Always a crowd favorite in the St. Jakobshalle: Stan Wawrinka has returned to form just in time for the Swiss Indoors
Image: Keystone
Last year in the quarter-finals in Basel: Dominic Stricker
Image: Keystone
One of this year's rising stars: Davis Cup player Jérôme Kym
Image: Keystone
Charismatic and always good for a surprise: Andrei Rublev is the No. 1 seed in Basel
Image: Keystone
The Basel specialist: Félix Auger-Aliassime is aiming for his third triumph in a row at the Swiss Indoors
Image: Keystone
Always a crowd favorite in the St. Jakobshalle: Stan Wawrinka has returned to form just in time for the Swiss Indoors
Image: Keystone
Last year in the quarter-finals in Basel: Dominic Stricker
Image: Keystone
One of this year's rising stars: Davis Cup player Jérôme Kym
Image: Keystone
Charismatic and always good for a surprise: Andrei Rublev is the No. 1 seed in Basel
Image: Keystone
The Basel specialist: Félix Auger-Aliassime is aiming for his third triumph in a row at the Swiss Indoors
Image: Keystone
The Swiss Indoors once again presents a top-class field of players. The absence of the absolute top stars is a challenge, but the rising form of the Swiss players gives hope.
There is no doubt about the class of the field of players. Anyone who wanted to make it into the Swiss Indoors 32-player tableau on a regular basis had to be among the top 50 in the world at the decisive time. From Monday, the St. Jakobshalle will be offering top-level tennis from the very first rally.
Nevertheless, tournament director Roger Brennwald is unlikely to be unreservedly happy. Unless he manages to pull off a coup with the last wild card at short notice, an absolute star from the top 5 will be missing for the second time in a row. That has never happened before this century. The two top 10 players Andrej Rublev and Casper Ruud are not among the biggest crowd pullers.
Competition from Arabia
The general weather situation is currently difficult for tournament directors who cannot count on the seemingly unlimited flow of Saudi oil millions. There are two weeks between the mandatory tournaments in Shanghai and Paris-Bercy. None of the top stars want to play for a month at a time.
As the four biggest stars at the moment - Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner - will be paying their respects at the "6 Kings Slam" exhibition spectacle in Riyadh this week, the powerful quartet will take a break next week. They will collect 1.5 million dollars in appearance fees alone, which is more than three times the still handsome 402,000 euros that the winner will receive in Basel (or in Vienna in the same week).
However, tennis fans will also get their money's worth at the Swiss Indoors this year. In addition to Rublev and Ruud, Greek crowd favorite Stefanos Tsitsipas and, above all, a whole range of explosive young stars, from Holger Rune to Ben Shelton and Ugo Humbert to Arthur Fils, will be at the start. Of course, two-time champion Félix Auger-Aliassime, who is still unbeaten in the St. Jakobshalle, will also be returning.
Upswing for the Swiss
Thanks to Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, two Grand Slam winners are also taking part, even if their best times were a while ago. The Swiss players who are important for the tournament are struggling this year, with none of them currently in the top 100 of the world rankings. Nevertheless, there is cause for optimism.
The two wildcard recipients, Wawrinka and Dominic Stricker, found their form again last week in Stockholm with the first semi-final and quarter-final of the year respectively and can therefore hope for an exploit in Basel. The left-hander from Bern defeated the No. 2 seed Ruud last year and advanced to the quarter-finals.
Jérôme Kym from Fricktal is the third Swiss player to qualify for the tournament. The 21-year-old FCB fan has made up over 350 places this year after overcoming his major injury worries and is ranked higher than ever before at number 141. Kym was already one game away from qualifying for the main draw two years ago (6:1, 5:1 lead against Laslo Djere), now he realized his dream.
Gölä on Super Monday
Kym will face last year's semi-finalist Ugo Humbert from France on Monday. Another Swiss is also sure to make a big appearance on Super Monday. With Gölä, a Swiss will be the show act for the first time at the big opening spectacle. And in the doubles, another local hero, 17-year-old Old Boys junior Henry Bernet, will be playing alongside Kym.
