Stan Wawrinka’s start to the last tournament of his season has resulted in a disappointing straight sets loss to 9-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal.
Wawrinka, who defeated Novak Djokovic to claim this year’s French Open title, produced an erratic performance which consisted of 35 unforced errors. The Swiss also only managed to win 34% of his second service points. Wawrinka’s preparation for the ATP Finals has been mixed with a shock first round exit at the Swiss Indoors followed by a semifinal appearance at the Paris Masters.
Following his defeat, the Swiss talked about his disappointment of losing to Nadal after spending more time preparing for the event this year than last year when he reached the semifinals.
“This year I had more time, last year I came to the tournament straight after Paris. This week with more time, I had one good week to get ready, had some practice with the other guys here. I was hoping to be ready for tonight”. Wawrinka said.
The hardest thing for Wawrinka during his after match press conference was his inability to find an explanation for his below-par start to the $7 Million event. When ask if it was Nadal’s aggressive play that forced him to perform poorly, the Swiss swiftly denied it. Ten days ago Wawrinka defeated the Spaniard in the quarter final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Instead, he put the match down to a ‘bad day’.
“It was just a really bad day at the office’. Wawrinka openly said.
“Many little things wasn’t good today, it was a really bad match”.
Wawrinka’s loss is the fourth consecutive match which has ended in straight sets, leading to questions arising regarding the playing surface and the timing of the event at the end of a hectic season. Wawrinka on the other hand was less speculative about the reason, saying that he has no idea about why the matches have become so one-sided in recent times.
The Swiss will have a shot at redemption on Wednesday against David Ferrer. Despite losing to Nadal, he could still qualify for the semifinals of the tournament. It will be the 14th meeting between the two with Wawrinka trailing the head-to-head 6-7.
