"I've worked out a daily schedule."

Normally Hertha first team players talk to the media at training sessions or in specific interview appointments, but due to the quarantine conditions which Hertha have been under since last Tuesday, interviews with players have become slightly more unorthodox. Marius Wolf checked in on Wednesday afternoon (25.03.20) from his old apartment in Charlottenburg via Skype and discussed questions with journalists on video chat. “I get up, I eat breakfast and then start training. After that I see what the boys are doing and phone my friends and family a lot. I need to charge my phone three times a day because everyone is always calling me,” said Hertha’s number 30 over Skype, speaking about his current, yet unfamiliar, daily routine.

In the afternoon and the evening there are two more individual training sessions, which mostly use the spinning bike provided by the club. “I could slowly become a professional cyclist – I’ve used the bike as often in my life as I do at the moment,” says the blond midfielder, causing a chuckle on the video call. Basically, despite the unfamiliarity of the current situation, the 24-year-old explains that: “We have the strength and energy available to train multiple times a day.” The winger also takes more creative measures, such as climbing the stairs in the five-floor apartment building that he is quarantined in. I wanted to do something other than cycling for a change and thought: ‘I’ll run up and down the stairs,’ which is also very exhausting,” says Wolf, as he also spoke about a couple of side issues. “Because I live in an old building, it’s been a bit difficult for me. This means that the neighbours can hear a lot, but so far there have been no complaints. They have been very good to me,” Wolf says, thanking his fellow residents.         

 “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

The neighbours’ understanding for Wolf’s somewhat noisier workouts is held in high regard by the player. “I said to my friend who I was shopping with that he should bring a bar of chocolate to mine so I can leave it by the neighbours’ apartment door as a thank-you present,” said Wolf, revealing his trick to soothe the other residents of his building. The loanee from Borussia Dortmund knows that small gestures like this will help to improve the cohesion among the population in the coming weeks. “The top priority is that we stay at home,” says Wolf, who is slowly adapting to the current situation. “I’ve worked out a daily schedule, I know when to exercise, I know when to use the phone and I know when the boys are online to play computer games,” says the Hertha player on day eight of his quarantine, which he enforces strictly. “I haven’t been anywhere except my balcony for a week – I’ve never experienced anything like it.” Wolf has little experience with virtual interviews, but the experience was not a problem for him. “For me it was a strange image – of course I didn’t know what it would be like. But it was relaxed, easy and fun. Strange situations require strange measures,” the winger concluded, normally doing his interviews face-to-face and not from home on Skype.