A year ago, he was still Stanislas, not “Stan the Man”.
Gracious and unassuming, he was the quintessential dark horse, an underdog’s underdog when it came to the men’s tennis scene.
He has always had the game to beat the best. A big serve, balletic movement and an exquisite, one-handed backhand that is the envy of the tennis world, including a certain Pete Sampras.
Sadly, he never appeared to have the confidence or belief that he could hang consistently with the “Big Four” of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, and the chances of him reaching the final of a grand slam, let alone winning it, appeared slim.
One two-week period at Flushing Meadows, however, turned it around for Wawrinka.
Arriving as the world No 10 in New York for the 2013 US Open, the Swiss cruised past dangerous floaters such as Radek Stepanek, Ivo Karlovic and Marcos Badghdatis in his opening three rounds before knocking out the then-world No 5 Tomas Berdych in the fourth round.
Then came the stunning straight-sets win over the defending, and Wimbledon, champion Murray.
Next up was Djokovic, and Wawrinka nearly got past him as well in a five-set thriller, in which he twice led, before the world No 1’s powers of recovery once again came through.
It was his second five-set loss to Djokovic at a grand slam tournament that year, after their epic fourth-round clash at the Australian Open, when the match was decided by a 22-game fifth set.
But losing in New York when he should have won gave him belief, and Wawrinka avenged those two defeats at the year’s first grand slam tournament, ending the Serb’s bid for a fourth consecutive Australian Open crown with a four-set win in the quarter-finals.
In the final, he subdued Nadal, becoming the first man to beat both the No 1 and No 2 seeds on his way to a grand slam title since Sergi Bruguera at the 1993 French Open.
The world stood up to salute “Stan the Man” – only the second man outside the Big Four to win a grand slam title since Nadal’s first French Open conquest in 2005.
It was a surreal, pinch-me moment. In 35 previous appearances at grand slams, Wawrinka’s best had been that semi-final loss to Djokovic at Flushing Meadows a few months earlier.
“I never dreamed about winning a grand slam because, for me, I was not good enough to beat those guys,” a modest Wawrinka said after his win in Melbourne. “I still think I’m dreaming. It’s a strange feeling.”
That win allowed the rest of the locker room to dream, though, and they started talking about their chances of winning majors. Pundits began predicting the end of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray’s dominance at grand slam competitions.
For Wawrinka, 29, the dream continued as he beat Federer in Monte Carlo for his first Masters 1000 title, but then he was shocked by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round at the French Open.
Arriving in Paris as one of the favourites, he became the first Australian Open champion to make a first-round exit at the next major at Roland Garros since Petr Korda in 1998.
Wawrinka could go no further than the last eight at Wimbledon and has made early exits at Toronto and Cincinnati this month.
As John McEnroe pointed out last week, “he hasn’t been the same since” his Australian Open triumph, and he has not been “able to handle the attention” coming his way.
An hour before his final against Nadal in Australia, Wawrinka had tweeted a photograph of himself, with his feet crossed and resting on a cushioned stool.
“Relaxing before the final,” he wrote.
He had nothing to lose back then, but the world has changed since.
Now, he carries the burden of expectations every time he steps on a court, and the world No 4 is clearly not relishing it.
“It took me a lot of energy after the Australian Open to realise what really happened,” Wawrinka said in an interview with USA Today earlier in the year. “There is more attention, more media, more expectations. Everything is more. For the first time, I was a little bit scared not to play good and not to be ready for the tournament.”
As he returns to the place where his journey to a first major trophy started, Wawrinka could be free of that fear. Given his patchy form since Australia, the Swiss probably does not feature very high on any list of favourites.
And he has a tough draw for good measure.
Djokovic, Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Milos Raonic are all on his side of the draw, and he faces a potentially tough first-round opponent in world No 66 Jiri Vesely, who enjoyed his best grand slam performance in June at Wimbledon as he reached the last 32 before losing to fellow wild-card opponent Nick Kyrgios.
With nothing to lose, Wawrinka might just decided to put his feet up, relax and play the fearless tennis of a year ago.
The New Yorkers would love to see their “Wowrinka” make a return.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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