Wawrinka during the elimination in Shanghai on Monday.Image: keystone
Apart from minor injuries, he has been healthy for months, but Stan Wawrinka hardly wins any games. It will likely be decided in the next two weeks whether he will stick around for another season.
Simon Häring / ch media
Stan Wawrinka recently made international headlines again in Shanghai. Not because he achieved his sixth victory there this year, despite having fourteen defeats, but because he was the victim of a serious mistake by referee Carlos Bernardes.
Although the Swiss had won the first point, Bernardes counted 0:30 as the score – and none of those involved noticed the faux pas. Wawrinka then gave up his serve and lost to the Italian Flavio Cobolli 7:6, 6:7, 3:6.
The greatest successes happened years ago
After his victory, the 22-year-old chose unctuous words. «Wawrinka is a legend of our sport. It was a pleasure to play against him,” said Cobolli. Wawrinka usually loses, often against much younger players like Cobolli, who once looked up to him, called him a role model and carried the scalp of a victory over him off the pitch like a trophy.
Wawrinka won the Australian Open in Melbourne in 2014, the French Open in Paris in 2015 and the US Open in New York in 2016. He was ranked No. 3 in the world, won 16 tournaments and collected over $37 million in prize money. In 2008 he became Olympic doubles champion with Roger Federer in Beijing, and in 2014 they won the Davis Cup together.
Wawrinka achieved his first big triumph at the Australian Open 2014. Image: EPA
Stan Wawrinka is one of the greatest in the history of men’s tennis. But his greatest successes were years, if not decades, ago.
Since a year and the US Open 2023, he has never won two games in a row; his last tournament victory dates back to spring 2017 in Geneva. Romand is now only ranked 236th in the world rankings. Next year Wawrinka will celebrate his 40th birthday. But he is already the oldest player still active on the ATP tour.
Wildcards for Stockholm and Basel
For a long time he benefited from a protected ranking that kept the door open for him to the big tournaments. But this start-up help, which he used after a foot injury and several operations, has now been used up and he has not been able to capitalize on it.
Next week Wawrinka will play in Stockholm, then at the Swiss Indoors Basel. Both times this is only possible because the organizers offered him a wildcard. These are probably the weeks of truth.
Without Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka is one of the crowd pullers in Basel.Image: keystone
Apart from minor injuries, Wawrinka has been healthy for months. He trains well and reaches a level of play that gives him the belief that he can win games. Only: He hardly does it. Even Magnus Norman, who Wawrinka brought back around two years ago, couldn’t change that. The two have been working together intermittently since 2012. The Swede shaped Wawrinka into a three-time Grand Slam winner.
Winning the tournament was the last big goal
«He knows me and my tennis best. We want to write the last chapter together and close the book together,” said Stan Wawrinka when Norman returned to his side in autumn 2022. The sporting goal back then was to win another tournament. Not one of the big ones, but just any one. But that seems illusory.
Nobody has the right to ask Wawrinka to resign. He alone determines the time. He alone decides how long he enjoys this phase of his career. Nobody doubts his passion, his dedication, his will and his hunger for success.
“The Man in Strange Pants” poses with the French Open winner’s trophy in 2015.Image: EPA/AP POOL
But Stan Wawrinka will probably also ask himself in the winter whether he wants to play another season under these conditions. Or whether he will soon turn to his numerous other projects off the court and hang up his tennis racket forever.
The greatest Swiss tennis successes
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The greatest Swiss tennis successes
French Open 1981: Heinz Günthardt wins his first of two Grand Slam titles in doubles. As an individual player he doesn’t get above 22 in the world rankings, but he wins a total of five tournaments.
source: ap / scraper
Wawrinka bites her teeth into the quiz about herself
Video: watson
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Apart from minor injuries, he has been healthy for months, but Stan Wawrinka hardly wins any games. It will likely be decided in the next two weeks whether he will stick around for another season.
Stan Wawrinka recently made international headlines again in Shanghai. Not because he achieved his sixth victory there this year, despite having fourteen defeats, but because he was the victim of a serious mistake by referee Carlos Bernardes.
