Stan Wawrinka Is Finally Back At French Open 2019, And He Is Dangerous

Back in 2017, Stan Wawrinka entered Wimbledon coming off a finals appearance at Roland Garros. Wawrinka, a multiple-time Grand Slam champion, lost against Daniil Medvedev in four sets in his first-round match.

After the Wimbledon defeat, Wawrinka announced on August 4 that he would be missing the remainder of the 2017 season after undergoing knee surgery. For Wawrinka, the road ahead to try and regain his elite status as a tennis player proved to be long and trying. Finally, after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in an epic five-setter match at Roland Garros to book a quarterfinal appearance against fellow countrymen, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka appears to be back to his once-elite status.

Adversity would follow Wawrinka throughout the 2018 season. By June, not only had Wawrinka fallen out of the top five but the top 200 as well. Wawrinka would end up finishing 2018 with a record of 17-17 overall — far below the standards of a Grand Slam champion.

Wawrinka started 2019 with more positive results than the previous year, making the quarterfinals in Qatar, followed by losing a tough five-setter against Milos Raonic in the second round of the Australian Open. It was not until Rotterdam in February when Wawrinka began to finally look like a top-five player again, knocking off opponents like Benoit Paire, Raonic, Denis Shapovolov, and Kei Nishikori before losing in three sets against Gael Monfils in the finals. The next few months yielded both positive and negative results for Wawrinka, whose best results would be two quarterfinal appearances at the Mexican Open in late February, and at the Madrid Open about three weeks ago in early May.

After losing his first match at both the Italian Open and the Geneva Open, the final two tournaments that Wawrinka participated in before Roland Garros, it would not be unjust to think that Stan’s career as an elite tennis player might be over. In Wawrinka’s first-round match, he took on Jozef Kovalik, a player who has mostly made his living playing on the ATP Challenger Tour. Wawrinka knocked off Kovalik in four sets, hitting 19 aces and zero double faults in the process. Wawrinka’s real test, however, would come in his second-round match against clay court specialist, Cristian Garin. Wawrinka easily disposed of Garin, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0, breaking the Chilean’s serve six times.

30 SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW 

In the third round, Wawrinka met another former top player who was looking to regain his former glory in Grigor Dimitrov. Wawrinka once again won in straight sets, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 7-6(8). Wawrinka’s fourth-round match, however, proved to be the manifestation of nearly two years of frustration and desperation to regain the eliteness of Stan Wawrinka. Wawrinka, in the fourth-round, faced off against World No. 6, Stefanos Tsitsipas. In an epic, five-hour, twenty-nine minute match, Wawrinka emerged as the victor after five, grueling sets of tennis under the hot Paris sun. Wawrinka faced 27 break points on his serve during the match, and despite the obvious fatigue Wawrinka began to display in the fourth set, managed to save 22 of them.

For some players, major knee surgery at 32 years old, followed by 11 first-round losses at tournaments, might be enough to destroy their confidence completely — not for Wawrinka, though. After the match, Wawrinka’s interview summed his feelings up perfectly. “Playing in front of such a crowd, such a big atmosphere, five-set match in a Grand Slam, that’s the reason why I came back from the surgery in the first [place]. It’s because I love and enjoy to play in front of people, to play in the biggest tournaments you can play. Today was something really special.”

The display put on by Wawrinka on Sunday was definitely special. Hopefully, it is a sign of what is still to come from Wawrinka.

Article by Jason Hirsch

Click here for the In Memoriam: Sports Figures Who Died In 2018 Slideshow