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Federer injured, Wawrinka not classified – for the first time since 2001 the ATP Finals of the eight best tennis players are held without a Swiss. However this is not entirely true.
As a junior winner of the French Open, Dominic Stricker was also invited to London by the ATP, as a training partner to the stars. Needless to say, the 18-year-old from Bern only needed a brief period to think about his acceptance.
Rublew and Thiem as opposites
He has been in London for ten days with his coach Sven Swinnen, staying in the same hotel as the world’s elite. Initially, the two Swiss carried out their program alone. Over the course of the last week, however, we started training at the big concert. “The intensity and the speed are on a different level,” says Stricker. He was amazed at how much and how intensely top stars train even in the days leading up to games.
The southpaw is particularly popular with Rafael Nadal’s opponents. On Sunday he trained with Andrei Rublew before his match against the Spaniard, on Tuesday he was on center court with Dominic Thiem. At least the Austrian helped himself with the warm-up with Stricker, he defeated Nadal in straight sets.
“Everyone has a chance”
On Wednesday, Stricker slides into the role of Nadal’s stuntman for a two-hour training session with Stefanos Tsitsipas. The defending Greek champion will play Rafa for the semi-final ticket on Thursday.
How Stricker’s show will look after that is still open. At least you will watch the matches as a spectator. As a connoisseur, do you have any advice on which player is particularly hot in London? “That’s hard to say. Actually, everyone here has a chance to win the tournament.” (cmü)
