Published14. October 2024, 11:08
Tennis: A first in 46 years: no Swiss athlete in the top 100
You have to go back to 1978 to find no trace of a Swiss man or woman among the 100 best in the world.
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Emmanuel Favre
<img src="https://image.lematin.ch/2024/10/14/711321b9-e618-4924-8b63-db4ca0ebf3f6.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance&fit=max&w=1200&h=1200&rect=0%2C0%2C3868%2C2530&s=cd26a439d7d277139d7217eda0342a69" alt="Zurich's Alexander Ritschard is 107th in the ATP rankings” title=”Zurich’s Alexander Ritschard is 107th in the ATP rankings” srcset=”https://image.lematin.ch/2024/10/14/711321b9-e618-4924-8b63-db4ca0ebf3f6.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance&fit=max&w=400&h=400&rect=0%2C0%2C3868%2C2530&s=ade3b953a38e64b1b8cdb48acd2f388c 400w, https://image.lematin.ch/2024/10/14/711321b9-e618-4924-8b63-db4ca0ebf3f6.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance&fit=max&w=800&h=800&rect=0%2C0%2C3868%2C2530&s=595daa4f486d281831bf33777026fce8 800w, https://image.lematin.ch/2024/10/14/711321b9-e618-4924-8b63-db4ca0ebf3f6.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance&fit=max&w=1200&h=1200&rect=0%2C0%2C3868%2C2530&s=cd26a439d7d277139d7217eda0342a69 1200w, https://image.lematin.ch/2024/10/14/711321b9-e618-4924-8b63-db4ca0ebf3f6.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance&fit=max&w=1600&h=1600&rect=0%2C0%2C3868%2C2530&s=048842cb0d3e1236f930e11ceed6920e 1600w, https://image.lematin.ch/2024/10/14/711321b9-e618-4924-8b63-db4ca0ebf3f6.jpeg?auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance&fit=max&w=2001&h=2000&rect=0%2C0%2C3868%2C2530&s=9b519bc0577666780bd51249f29fae7c 2001w” width=”1200″ height=”785″/>
Zurich’s Alexander Ritschard is 107th in the ATP rankings
freshfocus
This Monday, October 14, 2024 is a dark day for Swiss tennis: for the first time since 1978, i.e. in 46 years, for both men and women, there is no Swiss athlete in the top 100 of the world rankings. .
The best Swiss is the Zurich native Alexander Ritschard (30 years old) who is in 107th place. The best Swiss woman is Zurich’s Viktorija Golubic (31) who occupies 124th position.
Among the men, if we ignore a brief interlude of 10 weeks, this situation had never occurred in the last 50 years, thanks to the continued presence of exceptional players of the caliber of Heinz Günthardt, Jakob Hlasek, Marc Rosset, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.
Five Swiss women in May 2019
Among women, Golubic’s ejection from the top 100 this Monday means that, for the first time since October 2, 2011, no Swiss is among the 100 best tenniswomen on the planet.
A fact that contrasts with the glorious month of May 2019. A little over five years ago, five Swiss representatives were on the list: Belinda Bencic, Viktorija Golubic, Jil Teichmann, Timea Bacsinszky and Stefanie Vögele.
Today, the picture is less rosy since, for the first time since February 13, 1978 when Heinz Günthardt crossed the curtain, there is no longer a representative with a white cross in these tables.
The imminent return to play of Saint-Welsh Belinda Bencic, Olympic champion in 2021 in Tokyo, could prove beneficial. After her maternity break, the former world number 4 wants to play her first matches in November at the Billie Jean King Cup. And return to the WTA circuit in 2025 to grab points and quickly enter the top 100.
