Zverev, Ruud and Wawrinka on display

The current second player in the world will play in the Bernese Oberland tennis tournament in 2025. The director of the event, Jean-François Collet, tells us about his tour de force.

The Gstaad tournament achieved a big coup: it announced, this Monday, the arrival of Alexander Zverev for its 2025 edition (July 12 to 20).

The German (27 years old) is the current second player in the world and is coming off a superb year in 2024: he won the Masters 1000 in Rome and Paris-Bercy, was a finalist at Roland-Garros and a semi-finalist at the recent end-of-season Masters.

Crowned at Paris-Bercy in November, Zverev had a superb year in 2024. Image: keystone

Besides Zverev, the Bernese Oberland event confirmed two other headliners: the Norwegian Casper Ruud (ATP 6, winner in Gstaad in 2021 and 2022) and the local superstar Stan Wawrinka (winner of three Grand Slam titles).

Having succeeded in signing Alexander Zverev is a real achievement for Gstaad, which is “only” an ATP 250 tournament (the lowest category of the main circuit).

As a result, many tennis players with ambitions for the New York Grand Slam logically favor this one. But not Zverev this year, then.

“We already wanted to bring him last year,” explains Jean-François Collet, director of the Swiss Open Gstaad. “But there was the ATP 500 in Hamburg at the same time. As a German, he logically favored the latter.

But in 2025, the Hamburg and Bern tournaments will not take place at the same time. So Jean-François Collet very quickly picked up his phone – “earlier than I usually do” – to contact the agent of the world number 2.

Jean-François Collet pulled off a nice stunt in Gstaad. Image: KEYSTONE

And so, what do we put forward to bring a star of Zverev’s caliber to Gstaad: the landscapes, the comfort of the hotels, the quality of the clay? On the other end of the line, “Jeff” Collet laughs and cuts it short.

Because yes, to attract the stars of the racket, the tournaments must break the piggy bank, just to offer them bonuses, independent of the prize money. And for Zverev, it’s a lot more money than other players? “Yes,” confirms the director of the Bernese tournament, who however did not want to reveal the amount.

He obviously hopes for a return on investment thanks to ticketing.

Assiduous tennis followers will have noticed that the Swiss Open Gstaad field has been more flashy for several editions than it was at the end of the 2010s. Last July, for example, the organizers managed to bring in another star of the circuit, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. “We now have a bigger budget to attract top players, thanks in particular to the increased support from the municipality of Saanen”confides Jean-François Collet.

Tranquility and 5 star hotel

For Alexander Zverev, this will therefore be a first in the Bernese Oberland. “We like to bring new things,” continues the tournament boss. And to get there, you have to try.

Who knows, forge a strong bond with this Alpine village and regularly participate in its tennis tournament.

Casper Ruud in any case seems to like Gstaad, where he will be back. He signed for the 2025 and 2026 editions and is the only tennis player to benefit from a two-year contract. The Norwegian played the last two editions of Bastad, which is played at the same time, but “Jeff” Collet and his team “managed to steal” the world number 6 at the Swedish tournament.

“It wasn’t obvious because he has a lot of sponsors in Scandinavia. But, when I saw that he lost in his first round there this year, I called his agent to tell him: “Casper must come and play where he wins,” smiles the Vaudois.

The clay court of Gstaad is doing well for Casper Ruud. Image: KEYSTONE

But to achieve a third coronation in Gstaad next July, the Norwegian, in competition with Zverev and Wawrinka, not to mention the talented “come next”, will have to fight hard.