Stanislas Wawrinka (born 28
March 1985 in Lausanne
) is a
Swiss
professional tennis
player. His career ranking high is #9, achieved on 9 June
2008.
He considers clay his best surface, and the backhand his best shot.
He won the
gold medal for Switzerland
in the men's doubles
event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, partnering Roger
Federer, by beating Swedish team Simon
Aspelin/Thomas Johansson in the
final. As "golden team FedRinka" they were also honoured
with the 2008 Swiss Team of the Year Award.
John McEnroe believes Wawrinka has one
of the most powerful backhands he has ever seen and describes him
as having "the best one-handed backhand in the game today".
Career
Wawrinka stopped attending regular schooling at age 15 to focus
full-time on tennis. However, he continued his schooling by
distance education with French organization "CNED", which offered
him greater flexibility with studying times.
Wawrinka started playing international junior events at age 14, and
entered the satellite circuit the following year. He compiled an
outstanding junior career, winning the
2003 French Open junior championships and
finishing as the number 14 junior.
Wawrinka, one of four tennis-playing siblings, turned pro in 2002
at the age of 17. By the end of 2005 he hovered just outside the
Top 50. He has a 2–3 career Davis Cup singles record in three ties.
He has been coached since age eight by Dimitri Zavialoff.
In the
2007 Australian Open,
Wawrinka reached the 3rd round to be beaten by second seed
Rafael Nadal. He has so far never beaten Nadal,
losing in Melbourne 6–2 6–2 6–2. He showed some impressive backhand
skills, but was unable to deal with Nadal's heavy game.
In October 2006, Wawrinka reached a career high No. 29 and had high
hopes to reach the Top 20 in 2007. But those plans were put on hold
when he suffered a three-month setback, tearing a tendon in his
right knee while practicing for the Swiss Davis Cup team's tie
against Spain in February.
In the
2007 French Open, Wawrinka
pushed No. 7 seed
Ivan
Ljubičić to four sets before falling in the second round.
He also
claimed wins over Guillermo
Cañas and Juan Ignacio Chela
en route to a meeting with Rafael Nadal in the finals of the
Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart
in July. There, Nadal edged the Swiss in
straight sets, 6–4, 7–5.
In the
2007 US Open,
Wawrinka reached the fourth round, a stage he had never reached
previously in a
Grand Slam
event, notably defeating 25th seed
Marat
Safin (6–3 6–3 6–3) in an amazing show of talent in the second
round. There, he was ousted by Juan Ignacio Chela at the end of an
impressive 3h40 match (4–6, 6–2, 7–6 [6], 1–6, 6–4).
By reaching the final of the 2008 Master's Series event in Rome,
Wawrinka entered the top 10 for the first time. He lost in the
final to
Novak Djokovic in three
sets.
In the
2008 Olympics, he teamed with
Roger Federer in the men's doubles. On 15 August, they beat the
favoured American twins
Bob and Mike
Bryan 7–6 (6), 6–4 in the semifinals.
They defeated Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden
in the
finals, 6–3, 6–4, 6–7 (4), 6–3 to win the Gold Medal.
He reached the 4th round of the
2008 US Open, where British player
Andy Murray defeated him in straight
sets 6–1, 6–3, 6–3. Fellow Swiss player Roger Federer would
eventually defeat Murray in the final.
Wawrinka
lost to Rafael Nadal in the 4th Round at the 2009 Sony
Ericsson Open
in Key Biscayne. Nadal came from behind in
both sets to beat Wawrinka 7–6 (2), 7–6 (4). The match lasted for
two hours and 42 minutes.
At the 2009 Monte Carlo Masters, Wawrinka upset his friend and
compatriot, World No. 2 Roger Federer. Wawrinka's 6–4, 7–5, victory
over Federer halted the chances at a fourth straight Nadal-Federer
final in Monte Carlo.
At the
2009 French Open, he
defeated
Nicolas Devilder in five
sets and
Nicolas Massu 6–1 6–1 6–2. He
lost to
Nikolay Davydenko in the
third round 3–6 6–4 3–6 2–6.
In Wimbledon 2009, in the third round he defeated 21-year-old
Canadian-born American
Jesse Levine
(who had upset
Marat Safin in the first
round), 5–7, 7–5, 6–3, 6–3.
The
Sunday Times reviewed Wawrinka's performance in the match
by opining that he "is a strange player, clearly talented but short
of match fitness and as clumsy on court as Federer is
graceful."Wawrinka was defeated by
Andy
Murray 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3 in the fourth round.
The match was also a
debut usage of the new roof on Centre Court
and was recorded the latest played match in The
Wimbledon Championships which lasted until 22:37BST. .
Wawrinka went to play in the Davis Cup tie with Italy, and won in
his first match against
Andreas Seppi
at the Valletta Cambiaso Clubs red clay courts with a score of 6-4,
6-1, 6-2.
Personal life
The
surname Wawrinka is of Polish
descent, but
he is only Polish by ancestry. His father Wolfram is German,
and his mother Isabelle is Swiss. Both work on a
biodynamic farm helping handicapped
people.
Wawrinka's grandparents are Czech
. He has one older brother Jonathan, who
teaches tennis, and two younger sisters Djanaée and Naëlla, who are
students and tennis players.
Wawrinka
currently lives in Saint-Barthélemy
(10 minutes from Lausanne) with his girlfriend of
four years, Ilham Vuilloud, a Swiss television presenter and former
fashion model. Vuilloud is also pregnant with their first
child.
His hobbies include movies and music. He is good friends with
Scottish no.1
Andy Murray, and both are
fanatical go-karters, and
Roger
Federer.
Commercial endorsements
Wawrinka's corporate sponsors include
Lacoste,
Head,
adidas and
Hublot
Genève.
He plays using Head tennis racquets. As of June 2009, he played
with the MicroGel Prestige MidPlus. Previously he used the
Flexpoint Prestige MidPlus.
Olympic men's doubles final
Career finals
Singles (5)
Win (1)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Grand Slam (0) |
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0) |
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0) |
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0) |
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 Series (1) |
| No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Surface |
Opponent in the final |
Score in the final |
| 1. |
24 July 2006 |
Umag,
Croatia |
Clay |
Novak Djokovic |
6–6, retired |
Runner-ups (4)
| No. |
Date |
Tournament |
Surface |
Opponent in the final |
Score in the final |
| 1. |
22 July 2007 |
Stuttgart, Germany |
Clay |
Rafael Nadal |
6–4, 7–5 |
| 2. |
14 October 2007 |
Vienna, Austria |
Hard (i) |
Novak Djokovic |
6–4, 6–0 |
| 3. |
5 January 2008 |
Doha, Qatar |
Hard |
Andy Murray |
6–4, 4–6, 6–2 |
| 4. |
11 May 2008 |
Rome, Italy |
Clay |
Novak Djokovic |
4–6, 6–3, 6–3 |
Men's doubles (1)
Win
Singles performance timeline
To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this
table is updated only once a tournament or the player's
participation in the tournament has concluded. This table
is current as far as the 2009 Wimbledon Championships,
which began on June 22, 2009.
References
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8122619.stm
- straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com
-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article6591410.ece
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/results/6236930.stm
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8125471.stm
-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article6600994.ece
-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article6597015.ece
- http://www.head.com/corporate/news.php?id=1197
External links