Stan Wawrinka is fighting for a conciliatory end to a difficult season at the Swiss Indoors. And to improve his prospects for the coming year.
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- Stan Wawrinka is about to kick off the Swiss Indoors. On Wednesday evening he plays against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
- Wawrinka wants to achieve a good result in Basel. It is not always his goal to be dependent on the goodwill of tournament organizers and to play with wildcards.
- Wawrinka recently reached the semi-finals at a tournament in Sweden. This has given him confidence again.
If the results don't improve, the end of his career will come closer, Wawrinka emphasizes before his opener in Basel early Wednesday evening against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. And confirms that he does not want to prolong his sporting career at any price. "My goal is not to play forever with wildcards," said the 39-year-old.
Since Wawrinka underwent surgery on his left foot in March 2021, the three-time Grand Slam winner has struggled in his efforts to catch up with the world's best once again. After initially benefiting from the protected ranking, he has had to rely on wildcards since this summer in order to compete in ATP tournaments.
As a former Grand Slam winner, he does not have a limited quota of wild cards. Nevertheless, Wawrinka does not want to be dependent on the goodwill of the tournament organizers for much longer. To change that, he needs victories - as he did recently in Stockholm, where he won three matches in a row for the first time this year and climbed almost 50 places in the world rankings.
No turning back
"I really need a good ranking," confirms Wawrinka. "The goal is to push myself to the maximum in order to play a whole year again." He does not have a concrete plan for his future. "But I want to enjoy every moment. Because if I stop, there's no going back, I'm aware of that."
The feeling has actually been right again for some time. He feels very good in training, Wawrinka has repeatedly emphasized in recent months. But it was only in Stockholm that the good training impressions finally matched the performances in the matches.
Wawrinka calls it "a far too long discrepancy between the feeling in training and the results". Cause unknown. "At the beginning of the year, I lost close matches in South America that I could very well have won. A different outcome could have changed a lot," he speculates.
In Basel, where he says he experienced a "unique reception" and "an extraordinary ambience" on his way to the quarter-finals in 2022, Wawrinka will now also compete mentally stronger. "With this semi-final in Sweden, I've regained the confidence I was lacking," he says ahead of what will probably be his second-last tournament of the year. He still plays in Belgrade at the beginning of November.
Treacherous start in Basel
His starting opponent, Adrian Mannarino (ATP 57), who is only three years younger, seems beatable on paper after Wawrinka's victories against Brandon Nakashima (ATP 38), Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ATP 62) and Andrej Rublev (ATP 7) ("my best match of the year"). But so far, the Vaud native has cut his teeth on the unconventional left-hander.
The score in the direct duels between Wawrinka and Mannarino is 0:3. "His style of play just doesn't suit me," says the Lausanne native, who will enter the St. Jakobshalle at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday. "The fact that Mannarino is having a difficult year doesn't change that. In the hall, his left-handed service is very nasty. It's difficult to maneuver well against him," said Wawrinka.
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