One of the things Laura Paar has learned in her professional tennis career is that math and tennis don’t mix well in certain situations. “I played for so many years that I learned that arithmetic is useless. It’s not my thing,” she emphasizes. Paar is no longer in the big professional tennis world, but as the team manager of TC Aschheim, she keeps a close eye on the southern group of the second women’s Bundesliga. And when you look at the table before the upcoming last match day weekend, you have to deliberately exclude the calculation options.
Four of the eight league teams are at the bottom of the table with 2:8 points and have to worry about staying in the class, at least two of them are relegated. The fact that three of them come from the Munich area in TC Aschheim, TC Grün-Weiss Luitpoldpark and MTTC Iphitos – and there are still two derbies to come – makes the starting position even more explosive. “At least we all don’t have to travel,” says Iphitos coach Uli Sprenglewski, at least something positive about the whole thing.
Paar is counting on the fact that Aschheim has played with more or less the same team all season. “We are homogeneous,” she emphasizes. On Tuesday, she didn’t know who she could call up at TC Vaihingen-Rohr on Friday and in Sunday’s potentially decisive home game against Iphitos, as some of her top players are still playing in international tournaments. For example Adrienne Nagy, who recently caused a stir against the promotion candidate Sindelfingen with a clear win over the former number 29 in the world rankings, Urszula Radwanska. As is so often the case, it is important for you and the other leaders in the league to be “spontaneous and flexible” when it comes to line-up.
So it could also depend on Laura Putz. The 19-year-old was outstanding last season, winning four of her six singles and all of her doubles. This year her stats are not so easy to read, she has only won one out of five singles, but Paar is happy with her. Putz played very well, you can’t expect statistics like last season every year, she says. In addition, Putz was due to graduate from high school this year. “It wasn’t all that easy,” says Paar. A possible relegation would not be “the end of the world” for the Aschheim women, says Paar, “but we have worked hard to get here and we deserve to be here”.
Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine, Luitpoldpark’s actual number one, was unable to compete once due to injury
Two direct relegation competitors are waiting for the TC Grün-Weiss Luitpoldpark at the weekend: On Friday he will be a guest at Iphitos, on Sunday he will go to the TC Leonberg with the same number of points. The fact that the Munich club, which had nothing to do with relegation last season, now has to tremble a lot is because “we never managed our team the way we wanted it to,” explains President Christian Beiersdorf. Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine, the actual No. 1, was unable to compete once through injury and Julia Grabher, who was a key factor last season, has left the club and is now No. 61 in the world. In addition, the Munich team lost two matches 4:5 and thus missed a better starting position for the decisive weekend.
If Luitpoldpark had to go into the regional league, it would hit the club twice, because then the second team, which was promoted there, would have to be relegated. “That would be bad,” says Beiersdorf. To avoid this scenario, a lot will depend on which team he can field (“It’ll be a last minute thing, I can say that already”), but “mainly which team Iphitos will field “. He expects the city rivals to “play a little poker” when it comes to the line-up.
Iphitos coach Uli Sprenglewski gratefully accepts the template. He already knows who he can field, “but of course I’m not saying it.” The season finale, which includes two derbies against direct competition for his team, is “unpredictable” for him. On the other hand, it’s easy to find out what Iphitos has to do: “We need two wins and then we’ll see if it’s enough or not.” Sprenglewski has identified a “certain pressure” in all clubs threatened with relegation and tries to keep it away from his players: “There is strength in calm.”
The women of the CaM Nuremberg can start the final weekend much more relaxed. The promoted women can theoretically still be relegated, but they have a four-point lead over the last four teams. “We’re not quite sure yet, but things are looking good,” says department head Christian Eschbach. The colleagues in Munich have it worse.
