Dominic Stricker is back: "I am absolutely pain-free"

Others might be a little offended by a journalist's question: "It feels like you're slimmer than ever. Is that true?" In his relaxed manner, however, Dominic Stricker picks up the ball and confirms: "Yes, we feel that way too." That's a bit of a benefit of the long injury break, explains the junior winner of the 2020 French Open.

Flashback: Last summer, the 21-year-old from Grosshöchstetten really took off. He reached the second round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at Wimbledon, defeated his first top ten player, Stefanos Tsitsipas, at the US Open and stormed through to the round of 16. This was followed at the Swiss Indoors by a win against world number 8 Casper Ruud and a quarter-final. Then - from the outside looking in - it was all over. At the Next Gen Finals in Saudi Arabia, Stricker had to retire in the semi-finals and was no longer seen on the world's tennis courts until the beginning of June.

His back had been hurting for a long time

At first, he and those around him were reluctant to admit the serious nature of the injury. Time and again there was talk of an imminent comeback, which was dashed again. It was only slowly that the realization dawned that a long break was unavoidable. On his return to Wimbledon, where he will meet Frenchman Arthur Fils (ATP 34), who is almost two years younger than him, in the first round on Tuesday, Stricker now talks in detail about his long period of suffering for the first time.

"The pain in my back has always been there a little bit," he reveals. "But it was completely bearable and went really well." But then, last fall, it got worse and worse from match to match until it was no longer possible. "The whole lower back was affected, everything was inflamed and overloaded." In the end, only time helped to get the problem under control.

Body not yet ready

Stricker probably paid the price for his success. His body was not (yet) ready for so many matches in a relatively short space of time. Until Wimbledon a year ago, he had never played a match over more than three sets, then five within just under two months. At both Wimbledon and the US Open, he already had three matches each in qualifying in his legs - and in his back. His back rebelled violently against this.

Stricker has not changed anything about his movement, as he explains. However, he has worked hard in the gym on strengthening and stabilization and focuses more on his back during warm-ups and after matches. "I'm absolutely pain-free at the moment," he says happily. And fitter than ever.

Blossomed as a chef

"I can feel that I'm more light-footed on the court, which is really cool," confirms Stricker. The long period of inactivity was difficult, especially at the beginning when he was hardly able to pursue other activities such as his beloved golf. Instead, he devoted himself more intensively to another love, cooking. With pleasing results. "As I was consuming significantly fewer calories than usual, we paid even more attention to our diet."

Now Stricker, who has slipped to 149th position, wants to attack again. He does not yet feel under too much pressure in terms of his world ranking. At Wimbledon, he will make use of his protected ranking (94) for the first time, after which he still has eight more to go thanks to his injured status. His return to the tour was moderate with one win at three Challenger tournaments in England; he is still lacking automatisms. However, his first opponent Arthur Fils has not yet distinguished himself at the Grand Slams (2 times 2nd round) and last summer in Gstaad Stricker won the first duel.

The "duel" against his coach Dieter Kindlmann and the physiotherapist, both Germans, is still undecided. "A victory for Switzerland and a defeat for Germany," was the Bernese player's wish for Saturday evening. The two coaches had rubbed the Germans' equalizer in the last group game against Switzerland in his face with relish. He would have loved to have had the last word himself.