French Open champion Stan Wawrinka believes that he has the ability to end Novak Djokovic’s 2016 winning streak.
The Swiss player, who is seeded second in the tournament, will be playing in the Dubai Tennis Championships for the first time since 2008. The change to his schedule this year was done with the hope that it will spark a surge in Wawrinka’s mentality.
“Mentally, it is good to see new tournaments. I last played here in 2008, so it feels like a new tournament and I think I’ll get good energy to change my schedule.” The world No.4 said.
Wawrinka already has one ATP title to his collection this year after beating Borna Coric in the final of the Chennai Open. After his strong start to the year, the world No.4 reached the fourth round at the Australian Open before recently suffering a quarterfinal loss to Benoit Paire at the Open 13 in France.
The first six weeks of the tour have been mixed for Wawrinka. As he seeks to add to his title collection in Dubai this week, he faces a potentially daunting task of an encounter with Djokovic (if both players progress to the final). The world No.1 is currently on a 12-match winning streak after triumphs in Doha and at the Australian Open. Djokovic will be the player to defeat in the tournament given his recent record, however, Wawrinka believes that he has the game to stun the world No.1.
“He has dominated for sure so it is going to be tough, but I’m sure there will be an opportunity,” said Wawrinka.
“We had some tough battles in the Grand Slams and I have always played my best tennis, so I feel I have a game I can trust and can go on to beat him.”
The Swiss No.2 is familiar with Djokovic’s game after playing him 24 times on the tour. Currently the head-to-head stands at 20-4 in Djokovic’s favor. The biggest win for Wawrinka against the Serbian occurred last year at the French Open when he stunned the top seed in four sets to cinch the title.
In this week’s Dubai Open, Wawrinka will start his campaign against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in what will be a stern test. The meeting with the second encounter between the two this year. At the Open 13, Wawrinka had to save a match point before defeating the world No.92 10-8 in a final set tiebreak.
Meanwhile, Djokovic will open up against Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo. The top seed currently has a winning 6-2 head-to-head record against the Spaniard.
