Although Stan Wawrinka exited the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships today with a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Daniil Medvedev, he was in positive spirits and reflected back on his long career which included three famous Grand Slams wins during the era of the “Big Three” as well as an Olympic Gold medal and 16 ATP titles overall, with a highest World Ranking of three.
He always wanted to leave the sport without regrets – and firmly believes he has given his all to the sport.
“When I arrive on tour, my dream was to be a professional tennis player, to play the Grand Slams, be top 100 in the world. That was my dream,” explained the 40-year-old. “I made a promise with myself that the goal when I stop this long journey will be to have no regret. You can have regrets when you have part of your career that you didn’t practice well, you didn’t push yourself, you didn’t fight for it. This is for me what was always the most important: to do the best with what you can, the preparation, fitness-wise, tennis-wise, always going to push myself.
“I do believe that I did squeeze the lemon until the last drop. That’s why in general of course I don’t have regret. I think I maximize everything I could. I think I always push myself to be the best version of myself. I am super happy with what I achieved, happy with those three Grand Slam and all the other tournament that I got. No, I don’t think I could have done more.”
The Swiss – who played a large portion of his career in the shadow of legend Roger Federer – won the Dubai tournament in 2016 after which it has always remained a special place for him to come.
“It’s always been special,” he said. “My first few years on tour I came here. When I arrived on tour, it was always a tournament that you looked for. So many great players, so many amazing champions play here, one of the biggest on the ATP Tour. I had the opportunity to win it in 2016. This year I received the opportunity with the wild card from the tournament to play, so for me was amazing to have this chance to play here.”
Wawrinka has been on tour for over two decades and revealed one of the secrets to staying mentally and physically fit for so long: by careful scheduling of his practice, tournaments, and rest.
“I think the reason why I kept playing for so long, and I had this opportunity to play and to stay fresh mentally is because from a young age I always sacrificed few tournaments during the year to make sure I don’t overplay, mentally, physically, and tennis-wise, too,” he revealed. “I always tried to make a schedule that was the best for the long-term and of my career. So, that means not playing too many tournaments. I always tried to do a few blocks of practice during the year to make sure I stay in shape and fresh for the year, because the year is long; it doesn’t really stop. We see that now with all these tournaments, with all the players that get injured during the year. It’s not easy.”
Even though Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have taken a stranglehold on the sport now, Wawrinka still believes there will be chances for others if they focus on incremental improvements.
“For me the most important thing is to look at yourself, to look about what you can improve, how you going to improve, what you can do the best to improve your game physically, tennis-wise, and to not look about who I need to beat this guy or I need to beat this guy,” he said. “At the end of the day, you don’t play the top player every match, so the most important is how you going to play all year long, how you going to play the match. Right now, Jannik and Carlos are different level, they are so far better tennis-wise and physically, they’re winning all the big titles. But there will be opportunity in the future. There are always going to be opportunity for player.”
And as he leaves the sport by the end of the year and hands over the baton to the next generation, he was asked if the game was in good hands.
“I think that tennis is a beautiful game, and always been passionate about that,” he said. “I have been lucky to had the opportunity to play this life for more than 20 years. For me it was amazing chance. I think tennis-wise all the generations that are playing now are amazing tennis players. We can see also we have great people at the top of the game. That is the most important for the young generation.”
