Stan Wawrinka: "I think I can still win titles"
Stan Wawrinka made it back into the top 100 a few weeks ago. Even in the autumn of his career, the belief in the Swiss is unbroken.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Mar 13, 2023, 12:58 pm
Stan Wawrinka is in round three of the Indian Wells ATP Masters 1000 event. And has thus earned the opportunity to meet the Dane Holger Rune again. With which the Swiss associates an explosive history. When the two met most recently, Wawrinka unequivocally told his opponent that he still had to work quite a bit on his behavior on the pitch. The fact that the word "baby" was mentioned made things even more interesting.
Apart from that, from a sporting point of view, the 37-year-old has been showing consistently good performances - his return to the top 100 is the best proof of this. And he meant a lot to the Swiss, as a post by Wawrinka on social media showed: It doesn't matter if I've won three Grand Slams, if I've achieved more than I could have dreamed of. It still has to be something special. If you want to keep trying after your 30s and still want to be passionate about it, things have to be special," said the Swiss. As long as he feels competitive, that's how long he wants to keep going.
Wawrinka hopes to win the title
And that's how he feels: "I feel competitive. When I step onto the pitch, I know that I can beat my opponent most of the time. I'm not young anymore. It's also a bit more difficult to keep going one day at a time play and run a tournament," said Wawrinka to the ATP. "But I still believe that I can win tournaments. I don't know at what level, but of course I want to win a trophy before I retire."
All in all, the man from Lausanne, who won three Grand Slam titles in an era with the Big Three, can look back on a highly successful career. What was the best of all emotions? "It's hard to say, but I would probably take the French Open final against Novak Djokovic," said Wawrinka. "I'm lucky to have a lot of great memories, but the French Open has always been special." And the Swiss is still dying to add more highlights to this list. Because he believes in it.