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Stan Wawrinka plans one last major attack

Can Stan Wawrinka still play for the big titles? His coach, Daniel Vallverdu, is very confident.

by tennisnet.com
last edit: Dec 13, 2020, 08:27 am

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How much power is there in Stan Wawrinka?
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How much power is there in Stan Wawrinka?

18th place in the ATP world rankings, a record of 15: 8 wins for 2020 - that may be a very decent result for many players. For Stan Wawrinka, who is a three-time champion at Grand Slam tournaments, the season could have been better. Because the only success at an ATP event came in Prague - but there was at a Challenger tournament in Prague. Where Wawrinka managed the trick of having to go the full distance in his first four games. Against opponents, none of whom were ranked better than 127th place (Sumit Nagal).

But well, maybe not bad for playing in for the bigger clay court tournaments, Stan may have thought. In Rome, however, it was time to say goodbye to Lorenzo Musetti in round one. And in Roland Garros, Hugo Gaston stopped by the Swiss veteran. The season end in Paris-Bercy then turned out to be somewhat forgiving: Wawrinka reached the quarter-finals, where, once again, he lost to Alexander Zverev .

Vallverdu confident

Coach Daniel Vallverdu, who has also worked with Grigor Dimitrov or Andy Murray, sees good things in store for his protégé. “When the tour got a bit structured and we knew which tournaments were going to take place, Stan found his motivation again. And we were able to train with a goal and with specific guidelines, ”Vallverdu explained to the Reuters agency.

“The last couple of events of the year were very promising,” Vallverdu continued. “He is now ready for a training block in December. Hopefully we will have a full season in the coming year. ”At the moment, however, it does not look like that - the Australian Open will probably start late, there are big question marks behind the ATP Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.

Will Wawrinka still manage to win a Grand Slam?

According to his coach, Stan Wawrinka is definitely not lacking in motivation. “The hunger is still there and he wants to attack again at the end of his career. The goals are not just to win tournaments, but to play at a high level. It would be unrealistic to say that the goal is to win a Grand Slam tournament. Can it still happen? Naturally."

The 35-year-old Wawrinka has won three majors titles so far: 2014 at the Australian Open, 2015 at Roland Garros and a year later at the US Open. The Swiss veteran has a total of 16 tournament victories on the ATP tour. The last was at the home tournament in Geneva in 2017.

by tennisnet.com

Sunday
Dec 13, 2020, 01:00 pm
last edit: Dec 13, 2020, 08:27 am