Stan Wawrinka has dismissed the significance of his heated exchange with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during their quarter-final match at the Australian Open.
The three-time grand slam champion engaged in a verbal discussion with Tsonga moments after he clinched the first set in a tense tiebreaker. It was visible that both players were getting frustrated with each other throughout the later stages of the opening set, with Wawrinka’s forehand shot at the net towards Tsonga’s body worsening the situation. Exchanging heated words in French, the Swiss player told his rival to ‘relax’.
“You are looking at me! What did you say? It’s you that’s looking at me and talking to me.”Wawrinka said in French.
“I said nothing,” Tsonga replied.
Wawrinka then said: “Did I look at you at all? It’s a tennis match. You’ve got to calm down, relax a bit, it’s a tennis match.”
“There’s no problems,” Tsonga again said.
It is not the first time that the two players has engaged in a verbal conflict. In 2014 French website L’Equipe alleged that Wawrinka was involved in a heated confrontation with the entire French Davis Cup team. During the Davis Cup tie, he defeated Tsonga in four sets and then said ‘I thought I was the stronger player on the court. I’m not No. 4 for nothing.’ He also accused France of talking too much about the Davis Cup final.
With such a heated history between the two players, their Melbourne spat comes as no surprise. Reluctantly talking about the incident at his press conference, Wawrinka played down the significance of it.
“You can always have some tension. Everybody goes on the court to win the matches. Things can happen.?” He explained.
“At at the end there was no problem after the match.”
Tsonga is also remaining coy about his reaction to Wawrinka’s words. The world No.12 was asked to translate into English when he said during his quarter-final match, but he refused.
“We just spoke about things that I think is only between him and me, and that’s it.” Said Tsonga.
Wawrinka will next play Roger Federer in the semifinals at the Australian Open.
