Dominic Stricker is about to enter the top 100 in the world rankings.
Bild: keystone
Tennis talent Dominic Stricker (ATP 118) chooses a German as his main coach. Whether and in what form he will continue to work with Roger Federer’s ex-coach Peter Lundgren is still open.
Published: 03/21/2023, 09:02
Dominic Stricker opens a new chapter and reorganizes his environment. The most important personnel concerns the coaching position. After a good three years, Sven Swinnen is returning to the Swiss federation. The new head coach is the 40-year-old German Dieter Kindlmann, who also has a past at Swiss Tennis. So far he has mainly been on the women’s tour, is considered an extremely ambitious guy and has also looked after top players such as Angelique Kerber and Arina Sabalenka.
Kindlmann thus has exactly the profile that Stricker has been looking for intensively in recent months in order to take the next step in his career. The German says: “I’m extremely hungry, I’m really up for this task.” He will be there around the clock and wants to help give Stricker even more structure. For him, it’s about turning individual wheels. He cannot and does not want to be much more specific.
Lundgren has already coached Federer and Wawrinka
Another person is responsible for the casual sayings this afternoon in a small room in Biel: Peter Lundgren. When asked what he wanted to work on with Stricker, he said: “It’s a secret that we don’t want to reveal to the media.” Laughter. He becomes unusually concrete when he is asked what he thinks Stricker is capable of. “Top 50, at least,” says the Swede with an illustrious past. Lundgren was Roger Federer’s coach in 2003 when he won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. With Marcelo Rios and Marat Safin, he also looked after two former world number ones, later also Grigor Dimitrov and Stan Wawrinka
Peter Lundgren (right) once coached Roger Federer (left).
Image: EPA
Peter Lundgren has been part of Dominic Stricker’s team since the beginning of March, initially on a trial basis. Whether and what role the Swede will play in the future is still open. His last engagement (alongside Stan Wawrinka) was twelve years ago. After the tournaments in Biel this week and in Lille next week, they will sit down together. Lundgren sees himself as a driving force and wants to be on the tour for a maximum of 12 weeks. Lundgren says: “I’m ready to continue.”
Main draw at the French Open as a target
Stricker attests to Lundgren’s “enormous potential”, which is why he didn’t need much time to think about it when the request came. Alessandro Greco, Head of Elite Sports at Swiss Tennis, made the contact. The association would like Dominic Stricker to go his own way, but Biel will remain the training base, where, in addition to the excellent infrastructure with indoor and sand courts, the fitness trainer around the extremely experienced Beni Linder will also be available.
Dominic Stricker during a training session.
Bild: keystone
Two groundbreaking weeks are coming up for Dominic Stricker. With good results at the Challenger tournaments in Biel and Lille, he could make it into the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time. If Stricker belongs to this circle on April 17, six weeks before the French Open, he prevents the qualification and comes to his baptism of fire in Paris, where he won the junior tournament in singles and doubles in autumn 2020 in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. (aargauerzeitung.ch)
