June Blog 2025

“Game, Set, Match Riedi. By three sets to one, 6:3 4:6 6:3 6:4.” Those words sounded like music to my ears. A huge weight dropped from my shoulders. Completely overwhelmed. We’re going to Wimbledon. First Grand Slam main draw ever. Just 10 days earlier, we didn’t even know if Leandro’s body could handle back-to-back matches on grass—and now, he had just fulfilled a childhood dream. But let’s start at the beginning of June, and how things gradually got better.

Very early in the month, just as the temperatures in Switzerland started to heat up, it was time: time for the Steini–Lele comeback. After nine long months, we were headed to our first tournament together again. Destination: Ilkley (GBR). The English grass court season was calling. Expectations were low, but Leandro’s standards on grass were high. It was a tricky situation.

He entered the tournament with a Protected Ranking (PR), which he’s allowed to use only nine times over the next nine months. (A PR is the average of your ranking at the time of injury and your ranking three months later. Leandro’s is 132.) This system helps players who drop heavily in the rankings due to long-term injury (must be at least 6 months) get into tournaments they otherwise wouldn’t qualify for. All clear?

While our main focus was staying healthy and getting used to competition again, it’s not easy to ignore the pressure of “having” to perform well when using one of the 9 PR’s . You want to make the most of each of these opportunities. Despite everything, Leandro did an amazing job and reached the quarterfinals, where he lost 6:7 6:4 5:7 in a fantastic match. My God, how much I missed the adrenaline of competition. His level of tennis? Ridiculously high. The strain on his body? Significant. Like I’ve said before, you just can’t prepare a body perfectly for match intensity. And Leandro felt that. So, after that one tournament, we flew back to Switzerland to see his physio and reset.

His body recovered quickly, and one week later, we were flying back to England—this time to Roehampton for Wimbledon Qualifying. Joining us for the first four days: Nina Stadler, a former player and now medical massage therapist, who knew his body very well and played a huge role in getting him into top shape. I don’t think the preparation could have been any better. Just the right amount of practice to feel good on court, the right amount of treatments to feel healthy—but not like being on a spa weekend—and just enough unwinding such as London bike rides or Mario Kart battles to relax the mind that’s under a lot of tension during Grand Slam weeks. Everyone wants to do especially well.

After two tight wins, we were in the same position as last year: one final match to qualify for Wimbledon. Last year, we were one point away. This year, it had to happen. And it did. The tension that released afterwards was indescribable. The draw this year was good—though facing a Brit on grass is always dangerous, as we’d later find out. Still, we both knew this was a really good opportunity. But in moments like these, you’re not just playing your opponent—you’re playing your own mind. But, we overcame that too. And later that day, we could finally toast with a beer.

Arriving at Wimbledon felt like a dream. Luckily, we had a few days to soak it all in. People were still congratulating us—many happy to see us back after the long injury break. One of them was Jannik Sinner.

Leandro’s body still felt great, which was a huge win in itself, especially considering this was only his third tournament since last August. Thiemo also joined us to help manage the Grand Slam environment – considering he had experienced it before. The attention there is something else—not always in a good way. And the fact that Leandro was drawn against a so-called “easy” opponent in the first round didn’t help. Inside the team, though, we knew that this was not the case. A British college player cruising through qualies without trouble? That usually means he’s here to play on his home soil—and he was. He beat Leandro with a crazy solid performance. Fully deserved.

Looking at our own performance, we were mostly happy with what we saw. But there was a lot to take away from that match—and the entire Grand Slam experience. We discussed it all in detail in a calm minute. We’ll grow from it. Learn from it. Improve. And come back stronger.

Wow, that was a lot of yapping from me. Believe me, I could’ve written much more. But I’ve already taken enough of your time, and I hope this gave you a glimpse into our world in June.

Now we’re off to Canada. The North American hardcourt swing is calling. Smaller tournaments, same mindset. We keep moving.

I’ll see you next month.