Stricker outclasses Munar and says, “I’m a little surprised myself.”

Dominic Stricker has already reached the round of 16 at the U.S. Open, was ranked among the top 100 tennis players in the world, and won the French Open junior tournament in 2020. But what he pulled off on the clay court in Gstaad on Monday evening is certainly among the best performances of his career.

Having slipped to No. 360 in the world rankings, the 23-year-old from Bern completely dominated the No. 8-seeded clay-court specialist Jaume Munar (ATP 44) for an hour. With an outstanding serve, thunderous forehands, and subtle volley stops, he played a nearly perfect match until the score reached 6-2, 2-0. “To be honest, I’m a little surprised myself,” Stricker said in an interview with Keystone-SDA.

After dropping his first break, the Express hit a brief snag. But Stricker kept his cool and sealed the deal at 6-4.

Physically, everything is back to normal

That’s not a given, of course, because he’s had some tough years. Poor decisions regarding tournament scheduling, repeated injuries, and at one point even thoughts of retirement put the highly talented left-hander’s career in jeopardy. On top of that, he parted ways again this summer with his coach, Henri Laaksonen, because Laaksonen, who lives in Dubai, isn’t allowed to spend as much time in Switzerland as he’d like.

However, this stellar performance confirms Stricker’s assessment from before the tournament that he is back to full physical strength and feels ready to look ahead again. “I feel really good on the court again, though I still struggle a bit with my game from time to time,” he said.

In Gstaad, however, that wasn't the case at all—everything went smoothly there. “I’m actually a little surprised by my level of play,” he said after the match. “Everyone knows I’ve got what it takes, but being able to show it on this day in front of this fantastic home crowd is, of course, great. It’s nice that I get to play again.”

Points Needed for the U.S. Open

Stricker is now ready to make another run at the title. First, however, he needs to find a new coach. In recent weeks, he has mostly been training at Swiss Tennis with Michael Lammer. That has obviously worked out very well, but Lammer is employed by the association as head coach of the youth program and is unlikely to be considered for the role of permanent coach.

One thing is clear: Dominic Stricker, Switzerland’s greatest tennis talent in recent years, is once again looking to the future with optimism. In the short term, he wants to earn as many points as possible in Gstaad and next week at the Challenger in Zug so he can improve his ranking enough to qualify for the U.S. Open. His next opponent on Thursday is Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan, who is ranked exactly 100th in the world.