{"id":599544,"date":"2026-05-23T09:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T09:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599544\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T09:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T09:22:15","slug":"stan-wawrinka-at-41-i-really-squeezed-the-last-drop-out-of-the-lemon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599544\/","title":{"rendered":"Stan Wawrinka at 41: I really squeezed the last drop out of the lemon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stan Wawrinka knew that his farewell season would be one long, emotional joyride. What he didn\u2019t necessarily anticipate was the extent to which he would be adding to his trophy cabinet. \u201cI\u2019m receiving more this year than in all my career for winning tournaments. [Each one] gives me a trophy for finishing. I\u2019m going to have to explain to people they are all because I lost,\u201d he says with a laugh. <\/p>\n

Beloved for the never-say-die spirit and sublime one-handed backhand that forged a chink of light between him and the \u201cbig three\u201d, he has remained competitive even at 41 years old, and there may be a few forlorn faces in the press box, too, at the loss of such a throwback. <\/p>\n

One memorable anecdote \u2014 sadly before this correspondent\u2019s time \u2014 involved Wawrinka bumping into a group of journalists in Miami in 2019 shortly after a disappointing second-round exit. Rather than duck for cover, Wawrinka invited them out for dinner and then drinks on a night so jovial it resulted in one member of the group falling unwell. \u201cI\u2019m not sure I\u2019m allowed to tell that story. It was fun. We had a good time. I\u2019m not sure everybody remembers,\u201d he says, laughing again.<\/p>\n

\"StanWawrinka is retiring at the end of this season but his backhand will live long in the memory MARTIAL TREZZINI\/EPA<\/p>\n

A three-times grand-slam singles champion, a Davis Cup winner and an Olympic doubles gold medallist with his idol and friend Roger Federer, Wawrinka has left few stones unturned despite competing in the greatest era of men\u2019s tennis. \u201cThe only regret I could have is if I knew I didn\u2019t try everything to be the best player I could, and I know I did,\u201d Wawrinka says. <\/p>\n

There were still tears in the locker room after his final appearance at the Barcelona Open last month \u2014 \u201cI spent quite a few months there when I was growing up, playing on clay, learning from the best Spanish players, so when I played the tournament it wasn\u2019t easy\u201d \u2014 but Wawrinka\u2019s farewell at the French Open<\/a> will be particularly poignant. Not only was it the nearest grand-slam to his childhood home near Lausanne, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, but he ranks his victory over Novak Djokovic<\/a> in the 2015 final as the greatest of his career. <\/p>\n

The toughest defeat that finally propelled Wawrinka from the fringes of the top ten into rarefied air also came against the Serb, in the semi-final of the Australian Open two years earlier, when he lost 12-10 in the fifth set of a marathon match. Up until that point Wawrinka had lost ten consecutive matches against both Djokovic and Federer, but he left Melbourne convinced the gap was bridgeable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really key moment in my career,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was really painful, that\u2019s for sure, but it made me realise that I could be at that level, that I had everything in me to beat the best player in the world \u2014 not all the time, but I was capable of doing it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The following year Wawrinka beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals and then ended his 13-match losing streak against Rafael Nadal to clinch his maiden grand-slam title. \u201cIf you don\u2019t celebrate when you win a slam, you never celebrate in 30 years of tennis,\u201d he says of a sleepless night. \u201cThe media [event] the next morning was early. I was still smelling of champagne.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StanThe Swiss was the king of New York in 2016 after beating Djokovic to seize the US Open trophy Richard Drew\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The French Open in 2015 was followed by the US Open in 2016 when Wawrinka felled Djokovic in the final again. \u201cMentally, the toughest one for me was Roger because of all the history we had together, but also his game style was not my favourite to play [against],\u201d he says. \u201cWe knew each other exactly. We shared so many moments and his level and way of making you feel uncomfortable put me under pressure [from the first point].<\/p>\n

\u201cRafa on clay was always the biggest challenge for me. One, [because of] his level, of course, but also the intensity he was putting [on every shot]. You always felt like you\u2019re going to drown underwater, so my favourite to play was Novak. I lost more than 20 times against him, but he\u2019s still someone, compared to the others, that it was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

The careers of Wawrinka and Andy Murray shared certain parallels in their efforts to overthrow giants. A column in The Sunday Times before their fourth-round match at Wimbledon in 2009 described Wawrinka as \u201ca strange player, clearly talented but short of match fitness and as clumsy on court as Federer is graceful\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure it was [about] me?\u201d Wawrinka says, laughing. That, needless to say, did not age well and their head-to-head record was much tighter, finishing 13-10 in Murray\u2019s favour \u2014 though his body was never the same after losing to Wawrinka in an extraordinary near-five-hour French Open semi-final in 2017. <\/p>\n

\"StanWawrinka, speaking at the Hotel Metropole in Geneva, says he has \u201cmade peace\u201d with retirement Kjetil Waber\/steinsiek.ch<\/p>\n

Wawrinka is unequivocal, though, that the big four never threatened to become five. \u201cI had four or five years that I could crack the top five in the world and win slams. He [Murray] was top four for 15 years or more. He was with them, constantly in the semi-finals, finals, winning slams, Masters 1000s, 500s. He was part of that group,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Wawrinka\u2019s humble nature made him popular among fans and his peers alike and stemmed from working-class roots. His parents, Wolfram and Isabelle, ran a farm in Saint-Barth\u00e9lemy, where the workers were adults with intellectual disabilities or were recovering from mental health issues and addictions. <\/p>\n

Wawrinka grew up alongside them and understood early on that tennis was not life and death. \u201cIn the end, how you grew up shapes you. That\u2019s how you start coming into the world,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen there was no school, we had lunch all together. When I started to play tennis and started to be better, I would come back to see my parents and they were always coming up to me and saying, \u2018We saw you on TV,\u2019 and this and that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enormous shadow of Federer, who was born four years earlier in 1981 and won his first grand-slam title at Wimbledon in 2003 \u2014 a month after Wawrinka had won the boys\u2019 singles at the French Open \u2014 also played its part. The pair\u2019s teams famously clashed backstage at the ATP Finals in 2014 after Federer\u2019s wife, Mirka, called Wawrinka a \u201ccry baby\u201d following a spurned match point, but the row was quickly smoothed over and they won the Davis Cup final together a week later. <\/p>\n

\"RogerFederer and Wawrinka after winning doubles gold for Switzerland at the Beijing OlympicsPHILIPPE HUGUEN\/AFP<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Swiss kid arriving on the tour, trying to be a professional tennis player and be in the top 100, to have the chance to have someone like Roger, who was already at the top of the game, and play with him in the Davis Cup, at the Olympics, to practise constantly in almost every tournament, you can only appreciate that,\u201d Wawrinka says. \u201cThe comparison was not there. You cannot compare a player like to me to someone like Roger, who is a legend of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wawrinka \u201cnever dreamt about winning a grand-slam\u201d and there were periods afterwards when he lacked motivation. \u201cYou reach a point that\u2019s so high that you\u2019re going to have the down sooner or later, and it happened a few times, but never to the point that I questioned what I was doing,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be so difficult. It\u2019s a rollercoaster of emotion and you cannot just be at the top unless you are Jannik [Sinner] now and those champions we named. I had a lot of losses. I had a lot of struggles mentally. But I\u2019ve always been passionate about the sport. Being a tennis player was my dream. I know how lucky I am to be able to have done that. It\u2019s an amazing life, not easy, but when you have the chance to make it, there\u2019s nothing to complain about.\u201d<\/p>\n

A serious knee injury in 2017 knocked Wawrinka off the mountaintop, and the near-decade since has been a constant battle with his body to end his career on his own terms. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe way of playing is different because the conditions [of courts] and the ball, especially, make it harder to have different surface speeds, so it\u2019s tougher to really mix the game when you play. Now they are stronger, they play faster from both sides, and it became more physical,\u201d he says. Wawrinka first played Sinner in the 2019 US Open and won in four sets. \u201cI knew that he would be really good. That he will be this good [Sinner comes into the French Open on a 29-match winning streak]? No. Now we\u2019re not talking about really good. We\u2019re talking about being a legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

What of the boycott Sinner and fellow world No1 Aryna Sabalenka mooted in response to the prize money on offer at the French Open? \u201cThey can all boycott and I can play it alone,\u201d Wawrinka says, jokingly. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult for people when they see top players complaining about money. It can be right or wrong. That\u2019s not the question. It\u2019s just the message is probably not the right message. <\/p>\n

\"StanWawrinka is about to bid adieu to Roland Garros, where he lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 2015 Ella Ling\/BPI\/REX\/Shutterstock\/Rex Features<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I\u2019ve seen in from the outside, I think it is not the right way to do it. I understand the frustration \u2014 not everything is perfect from the grand-slams and from the ATP, and the biggest problem in tennis is that everybody wants something different. The No1 player will want something that is not good for the No100, so it\u2019s always been super-difficult to make everybody happy. But this topic right now, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s great to read it in the press. It should be a discussion that has to be behind [the scenes], but it\u2019s a complicated sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is the next generation\u2019s fight. Rarely do athletes get to leave their sport behind without real regrets. Wawrinka is one of the lucky few, but even fewer would begrudge him that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will miss the emotion that I get from tennis, but I also believe that I really squeezed the last drop of the lemon. That\u2019s going to help me to appreciate everything I\u2019ve done and not miss it so much,\u201d he says. \u201cI pushed it until the limit. I\u2019m 41 years old. I have done everything I could. As much as I\u2019m enjoying this year, I\u2019m also really looking forward to the end. I feel at peace with my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stan Wawrinka knew that his farewell season would be one long, emotional joyride. What he didn\u2019t necessarily anticipate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-599544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}