Tennis in Switzerland is Getting Contentious

Written by: Staff on 26th September 2010

Tennis in Switzerland is Getting Contentious

Roger Federer (SUI) |

All is not well in Swiss tennis and the problem is far more deep rooted than the fact Roger Federer has failed to win the last three Grand Slam events.

Relegation from the Davis Cup’s World Group last weekend, at the unlikely hands of Kazakhstan, was an embarrassment for the country but now the nation’s second most famous player Stanislas Wawrinka has turned his back on the traditional Basle tournament, one of only two Swiss stops on the ATP World Tour.

The decision is being viewed as a distinct snub in Switzerland, particularly as Wawrinka, managed by Lagardere Unlimited, has instead committed to play the rival 500 series event in Valencia on the first week of November.

Headlines in several of the Swiss newspapers stressed the disappointment at Wawrinka’s decision following that he would not play the Gstaad clay court event in the summer. “The choice is regrettable for the people of the country,” wrote Le Matin.

Prior to this year the Lausanne-based player has contested both Swiss events annually since he was an 18 year-old. He was a Basel semi-finalist in 2006 and a quarter finalist last year while he reached the Gstaad final in 2005.

This year marks the last of Davidoff’s long sponsorship of the Basel event. Rumors have been rife that Federer has long been keen in taking over the tournament where he worked as a ball boy and his mother Lynette was in charge of the Players Transportation desk for many years.

Wawrinka, ranked 20th in the world and a quarter finalist at the recent U.S. Open, played singles and doubles in Switzerland’s 5-0 whitewash by Kazakhstan as he took the role of main player after Federer opted not to make the trip to Astana.

First Wawrinka lost out in five sets to 81st ranked Mikhail Kukushkin. Then the Olympic Games doubles gold medalist teamed up with the veteran Yves Allegro to take on Andrey Golubev and Yuriy Schukin only to be beaten in straight sets which effectively handed the tie to the Kazakhstanis.