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After losing their first two matches of the new season, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen find themselves at the bottom of the table as defending champions and cup winners. In this interview, TTF president Kristijan Pejinovic talks about the changed expectations in Upper Swabia, the prospects for their young players, and their goals for the season.

Kristijan Pejinovic, with Hugo Calderano and Simon Gauzy leaving after Ochsenhausen's double last season, even the most optimistic fans couldn't have dreamed of a repeat of those successes. However, after the first two rounds of the new season, the red lantern at the bottom of the table seems like a stark contrast for your heavily rebuilt team. Do you rub your eyes when you look at the table, like many outside observers?

No—why should I rub my eyes? I have, of course, mentioned several times that we are rebuilding. Rebuilding means rebuilding. It's like our philosophy: some people don't want to understand it, and then they won't understand what we're doing. But what is there to analyze after just two match days? In my opinion, nothing. All we can do now is stick with it, express our confidence in the guys, be patient, and ultimately have faith. These are important factors, and in many ways it's still groundwork. Besides, Shunsuke Togami was missing in both games. I'd also like to remind everyone that we lost our first two games last season with our new coach Bogdan Pugna. So everything is normal, and you really can't talk about a false start.

Looking at the squads, it's clear that the top teams are unlikely to be beaten this season. Ochsenhausen's opening opponents, Borussia Dortmund and TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, are not among the top contenders for a place in the Final Four, yet your team still came away empty-handed. Was that in line with your expectations before the start of the season?

Anyone who underestimates Bergneustadt and Dortmund this season will be in for a surprise, in my opinion. Dortmund is a team to watch when they get their act together. Bergneustadt, as you can see from their start with a win at 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT, is a team that will cause problems for many top teams. That's why I believe that any analysis before the end of the first half of the season is premature.

Shunsuke Togami was supposed to play in the first match against Dortmund, but then your double world champion was unable to play at short notice. What was the reason?

Yes, Shunsuke was supposed to play against Dortmund, that's correct. But his association wanted him to return to his home country of Japan because of the visa for the China Smash. That wasn't the plan, because we actually wanted to do the same thing with the visa as we did last season for all of our players. But Shunsuke had just received different orders, and it seems that there has been an internal change in Japan. For us, this was of course unfortunate after his participation in the Europe Smash in Malmö, because our hands are tied in such situations. But we will of course discuss the procedures in detail with his association again so that we don't have any more surprises in the future.

Your new signing, Iulian Chirita, scored points in the first two games against opponents of a similar level, but has not yet been able to break the opposing top players. Can his performances so far be described as a ray of hope, given the situation in Ochsenhausen?

This is Iulian's first season, these were his first matches, so he first has to find his role in the team and also in the league. He also has to find out what the league is all about. Of course, he has experience in the French Pro A, but not in the TTBL, just like Andreas Levenko, by the way. But I think he has done very, very well, ultimately scoring points against similarly strong opponents. He will find his feet against the better players. He is 19 years young, so no one expects miracles, but he will certainly find his feet more and more from game to game. It is also important for Iulian personally that he is given trust, time, and patience. Everything is going as planned on the court.

Your three other players—Tiago Abiodun, Leo Iizuka, and your second signing, Andreas Levenko—only won one set between them against Dortmund and Bergneustadt. Shouldn't we have expected a little more?

I'm relaxed about it. Of course, you always want to win one or two more games. We're used to thinking from game to game, watching, analyzing, and seeing what went wrong. For me, it's just a matter of time. Our youngsters are making great progress in their international youth competitions, but that also shows how big a leap it is to the TTBL. That's why we all have to keep going and continue to build. Our coach is doing a great job in that regard, and the guys will get there.

It has already become clear that a lot will depend on Togami this season. But is your number one ready to take on so much responsibility on his own?

That's the basic idea we had. He needs to learn to deal with this responsibility. Because we don't have huge expectations for the season, he can and should grow into this role. He has already proven that he can do it in our cup victory and in the TTBL final. I am confident that he can handle the increased responsibility, because, as I said, that is the basic idea.

Hand on heart: Are the cup and championship finals fundamentally part of Ochsenhausen's goals for the season, or is your club aiming lower?