Gstaad wraps up with Tsitsipas a champion again

Stefanos Tsitispas wraps up his best week in a year and a half and Cheryl sees some flying squirrels in the Swiss Alps.

The Grandstand had an outstanding time in Gstaad last week. I was on the ground among Rolexes, Ferraris, Birkins, and Chanel. Where classic Porsches, comfort fondue, and dudes in flying squirrel suits collide.

I am not making this up (the dudes in squirrel suits, I mean. I’m not making up the fondue or Ferraris either, but they’re far less interesting). Following Sunday’s final, I made my way up to Glacier 3000 and happened upon three vigorous gentlemen from California who informed me that they were “flying down” from the glacier.

So sorry. I might have missed that. You’re FLYING, sir?

They were. To be precise and technical about it, they are wingsuit BASE jumpers. The fellow I spoke with on the cable car ride up the mountain corrected me when I asked about them jumping. “It’s flying,” he said, a slightly maniacal gleam in his eyes. But…I mean…not really? Gliding perhaps? Controlled falling for certain. Anyway, here they are, getting ready to “fly.” Good luck, you crazy bastards!

I digress. Back to the tennis. We should talk about Stefanos Tsitsipas and how he won out of nowhere. Prior to last week, he hadn’t even been to a final since last February in Dubai and his ranking fell precipitously to No. 87. This wasn’t one of those cases where he didn’t beat anyone good. Sure, Sasha Bublik and Casper Ruud were long gone before final weekend, but Tsitsipas had solid wins over three players ranked higher than he was: Ignacio Buse, Arthur Rinderknech, and then Raphael Collignon in the final.

I asked him, “This is your best result since Madrid. How are you feeling form wise headed into the North American hard-court swing?” thinking that he would talk about the benefit of match wins. What he said instead was, “There is nothing I could compare of these courts to the North American swing. It’s an absolutely different tournament.”  Alrighty then! Best of luck! Here I thought it was the exact same tournament but on a different continent!

In fairness, he did eventually discuss building his confidence with each successful match. I suspect my face was a bit loud after his initial response. 

Honestly, it was a great event. If I were going to sum it up in one word, I’d call it “curated.” If you have the chance to attend sometime, you definitely should.