Dominic Stricker feels quallies gave him US Open edge

James Richardson 31 Aug 2023 8:05 AM

Dominic Stricker celebrates victory at the US Open

Swiss player Dominic Stricker has confessed that he feels that playing the qualifiers gave him an edge when he faced seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Stricker deserves credit for staying calm and fighting back from the brink of elimination to secure a famous victory.

He says that players can gain an edge in qualifying but equally admitted they are incredibly tough to get through.

“Yeah, for sure it helps to have three matches in the quallies, but first you have to get through, because all the players are good playing the quallies” Stricker said in his post-match press conference following the win over Tsitsipas.

“But for sure it helps you for the first round. Yeah, you had three matches, you know what to expect from the courts, from everything. So it helps, for sure. Yeah, as soon as the match goes on, I think everyone knows how to play on these surfaces here. But yeah, I would say it helps.”

Stricker has described himself as a ‘loose player’ who likes to give the ball an almighty whack.

“I would say pretty loose player,” Stricker said when asked to describe himself.

“Good serve, good forehand. That worked pretty well today. Also my backhand is pretty solid right now at the moment. But I would say, yeah, also trying to find a way to go to the net and finish the points as soon as possible.”

Ahead of the US Open Stricker revealed that he had tightened up on his diet in a bid to be more successful and joked that he is eating less chocolate.

After beating Tsitsipas he elaborated on the changes, saying there wasn’t any great spark of change for him and that he simply came to realise what he needed to do as an athlete.

“Yeah, I don’t think there was a big turning point, but I just realized that it’s maybe going to help me for these long matches like the one today.

“Now it’s just great to see if I changed it not, like, crazy, but a bit to eat less sugar, less chocolate, all that stuff.

“Yeah, it changed a lot, you know. Also for my team, they are also doing it, so it’s great for me to have this support from them.

“Now it’s just great to see that, yeah, that my body is able to play four hours at this high level.”

Stricker also said that he hopes to glean confidence from his first win over a top ten player.

“Yeah, of course it helps a lot to win a match like that, because beating a player like Stefanos, No. 7 in the world, it’s just something I have never done before. Yeah, it’s a very special day for me,” Stricker said.

“So for sure the confidence for myself is increasing after today, and it’s just great to see that I have this level over five sets.”