The Davis Cup game of world group 1 on Friday and Saturday between Switzerland and Lebanon in Biel will take place without spectators. The reason is, on the one hand, the strict rules of the ITF, which stipulate, for example, a minimum distance of one meter. That would have required too much structural and therefore financial effort.
On the other hand, the loosening of the Swiss authorities for the planning came too late. Only around 150 invited guests will be able to attend the Swiss Tennis hall, although several thousand ice hockey fans are watching the EHC Biel games a few meters away.
Newcomer to Switzerland
Henri Laaksonen (ATP 86), Dominic Stricker (ATP 161), Marc-Andrea Hüsler (ATP 186) and newcomer Alexander Ritschard (ATP 274) should take the next step in the national competition against Lebanon, which is eight places higher. But the road to the first final round since 2014 is still long.
If Switzerland wins this week, they need another win in the fall to be able to compete in the qualifiers for the final round next spring. The Lebanese are led by Benjamin Hassan, number 325 in the world, who competes for Germany at ATP events.
It was very similar recently with Alexander Ritschard, who has lived in Florida for the last seven and a half years and represented his adopted home USA. The 27-year-old from Zurich is classified as number 232 better than ever. Above all, however, the son of the former top player Hans Ritschard will be competing under the Swiss flag again with immediate effect – and thus became an issue for the Davis Cup team.
“Huge honor I didn’t expect”
Ritschard returned to Switzerland at the end of last year and took an apartment in Rüschlikon ZH. That’s why he decided to switch nationalities again after having already represented Switzerland in the juniors. The Davis Cup squad is now a bonus and a “huge honor that I did not expect”.
For Captain Severin Lüthi, who has been in contact with Ritschard for a long time, it is a logical decision, because the Zurich native is the fourth best Swiss in the ATP ranking if you leave out the long-term injuries Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. (sda/smi)
