Cheryl is in the Swiss Alps ready for a week of beautiful views and great tennis. Check back for the latest on-the-ground reporting and insider tidbits.
On the cusp of the grueling North American hard court swing, clay gets one last hurrah a couple of weeks before the tour heads to Montreal. So here I am in Gstaad, ready to give you all the inside scoop. The draw is an interesting one in several respects. Most importantly for the Swiss fans, it marks the last Gstaad tournament for Stan Wawrinka — set for retirement at the end of 2026 (more on Stan and the state of Swiss tennis a bit later).
Then there are the draw’s wild bookends. Alexander Bublik at the top as the No. 1 seed and Casper Ruud anchoring the bottom half. I’m quite certain I couldn’t have produced players less alike if I’d conjured them with that purpose in mind. Bublik isn’t the most temperamental player in tennis (that moniker probably goes to Corentin Moutet), but volatility simmers just beneath the surface. He’s dialed back on “letting it all fly” on court, but he remains as unpredictable as ever.
Just last week, Bublik broke out an underarm serve seemingly from nowhere in his epic Wimbledon win over Frances Tiafoe. And it’s not just controversial unpredictability, either. Bublik could beat or lose to any player at any time for no discernible reason whatsoever. Last year in Halle, he beat Jannik Sinner and then lost to Jaume Munar in the first round of Wimbledon two weeks later. Bublik is the defending champion in Gstaad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the favorite this year…because you just never know which Bublik is going to show up.
Contrast this with Ruud in the bottom half. Ruud is literally never unpredictable. The most outrageous thing I’ve ever seen him do was (correctly) criticize the Miami Open because the tournament cheaped out on player amenities in 2024. That’s it. That’s the entire breadth of Ruud’s scandalous contributions. And like Bublik’s volatility, it’s not just his behavior that’s consistent. Ruud is a player who generally wins when he’s supposed to and loses when he’s not.
Wimbledon is a perfect example. The Norwegian doesn’t play well on grass, and nobody expects him to — including him. He jokingly says that grass is for golfers, slightly funny coming from Ruud, who is quite a good golfer. He has never made it past the second round at the All-England Club; he lost in his opener to Hubi Hurkacz in straight sets this year.
So there it is: volatile vs. consistent. So if the draw holds up, who wins? All other things being equal, this is just the kind of tournament Ruud builds his ranking foundation on. I’m giving him the nod.
Of course, the biggest story of the tournament is the pending retirement of Stan Wawrinka. Swiss tennis is in a bad way right now, as Wawrinka — the world No. 117 — is the top ranked male Swiss player. It’s a wild and unwelcome departure from the last two decades when Roger Federer and Wawrinka were ever-present members of the top 10. There IS some hope. Dominic Sticker, who has struggled to find his way back to form after a back injury, upset Jaume Munar on the first day of main-draw play.
I was in attendance at the biggest win of Stricker’s career so far, a five-set upset in the first round of the U.S. Open over then-world No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas. At age 23, Stricker has time to mount a comeback — but he is currently still slogging away on the Futures and Challenger circuits. It’s always possible a new prospect will break through this week. Both Dylan Dietrich and Jerome Kym have potential, although I have my eye on Kym in particular.
Looking forward to a great week in the Alps!
Ruud did have those run-ins with Kyrgios
but it was all Kyrgios’ fault, of course lololol
I don’t even consider that controversial. That was simply stating facts. Like saying “fish swim in the ocean.”
Kyrgios had a run in with (where do I start)
Apart from people, he threw a chair onto the court , and walked off court just to smash his racquets in the corridor (most people at least do this on court )
As it happens, I was on court for the racquets in the corridor incident. He was playing Khachanov in Cincinnati. I sat directly in front of his player box. WILD match. Fergus Murphy was absolutely baffled.
Yeah he was useless let him away with it
Different topic, Cheryl — did you get to see the Stan Wawrinka match? Have a good seat? It’s a disappearing treat to watch him play.
Once an idiot always an idiot, seems that guy will never change
The biggest waste of talent
I could have understood his lack of interest in becoming a tennis monomaniac and just playing events he wanted off his talent if he hadn’t been so insufferable in other ways and essentially wiped his crap all over the sport as his chief occupation. Good riddance.