Stan Wawrinka says his efforts in recent months to climb back up the rankings following injury has paid off but it has also come at a cost for the Swiss player.
The three-time Grand Slam winner is currently ranked 45th in the world which is an increase of almost 150 places compared to the same time last year. This season Wawrinka has reached his first Tour-level final since 2019 at the Umag Open and recorded two wins over top 10 players. Overall, his win-loss record for 2023 currently stands at 26-21.
However, the 38-year-old has failed to register back-to-back wins on the Tour since the US Open. His most recent defeat occurred in the first round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel on Tuesday where he lost 6-3, 7-6(8), to Russian qualifier Alexander Shevchenko.
“I feel that for the past few weeks, I have been very tired,” Wawrinka said during an interview with The Tribune de Genève.
“After Astana, there were two or three times when I wanted to work (train) but I couldn’t because I was too tired.’
“I feel like I’m paying off for all the efforts I’ve made since returning from injury (in March 2022). I really wanted to get back to a certain level and I had to push myself as much as possible to do that.”
Despite those losses, the former world No.3 is confident that he is heading in the right direction but admits that he is also suffering from ‘mental fatigue.’ So far this year he has played 14 tournaments on the ATP Tour, one of the Challenger Tour and has made multiple appearances in the Davis Cup.
“Overall, I’m playing complete matches and I’m not missing much to turn that into victories,” he explains.
“It’s also been a year and a half that I’ve been pushing the machine to get back to the high level. I worked a lot to find this ranking and there is also a mental fatigue that accumulates which means that at times, I make the wrong choices (in matches).”
As of this week, Wawrinka is the oldest man in the top 100. He made his ATP Tour debut back in 2003 which was during the same year that world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz was born. So far in his career he has won 16 ATP trophies and earned more than $36.5m in prize money.
Whilst he is a veteran of the sport, Wawrinka isn’t contemplating retirement yet. Vowing to continue playing as long as he has the motivation to do so.
“At my age, there are several parameters that come into play. As long as I feel motivated and everything goes well like this year, I want to continue.” He stated.
“Now you have to know that it requires a lot of effort, more than in the past, more than you can see. These are daily sacrifices, which are compensated by the love I receive wherever I play. It remains to be seen how long I can last.”
