The Swiss Indoors without Federer: More tennis, less starting cult

The Basel audience suddenly takes Stan Wawrinka to heart, the 76-year-old patron Roger Brennwald relies more than ever on young people. Observations on the start of a new era.

Roger Brennwald in the spotlight. His speech at the opening ceremony sounds like a sermon.

Georgios Kefalas / Keystone

Stan Wawrinka had to turn 37 and come to this tournament a 15th time to experience something like this. The audience in the St.-Jakobs-Halle cheered him after the first round win against Casper Ruud, third in the world rankings, on Tuesday evening. It felt as if the hearts of Wawrinka and this audience had touched each other shortly before Ultimo, because Vaudois’ career won’t last too long either.

Wawrinka always had a particularly difficult time in Basel. He lost too often too early, but above all the Swiss Indoors were more Roger Federer Festivals than any other tennis tournament in the world. Opinions may differ as to whether Federer is a Basel bidder or a native of Basel, but there was interregional unanimity when it came to hero worship.

Federer has now resigned for a good month and is only present as a phantom at the Swiss Indoors. Roger Brennwald, the tournament founder, tournament owner and tournament president, has a favorite pleonastic metaphor for this year’s edition: he says it’s a stepping stone to a new future.

In the present, the new future is noticeably different from the old past. The cult of personality surrounding Federer was so extensive that every other player in the tableau shrank to a marginal figure. When Federer drove up in front of the hall, fans and cameras awaited him like a Hollywood star. The schedule showed how the stands filled and emptied. Federer regulated the tides, when he played it was high tide, otherwise low tide.

Before Federer games, a shimmering excitement spread in the foyer, as if a crowd of children were waiting for the Christ child. Now everything seems more relaxed, more equal, as if it were more about tennis and less about the star cult. If one had to give an answer to the big question of whether this 18 million franc event can continue in the medium term without Federer, it would be: why not? At least a start has been made.

Wawrinka is overwhelmed and surprised

From ball boy to world star and ten-fold winner of the home tournament – the unbeatable Federer story is complete. But the Swiss Indoors are already writing new stories. About how Wawrinka suddenly rose to become a kind of local hero on Tuesday evening, not as a person from Basel or a Basel bidder and not as a world star, but as a Swiss who received little recognition in his own country for a three-time Grand Slam tournament winner.

Wawrinka was overwhelmed after winning the match against Ruud. He later said that the Basel crowd supported him much more than ever, to his own surprise. Wawrinka listed possible reasons for this himself: “Roger has stopped, I haven’t played in Switzerland for a long time, and people are aware that a generation has come to an end.”

Wawrinka’s last home appearance at the Swiss Indoors 2019 was mainly remembered for a fiery media scolding. He raised it because he didn’t see enough appreciation for his achievement of having made it back into the top 20 in the world rankings after two knee operations. After that, the tournament was canceled twice due to the pandemic. According to Roger Brennwald, the cancellations resulted in losses of around two million francs each, around two thirds of which could be covered thanks to the Corona aid packages.

At the opening ceremony on Monday, Brennwald said: “What a day – we are back on the world stage.” His speech sounded like a sermon. “We are in the epicenter of a stormy era in world tennis with an unstoppable wave of the ‘next generation’,” said Brennwald. He enjoys these appearances in the limelight, which he then left to others.

First the Spanish-German pop singer Alvaro Soler. On the one hand, this could be interpreted as a further tribute to the next generation, after the opening ceremonies in previous years were mainly provided by veteran stars, such as Udo Jürgens or Montserrat Caballé. On the other hand, it was also a tribute to the title figure of this year’s Swiss Indoors: Carlos Alcaraz, the 19-year-old Spaniard who has led the world rankings since winning the US Open in September.

Brennwald addresses Alcaraz by the nickname Carlitos. After this bright new star survived Monday night’s opening game against Jack Draper, another youngster, it was all backstage to see how relieved Brennwald was that his biggest attraction remained intact. But also how he asked Alcaraz to pose with him for a souvenir photo.

Faces of the new and old generation: Carlos Alcaraz (left) and Stan Wawrinka.

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Roger Brennwald is a proud man, and there is little he is prouder of than the fact that, apart from John Newcombe, every world number 1 in tennis history has taken part in the Swiss Indoors at least once. He also traditionally places great importance on bringing people some of the most exciting up-and-coming talent year after year. But Brennwald has never focused his tournament on the boys as consistently as this time, despite Stan Wawrinka or Andy Murray and although he also tried to win Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

“Thank you, Roger” – and “hop, Dominic”

Switzerland also has a hopeful representative of the latest generation: Dominic Stricker. The 20-year-old from Bern won the French Open junior tournament two years ago and is now number 129 in the world rankings. As Stricker steps onto the court for his first game in this hall on Tuesday, a sponsor’s watch sparkles on his wrist, just like the very big ones. A small fan choreography can be seen in the stands, “Thank you Roger” in one row, “Hop Dominic” in the next.

Stricker wins the match against Maxime Cressy, who is almost a hundred positions higher. At the press conference he was asked by a feverish radio reporter: “What’s in it now – tournament victory or just wait and see tomorrow?” First wait and see tomorrow.

There are a few things different at the Swiss Indoors than in 2019, not just because of the new faces on the playing staff. The old figureheads of the SRF are no longer there either. The commentator Stefan Bürer now works for the ice hockey club SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, the co-commentator Heinz Gunhardt still writes columns for “Blick”, the retired radio reporter Bernhard Schär was last seen with Robert Federer, the father of . . ., among the spectators at the Federal Wrestling Festival.

The voices of the Roger Federer era have fallen silent. That’s also why the other Roger, Brennwald, seems the longer, the more like a relic. The patron, now 76 years old, has tackled the big task of emancipating the Swiss Indoors from Federer again. Brennwald can be very satisfied with the restart, on Monday 8,100 of the 8,600 seats were occupied, on Tuesday 8,500 and on Wednesday 8,300. But Brennwald is thinking much further ahead.

A contract extension of 15 years

In a conversation on Wednesday afternoon, Brennwald said that he and the ATP signed a contract two months ago that secured him the sanction for his tournament and the status as an event with 500 world ranking points for the winner until 2037. Brennwald wants to shape the new future on this foundation.

Another important contract expires next year: the rental agreement for the St. Jakobs Halle with the city of Basel. Brennwald is dissatisfied with the conditions, above all he expects that the city will pay more for the advertising impact of the Swiss Indoors for Basel than the annual quarter of a million for the lettering on the front of the court.

“We’re not exactly on a bed of roses in this city,” says Brennwald. The city must realize “what it has at the Swiss Indoors”. Brennwald is exploring options to move the tournament to another city. Above all, it is a means of pressure in poker for more financial commitment. Brennwald doesn’t know exactly how his audience is made up, how many come from eastern Switzerland or from western Switzerland or from Aargau – “we don’t do such surveys, I orientate myself on gut feeling”. But he knows that the Swiss Indoors cannot simply be transplanted elsewhere.

When he is admitted that a successful continuation of his tournament in another Swiss city is beyond his own imagination, Brennwald replies: “Mine too.” But first Roger Brennwald wants to savor the beautiful beginning of the new future.

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