Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have shared the last nine Grand Slam titles (Image: Getty)
Stan Wawrinka is enjoying something of a farewell tour as he prepares to retire from professional tennis at the end of his career. In the era of the Big Three, the Swiss star reached No. 3 in the world and lifted three Grand Slam trophies, beating Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the finals. Now aged 40, Wawrinka is playing his final season on the tour before hanging up his racket.
After playing during the Big Three’s heyday, Wawrinka is ending his career in the era of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. The two young stars have split the last nine Grand Slam titles and sit thousands of points clear at the top of the rankings at No. 1 and 2 in the world, leaving their rivals in the dust.
Other young challengers have emerged, including Ben Shelton, Jack Draper and Arthur Fils. But none of them have been able to get close to Alcaraz and Sinner at the Majors. And Wawrinka, who knows exactly what it takes to beat the world’s best on the biggest stages, has now given them some advice.
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“I think for sure right now Jannik and Carlos are different level. But there will be opportunity in the future. There are always going to be opportunity for players,” the Swiss star said.
“For me, the most important is to look about 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.
“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 when you don’t face them because most of the player, it’s of course difficult challenge when you have two player like that, that they are so far better tennis-wise and physically, they’re winning all the big titles.”
It’s been nine years since Wawrinka last won a title, with knee and foot injuries keeping him on the sidelines for extended periods from 2017 onwards. But the former world No. 3 is feeling competitive in his final season on the tour, and will leave tennis with no regrets.
Stan Wawrinka beat Novak Djokovic to win two of his three Grand Slam titles (Image: Getty)
“I think there’s always few regret there and that, a few things. When I arrive on tour, my dream was to be a tennis player, was to be professional tennis player, meaning to play the Grand Slam, be top 100 in the world, play this year, quit. That was my dream,” he explained.
“I kind of made a promise with myself that the goal when I stop this long journey will be to have no regret. I mean, you can have regret 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, is 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 maximise 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 tournaments that I got. No, I don’t think I could have done more.”
Wawrinka enjoyed his final appearance at the ATP 500 in Dubai this week, where he lifted the trophy in 2016. He beat Benjamin Hassan in the first round as countryman Roger Federer watched on from the stands, and then lost to Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday.
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