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Rising Swiss star Dominic Stricker said Roger Federer was his idol growing up and revealed he would like to have a game similar to the one the Swiss tennis great had. Stricker, 20, is one of the most promising players on the ATP Tour.
This month, Stricker will be competing at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. With Federer retiring from tennis after the Laver Cup, the Swiss tennis community is hoping that Stricker will be the next big thing in Swiss tennis.
“Of course, if you live in Switzerland. My one big idol [had to be] Roger Federer. Roger is Swiss and has a pretty similar game to how I would like to play," Stricker told the ATP Tour website.
Stricker had a chance to learn from Federer
Stricker is coached by Sven Swinnen, who was Federer's classmate for two years.
Also, Swinnen and Federer were hitting partners during their teenage years. Before Federer retired, Stricker had a chance to meet with the former 20-time Grand Slam champion on the practice court. “It is lucky. Roger invited Dominic to Dubai twice already to do some practice, some pre-season stuff, so that was really helpful.
Roger knows us now pretty well and we got some really good tips from him," Swinnen told the ATP Tour website. Stricker, who hasn't yet broken into the top-100, says it is inspiring to see fellow teenagers like Carlos Alcaraz making a breakthrough at a very young age.
Stricker praised fellow Next Gen stars but noted that he feels that "there is not a big gap" between them. "These guys are doing a great job and I don’t see that there’s a big gap between us, but I just have to keep doing my thing and it will come, I hope," Stricker said. It remains to be seen how far can Stricker go in his Next Gen ATP Finals debut from November 08-12.