve also been doing a lot of physical work. We’re now trying to use our matches to prepare for a few upcoming fixtures where we need to pick up as many points as possible. We’re very confident about this and are building more and more self-belief.

You yourself played a significant part in your Kazakh team reaching the last 16 at the World Team Championships in London with an outstanding 9-1 record. How can you maintain this form right up to the Final4?

At the 2024 World Championships in Busan, I had a 9-0 record, and to be honest, I wanted to break my own record and make it 10-0, but in the round of 16, Tomokazu Harimoto was too strong, even though it was closer than the 0-3 score suggests. Nevertheless, I gained a lot of confidence at the World Championships, and I can feel it growing even further thanks to the training in Bremen. I hope, of course, that it continues like this.

Werder Bremen’s participation in the Final4 is generally considered a surprise. Is it for you too?

It doesn’t come as a surprise to me at all. During my time in Bremen, we’ve come very close to the semi-finals on several occasions, but more often than not we’ve ended up finishing fifth or sixth. That said, we’re generally capable of beating anyone. We work incredibly hard all year round, practically living in the hall, and in doing so we miss out on many things that other people enjoy, such as spending time with family or going out to celebrate. In my opinion, for all these reasons, we’ve earned our place in the Final4.

What was the key to Bremen’s successful run in the regular season?

The most important factor in our success during the regular season was that there were no major events like the Olympic Games. I personally decided to focus more on the Bundesliga and train harder for it. I think the other lads in our team feel the same way. Because we didn’t play as many tournaments as we perhaps should have, or as others do internationally, we were able to focus better. We had more energy for training, more energy to play better matches and score more points for the team. Our coach, Cristian Tamas, is also very important to us. He keeps us together as a team; the atmosphere in the squad has been absolutely brilliant this season. In my view, that’s very important and one of the key factors: everyone in the team sticks together.

Last year, Werder missed out on the play-offs. What made the difference this season?

Last season, straight after the Olympics, a lot of us were a bit tired from the pre-season training and the effort we’d put into qualifying. Even so, last season was actually pretty good for me personally. This year, however, we simply had more time for pre-season training and to improve our performance at the table, because we didn’t play as many tournaments as last year. I think that’s simply the difference.

Bremen are now among the top four teams in the TTBL for the second time in three years. Does that mean Werder are already an absolute top-tier team like the other regular semi-finalists?

For me, SV Werder has always been a top team, a top club, partly because so many great players have played for Bremen. When I signed for Werder in 2019 – I remember it well – I was really happy because I knew that Bremen is one of the best teams in the Bundesliga. When I think back, all the other teams have actually always fielded their best players against us to avoid losing to us. That’s why, I think, we deserve to be regarded as a top team. We’re a strong team, and I’d even say that we can be a genuine top team.

In the semi-finals, your team will face 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT, the Champions League and Cup winners. Would you have chosen Saarbrücken too if you’d had the choice?

Saarbrücken may have won a lot, but I wouldn’t want any other opponent and would leave everything as it is. After all, the match against Saarbrücken might just be our chance to show what we’re capable of and that we can beat them.

In the first half of the season, Bremen celebrated a surprise 3-2 victory against a full-strength Saarbrücken side. What are the chances of a repeat in the semi-final?

We have actually beaten them once this season, and other teams have beaten them too, so I think we have a good chance again. Hopefully lots of fans will come to support us – we’ll certainly do everything we can to beat Saarbrücken.

You may face Saarbrücken’s superstar and Olympic champion Fan Zhendong in Frankfurt, just as you did in the second half of the season. How are you looking forward to this clash?

I’ve played against Fan Zhendong several times before, and I lost to him most recently in the second half of the season in Saarbrücken. But it’s really great that he’s playing in the Bundesliga, and I’m delighted that Saarbrücken has such a strong and famous player in their team. I’m looking forward to the match and I’m actually hoping we’ll face each other. I’ll try to play my best game. Marcelo Aguirre managed to beat Fan Zhendong in our home match, and as the tables in Frankfurt will be the same as for our home matches, I think we’ll all be well prepared for a match against Fan.

You yourself are in the semi-finals with Bremen for the third time. What are your memories of your previous play-off appearances?

I have great memories of the 2020 and 2024 play-offs with our team. I’ve also learnt a lot from them. Matches like these are a big event that teach you not to get too stressed, and that really helps on the big stages like the Olympics or World Championships. Mentally, I’d say I’m ready because I’ve played in exactly this situation a few times before. Together, we’ll simply try to show what we can do and hope it works out.

In Frankfurt, the semi-finals and final will take place over a single weekend for the first time under the compact Final4 format. What is your view on this reform of the format, which sees the elimination of the semi-final series preceding the final?

Unlike the Cup Final4, this format is great for the players because it means they can play just one semi-final and then recover in time for the final the next day. For me personally, it’s really tough enough to play a single match against a top-20 or top-10 player, and if, as the number one, you then have to play a second match against a top-10 or top-20 player, you need an enormous amount of energy as a player to beat such opponents. That’s why I think it’s really great that we can play over two days on a big stage in Frankfurt.

Thank you very much for talking to us, Kirill Gerassimenko.

Florian Manzke