Final Four

After exciting preliminary rounds hosted by various universities, including KIT, last year, our university team qualified for the "Final Four" of the German University Championships 2023 in Cologne. A total of five of our competitive players (Isabel Veres, Franziska Richter, Mathis Alt, Fabian Schlenga and Janis Machauer) competed together against the teams from Göttingen, Jena and Cologne on May 18 and delivered strong matches in all five disciplines (men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles). Unfortunately, our team was only able to score points against the University of Göttingen and was beaten by the strong competition from WG Cologne and FSU Jena. In the overall ranking, our team finished in third place - congratulations!

Individual competition

The individual competition took place on the following days, with ten KIT players competing in all five disciplines. The competition opened with the qualifying matches for the men's singles. Despite strong performances, Stefan Pfleging, Jakob Lenschen, Tanmay Mane and Lukas Brocke were unable to fight their way into the main draw and were eliminated after qualifying. Mathis and Cedric Dauth also faced very strong opponents in the main draw and had to admit defeat early on in the tournament. However, they were able to use all their energy together with the others to cheer on the two Bundesliga players Fabian and Janis in the nerve-wracking semi-finals. Janis impressed with a confident performance and faced the top seed Lennart Notni from Jena in the final, against whom Fabian was unfortunately unable to prevail in the semi-finals. Despite vociferous support and many exciting rallies, Janis was unfortunately unable to win the final - but we are still delighted with a well-deserved 2nd place! Our ladies Isabel and Franzi also competed in the singles, both of whom were keen to gain experience against top players and have fun on the court.

In the doubles disciplines, Mathis and Janis in particular were able to shine. Together they reached the quarter-finals, where they played an exciting three-set match against the runners-up. All in all, it was a great event with top matches, great parties and lots of fun on and off the court. Thanks to the German Sport University Cologne for the organization. We are already looking forward to next year!

Author's report: Franziska Richter

Pictures: Stefan Pfleging