US Open
End of the road for Stan Wawrinka in New York
The 38-year-old Vaudois took a set from Jannik Sinner (ATP 6) in the 3rd round before experiencing a physical slack (3-6 6-2 4-6 2-6).
PostedSeptember 3, 2023, 12:03 AM
Stan Wawrinka here during his US Open 3rd round encounter against Jannik Sinner.
Getty Images via AFP
There will be no round of 16 at the US Open for Stan Wawrinka, who has not reached the second week of a Grand Slam tournament for more than three and a half years and the Australian Open 2020. Saturday afternoon, in the Louis Armstrong stadium, the 38-year-old Vaudois lost against stronger than him (3-6 6-2 4-6 2-6) in the person of Jannik Sinner, 6th player world champion and winner of his first Masters 1000 this summer in Toronto.
In the press room on Thursday, “Stan The Man” announced the color. “He’s really hard to play. He already kicked my ass twice at the start of the season (note: in Rotterdam 6-1 6-3 and in Indian Wells 6-1 6-4). Of course I’ve been playing better since then. But I see him play. He is full of confidence.” The first minutes of this new duel proved the triple Grand Slam winner right. At 1-1, Sinner saved a break point by taking all the lines of the court. He took his opponent’s serve in the middle of the set then was vigilant at the net, at 5-3. To have even the shadow of a chance, Wawrinka would have to reinvent himself.
After exchanging a few words with his trainer Magnus Norman, “Stanimal” leapt into the field and took the ball early. A maximum risk-taking which allowed him to delight Sinner’s service from the start of the second set. More incisive, the former World No. 3 raced in the lead and as if by magic, his arm relaxed and the winning points rolled by. A small feat when you know that opposite, there was one of the best young players in the world (22 years old), the one who had pushed defending champion Carlos Alcaraz to his last entrenchments in the Arthur Ashe at the same time last year.
This peak of intensity, Wawrinka will have been able to hold it for the space of a set. Because from the start of the third, the veteran of Saint-Barthélemy somewhat exploded, conceding the break after two unforced errors and a double fault at 1-1. Mentally, with the support of the crowd, he came back to 4-4, well helped by a suddenly more approximate Sinner. But Darren Cahill’s protege immediately regained the upper hand and never let go.
So it’s time to leave New York for Stan Wawrinka. But between those three matches in Cincinnati and the three rounds at the US Open, his American tour was anything but ridiculous. Ranked 232nd in the world when he returned to competition after two surgeries on his left foot in March 2022, he will again be a top-40 player when proceedings end at Flushing Meadows. And that is already a great victory.
2023-09-02 22:03:27
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