Dominic Stricker caused a sensation on his ATP-level debut in Geneva during the week and knocked out two of the top 50 players with Marin Cilic and Marton Fucsovics on their way to the quarter-finals. Swiss tennis fans would have liked to see him at Roland Garros, but nothing comes of it.
For years, Swiss tennis fans have mostly crossed their fingers for Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. The latter will miss the French Open this year and Federer has many question marks about his form – and his big goals are Wimbledon and the Olympics anyway. It would have been all the more enjoyable if Sticker had had the chance to present himself to the “greats” at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
But the organizers of Roland-Garros remain tough and do not reward the knitters with a joker. Swiss glasses are incomprehensible, as Stricker has only just demonstrated his enormous potential and also won last year’s French Open among juniors. The fact that Dominic is not rewarded also annoys his father, as “Blick” writes: “It is incomprehensible to me that a double junior winner of the Grand Slam does not automatically benefit from a wildcard. It’s a shame. ”
The 18-year-old made a big jump in the world rankings from 419 to 334. But that also means that there are still 334 top-ranked tennis players. And tournament boss Guy Forget distributes 15 of the 16 main draw wildcards to the French – one goes to Australia. It is up to the organizers to whom they distribute their wildcards and it is not uncommon for local talent to receive preferential treatment. Therefore, any protest would be pointless.
Dominic Stricker doesn’t seem to bother: “It’s a shame. Of course, it would have been cool to compete in Paris. I just have to keep working hard and move up the rankings so that I can compete in a Grand Slam in the future without a wild card. With this he proves once again that he is right between the ears. Instead of Roland-Garros, Sticker will now be used at the Kiseljak Open, an ITF tournament in Bosnia-Herzegovina with US $ 25,000.
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