22 Août 2019

For once that is completely true and nothing negative. The fastest sold out tournament in racketlon history (in just under 3 hours) featured the green tennis surface. Held at the exclusive Roehampton Club in the south of London, it was a spectacular event. With 28 tennis courts, a full golf course, several croquet fields, old ladies sipping tea it fulfilled every cliché of the English upper class.

Rumour has it that the Wimbledon qualification rounds were moved to another location just to ensure the best possible court quality for this racketlon challenger tournament. Most exciting from an international point of view was the racketlon debut of Alison Water, current squash world ranking no. 11, making the finals in the women’s A tournament.

Most successful Swiss player with three medals in the elite categories was Benjamin Gränicher, now officially fully recovered from injury. Jan Wyler won his first international medal in Men C doubles. Up and coming Leonard Ladner finished third on the Men’s C podium. Best lunch goes to Oliver Bühler and Christian Schäfer. Best tennis advice came from Beat Ladner.

As the racketlon players behaved better than the Wimbledon qualifiers, there is a good chance that the tour will return to the same location. It is highly recommended by the writer to join next year for one of the best events on tour.

Benjamin Gränicher

25 Juin 2019

...apart from the Men Elite and Men Seniors +50. Patrick Lorenz was not able to defend the title he won at the last Swiss Open 2 years ago because he had another important life event this weekend. All the best to Daniela und Patrick Casanova (former Lorenz!) from the Swiss Racketlon Federation. Nicolas Lenggenhager was the best Swiss player in this draw. He could seriously challenge later runner up and proved himself to be not too far away from the world’s best players.

In the Women Elite we had Nicole Eisler, who has never missed a Swiss Open so far, on the podium winning bronze. 

For all the other 30.5 medals won by Swiss players check out fir.tournamentsoftware.com and just enjoy the sight of so many Swiss flags ;-)

What else?

With Nina and Isabel Waidacher and Dimitri Steinmann we had 3 players participating who normally stand on other podiums. Nina Waidacher won bronze with the Swiss hockey team at the Olympic Games and her Sister Isabel is still a national ice hockey team member. Dimitri Steinmann on the other hand is a pro squash player and the actual number 2 in Switzerland. Thank you 3 for having given Racketlon the honour of your presence! Hope you enjoyed it.

Last but not least, thank you Esther and Florian Dübendorfer for the excellent organisation!

NE