World No. 435 Leandro Riedi's journey from two surgeries to the US Open fourth round

ATP Tour

World No. 435 Riedi's journey from two surgeries to the US Open fourth round

Exclusive insight from coach Yannik Steinegger

Corinne Dubreuil Leandro Riedi is competing in his first US Open main draw. By Andrew Eichenholz

Leandro Riedi is enjoying the best moment of his career at this US Open, where he qualified and is into the fourth round with a chance to reach the quarter-finals of a major as the No. 435 player in the PIF ATP Rankings.

It is a special tournament for the 23-year-old, who next plays eighth seed Alex de Minaur. But this is a huge success that has not come without plenty of struggles.

At last year’s US Open, Riedi, who had just reached a career-high World No. 117, experienced a sharp pain in his right knee during his second-round qualifying match. Imaging showed a “severe issue with a small bone” that required surgery, which he underwent in September.

All was going well in January, when Riedi was training with coach Yannick Steinegger at home in Biel. A good recovery turned into a disaster when the Swiss made a false step in practice and hurt his right knee again, leading to another surgery.

“It was kind a real shock, because we felt like with the first injury we were on a good path,” Steinegger told ATPTour.com. “We had some good training weeks already, good feedback from his pain — also, from the doctor. The second one was really a shock because it was somewhat out of nowhere.”

It was a different injury, but a setback nonetheless and a difficult one to deal with mentally. “Right now it’s hard not to feel frustrated and battle through another rehab process for a few months,” Riedi wrote on Instagram at the time.

But it also gave Riedi, Steinegger and the team a chance to look at how they could use the time away to come back even stronger.

“I wouldn't do it again. I mean, it was tough. But at the same time, it also gave us a lot of opportunity,” Steinegger said. “The biggest one was the fitness part. He had time to really work in the gym week in, week out, so he gained a lot of muscle. He gained also some fitness knowledge — what helps him, what helps him maybe a little bit less.

“We [also] worked on having goals besides results, so trying to build him a base that works separately alongside the results.”

The idea was to ensure that Riedi would come back physically in a better position than ever and pursue goals beyond individual match wins.

“I had so much time in the gym, I could say hi to the spiders in the gym,” Riedi said after his second-round win at the US Open against Francisco Cerundolo. “It was crazy how long I was in this gym.”

Riedi has known Steinegger, who is 24, since their days training together at the Swiss Federation. The coach remembered his charge was “very energised”, which was around 2016.

“There were the three young ones we always said with [Dominic] Stricker, [Jerome] Kym, and then him. He was always the one [who] had no limits of energy. All day he had energy,” Steinegger said. “I remember him being very passionate also about tennis.”

Steinegger first traveled with Riedi to Indian Wells in 2023 as a hitting partner and friend. But they would spend more time together and that December, Riedi was looking for a coach and they officially began working together as a player and coach in April 2024.

But by September, Riedi was out because of his knee. Suddenly a player who a tonne of energy and passion was forced out of competition for nearly 10 months. The January setback proved especially difficult.

“It was just like I [didn’t] believe in my body anymore to really come back and maybe [I could] play one tournament, but then I’m going to be out again for five weeks. I was just scared of that,” Riedi said. “But I had such a good team around me, which kept me positive and [they] just were accepting me how I was. I was a bit more pissed off. I didn’t want to talk about tennis, I didn’t watch any tennis. I think from January until April I didn’t see one ball, so that helped me maybe.”

Riedi spent time with friends and enjoyed playing video games like Mario Kart. Talking about tennis was off the table.

But by May, the 23-year-old returned to the ATP Challenger Tour to begin his comeback. In his third tournament back, Riedi qualified for a major for the first time at Wimbledon. Qualifying again in New York was another success, but he has taken it to the next level.

During his second-round match, 19th seed Cerundolo led two sets to none and in his mind was on the plane heading back to Zurich. That did not stop him from producing a memorable comeback in five thrilling sets.

After what he had been through, the deficit against the Argentine proved just another obstacle to overcome. Now Riedi, up to No. 164 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings after advancing to the fourth round when Kamil Majchrzak retired in the first set of their match, is one of 12 men remaining in the season’s final major.

“If you try to be positive and work on things you can in that moment, a lot of good things can happen,” Steinegger said. “He is super passionate about tennis, and he loves watching tennis, playing tennis, being around tennis, so I think he really lives for the sport.”

Riedi has already become the lowest-ranked man to make the fourth round of a major since then-World No. 1,093 Richard Krajicek at Wimbledon in 2002. More than anything, he has proven to himself that all the work he has put in has been worth it.

“It shows if you work hard and stay positive somehow,” Riedi said. “You can come back and come back stronger.”

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