Unknown Romanian wins Allianz Suisse Open

The Romanian Victor Hanescu (above), ranked number 80 in the world going into last week's Allianz Suisse Open, has won his first ever ATP title by beating the Russian Igor Andreev in Gstaad. Hanescu's run to the final included an upset semi-final victory over crowd favorite Stanislas Wawrinka in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. While Hanescu told reporters his goal now was to achieve a top 10 ranking, here in Gstaad we are left wondering about the quality of a tournament that yields victory for such a low-ranked player. Not to take anything away from Hanescu's achievement, but what does this say about the 79 players in the world who are better than him. Not much actually, since most of them wouldn't even consider playing in Gstaad any more. And therein lies the problem. Swiss open organizers say they are satisfied with the results of the tournament. René Stammbach of Swiss Tennis is quoted in the Anzeiger von Saanen as saying "the tournament was a success". And the local and regional press, including this very website, has spent the last days lapping up the spin.

But by what measure can the tournament be described as a success? Crowd numbers were up...but I guess they were hidden under the umbrellas because we didn't see them. There were more VIP skyboxes, only feeding the criticism from some quarters that the tournament has become too "haute gamme". And organizers have characterized future tournaments as small but fine events -- a "boutique tournament"...don't we have enough boutiques on the Promenade already? Does anyone remember when Gstaad tennis used to be described as a high-point in the world tennis calendar that drew top stars and thronging crowds to our mountains. One of the reasons Roger Federer is struggling against Rafael Nadal right now is because Nadal plays every stroke with such huge amounts of spin. There's more than a few Gstaaders who are feeling a bit like Federer this week...