Court official to suffer in strike (7)
I believe the answer is:
bailiff
'court official' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'suffer in strike' is the wordplay.
'suffer' becomes 'ail' (ailing is a kind of suffering).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'strike' becomes 'biff' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'ail' inserted into 'biff' is 'BAILIFF'.
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for bailiff that I've seen before include "Officer of court" , "Court official" , "Law officer who helps sheriff, say to foreclose" , "Possibly menacing landlord's agent" , "Landlord's agent or steward" .)