Tennis: Swiss Tennis calls for patience after Bencic’s epic

René Stammbach is a happy leader. President of Swiss Tennis, the 69 -year -old Baselis welcomed the brilliant epic produced by Belinda Bencic on Wimbledon’s lawn. If Saint-Galloise tripped at the gates of the final Thursday against the Polish Iga Swiatek, it nevertheless gave Switzerland to the center of the world tennis card.

The boss of the Swiss Tennis Federation is aware that this fabulous epic requests confirmation. This is why he asks patience from Swiss followers, while showing optimism for the years to come. Joined by phone, René Stammbach delivers his impressions from London.

René Stammbach, the Wimbledon tournament ended on Switzerland on Thursday with the elimination of Belinda Bencic. What assessment do you draw?

Regarding the male picture, there is not much to say. But when it comes to Belinda, his tournament was fantastic. No one expected her to come back so strong after the break she had for her baby. She can be very proud of her.

His journey ended on a heavy setback conceded against Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals. However, that’s not what you remember, right?

No, absolutely. I remember that she stayed on two complicated matches, against Ekaterina Alexandrova (Editor’s note: in the round of 16) and facing Mirra Andreeva (in the quarterfinals). I saw these two meetings: it was very hard. She won three of the four sets in Tie-Break. She played very well to get out of it. For her, I think it is a victory to have arrived in the semi-finals. I also think that she would have signed the contract if such a scenario had been offered before the start of the tournament.

You are talking about a victory for Belinda Bencic. Has having a Swiss Helvetical Representative again in a Grand Colem semi-finals also represent a victory for Swiss Tennis?

It is indeed a very good thing for the next generation, especially for girls who see that there is still potential and chances of arriving so far. I especially think that seeing young mothers return to the foreground and be able to play again so well is a good signal sent to female tennis.

For Swiss Tennis, Belinda Bencic’s performance brings a welcome ray of sunshine in this lean period, right?

Yes, but you shouldn’t expect too many big things. I remind you that Germany has not experienced convincing results for thirty years after the pensions of Boris Becker and Steffi Graf. Ditto for Italy or the United States. These countries are now back in the foreground.

I was recently on vacation with the president of the American Tennis Federation (Brian Vahaly)which has a budget almost forty times higher than ours, and he reminded me that the US had not won the slightest Grand Slam among men for more than twenty years (Andy Roddick in L’US OPEN A 2003). These kinds of conversations put things into perspective, realize that we met a lot of success with the Marc Rosset, Jakob Hlasek, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka or Martina Hingis, and that we must now be patient.

Do you come out of this Wimbledon tournament with confidence for the future of Swiss tennis?

We have two-three young players promising for the future. Leandro Riedi joined a large goat’s main picture for the first time in his career – I don’t want to decrease what he did. Several Swiss representatives (Dominic Sticker and Céline Naef) have also reached the last qualifying round in London, which proves that we are not so far. We advance in small steps. You have to be patient. I have been in business for forty years, I know how it works. We will see what will happen, but I am very optimistic.