Swiss tennis is not so catastrophic

The Swiss Davis Cup team (led by Severin Lüthi, far right) beat Peru this weekend in Biel. Image: KEYSTONE

No Swiss in the second round of the US Open, no male or female players in the top 100: at first glance, current Swiss tennis is scary. But when you analyze it more closely, the situation is much more encouraging.

14.09.2024, 15:5414.09.2024, 16:06

The year 2024 will remain a bitter memory for Swiss tennis, even if the Davis Cup team validated its ticket to the elite this weekend, by beating Peru in Bienne.

The Swiss hit rock bottom at the last US Open: for only the second time in the last 30 years, no Swiss, man or woman, has reached the second round of a Grand Slam tournament.

And for the first time since 1986, no Swiss were present in the second week of the four Majors.

But Davis Cup team captain Severin Lüthi is not dramatizing the situation. Quite the opposite! Roger Federer’s long-time coach even made this surprising statement:

“Even though it may seem strange at the moment, I think the situation of Swiss tennis is better today than it was a few years ago.”

Many and solid ones come next

The numbers support Severin Lüthi’s thesis. In 2017, the presence of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka in the top 10 masked the lack of a competitive base. In the autumn, after Marco Chiudinelli’s retirement, no other Swiss were in the top 450 of the world rankings. Lüthi had already warned of this problem at the time.

Alexander Ritschard, current Swiss number 1. Image: keystone

Switzerland is currently lacking top-level players, but between the 124th world ranking (Alexander Ritschard) and the 420th (Jakub Paul), There are no fewer than eleven Swiss. Four of them are aged 22 or younger. Among the women, too, nine Swiss women are in these positions in the world rankings.

Lüthi considers that the current situation is only a snapshot that could already be much better in a year. He recalls that in 2023, thanks to the qualifiers, seven Swiss men and women were present in the main draw of Roland-Garros and even eight at Wimbledon. This year, Leandro Riedi only failed in the last round of qualifying (after even having a match point) on the London grass. Just like Jérôme Kym at the US Open, who had served for the match.

L’absence de Bencic

There are explanations – “no excuses” however, as Severin Lüthi points out – for the current decline. Olympic champion and former world number 4 Belinda Bencic is absent due to maternity, but she wants to return by next year at the latest.

Belinda Bencic hopes to get back to her former level on her return.Image: keystone

Céline Naef, who made her Grand Slam debut fourteen months ago at Wimbledon, has certainly stagnated recently, but she is only 19 years old. “We couldn’t expect her to immediately climb into the top 20 and reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam either,” recalls Federer’s former coach.

“Only very rare exceptions like Coco Gauff succeed in this”

Severin Lüthi

Lightning falls and rises

In Swiss men’s tennis, the numerous injuries are striking. Dominic Stricker, who broke through last year by reaching the round of 16 at the US Open, missed the entire first part of this season due to persistent back problems. “Otherwise, he would certainly be in the top 100,” imagines Lüthi.

Dominic Stricker has had a first half of the season marred by back problems. Image: KEYSTONE

For his part, Leandro Riedi won two Challenger tournaments until June, reached three other finals and was on his way to the top 100, but he had to end his season last week due to chronic knee pain.

Jérôme Kym is currently showing how quickly things can also go the other way. The Aargau native made his Davis Cup debut in 2019, shortly before his 16th birthday (making him the Swiss record holder for precocity). But injuries then hampered his development.

Jérôme Kym experienced a meteoric rise in 2024. Image: keystone

Kym missed the second half of last year due to knee surgery.

But in 2024, he gained more than 350 places in the ATP rankings in five months. He has never been ranked as high as he is now (151st).

Promising juniors

In the men’s competition, the Basel native Henry Bernet (17 years old/ATP 943) and the Zurich native Flynn Thomas (16 years old) are promising young talents. Speaking about the current situation, Severin Lüthi remains optimistic:

“You always have to look at what you can improve, but you also have to think long term and not throw everything overboard in a rush.”

And most of the time, it is only after five or ten years that we can see whether the work done with the next generation has been good.

So the potential is there. Now let’s hope that 2024 is just an accident for Swiss tennis, and not the beginning of the end.

(ram/if/sda)