New York, theater of great firstsWinner 7-5, 6-7(2/7), 6-7(5/7), 7-6(8/6), 6-3 over Stefanos Tsitsipas (seeded no. 7), Dominic Stricker (21 years old; 128th in the world) opened the doors to the third third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career after a mad chase (he trailed 5-3 in the 4th set). And for his 17th victory on the ATP circuit, he offered himself a first victory against a Top 10 player for his debut in New York, before offering the happy face, full cheeks and childish smile of a player still under the shock of what he had just achieved after handing Stefanos Tsitsipas his first Grand Slam loss to a player ranked above 100th in the world. He who won his first match in a major tournament at the last Wimbledon.
Whitney HoustonTo escape the pressure of the event, the Swiss let himself be carried away by the music playing in the stadium. An improvised karaoke (on I wanna dance with somebody by Whitney Houston) precious not to be devoured by the fear of winning at 5-2 in the last set. A relaxed way to stay in your bubble, keep playing with your arm free. And hit, hard, fast (79 winning shots).
Federer, Rosset, Wawrinka and CieComing from qualifications (he erased a match point in the 2nd round against the Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz) and propelled into full light with this resounding qualification for the 3rd round of the US Open (against the French Benjamin Bonzi, whom he has never met on the circuit), Dominic Stricker is making a (small) place in the history of Swiss tennis. According to Jeu, sets et maths, he becomes, at 21, the 5th youngest Swiss to qualify for a 3rd round in a major tournament. In good company behind Roger Federer (18 years and 5 months), Jakob Hlasek (18 years and 7 months), Marc Rosset (19 years and 7 months), and Stan Wawrinka (20 years and 2 months), with whom he won the Gstaad doubles tournament this year.
Roland-Garros Among the juniors, Dominic Stricker distinguished himself by winning Roland-Garros, in singles (like his compatriots Heinz Günthardt in 1976 and Stan Wawrinka in 2003) and in doubles (with the Italian Flavio Cobolli) in 2020. 2021, for his debut on the professional circuit, he made it to the quarter-finals in Geneva (in his very first match, he beat Marin Cilic, then world No. 3) and Stuttgart.
Less chocolate, the weight of adviceSince the middle of the year, Dominic Stricker has decided not to be content to rest on the flashes of his left arm. He benefits from the advice of the German Dieter Kindlmann, former trainer of Maria Sharapova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Madison Keys, Aryna Sabalenka or Angelique Kerber. And it pays. In all areas and especially in dietetics: “I eat less sugar, less chocolate and less of this kind of thing. I have changed a lot. My team does it too, so it’s great to feel that support from them. It’s great to see that my body is capable of handling four hours of high level tennis. I feel better on the court than last year, my game has improved. I know that if I continue to do things this way, my ranking will soon improve”, summed up the Swiss n°3 (behind Wawrinka, 49th and Marc-Andrea Huesler 97th) on the Puntodebreak site.
