Wimbledon is often regarded as Stan Wawrinka’s worst Grand Slam, but the Swiss number two is slowly starting to challenge that with back-to-back last-eight appearances in the past two years. The 31-year-old is seeded third in this year’ edition, and will attempt to make his first ever semifinal on the grass courts of Wimbledon.
Notable results to date
Wawrinka’s year has been typically up-and-down, with three titles claimed alongside five disappointing early exits at events. His three titles have come at Chennai, Dubai and more recently the crown in Geneva prior to the French Open, where he lost only one set before going on to defeat Marin Cilic in the final.
The title in Chennai came during the first week of the 2016 season, where he prevailed through four rounds to lift his third successive title in the Indian city. He only had to wait a month later to win his second title, as he overcame Marcos Baghdatis in the Dubai final 6-4, 7-6 (13). The most recent success in Geneva warmed him up perfectly for a title defence at Roland Garros, as he saw off Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Pablo Carreno Busta, Lukas Rosol and Cilic to be the champion in his home country for the first time in his career.
In the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open, Wawrinka reached the fourth round, where Milos Raonic proved too strong in a four-set battle. In his title defence at the French Open, the world number four came from 2 sets to 1 down to edge past Rosol in the opening round, and progress all the way to the last-four where he met Andy Murray. The Brit, playing solid tennis, reached his first final in Paris as he ended Wawrinka’s hopes of retaining his 2015 title by winning 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Best grass results leading into Wimbledon
Wawrinka’s grass season in 2016 has barely gotten started, as he exited at the first round stage to Fernando Verdasco in the Aegon Championships at Queens. The second seed seemed to struggle to adapt to the grass after a strong clay season, and lost to the Spaniard 6-2, 7-6 (3) in just over 90 minutes. He was broken twice in the opening set, failing to break at all across the entire match, unable to convert any of his eight chances. Not the most ideal way to prepare for two weeks of grass tennis at SW19.
Best result at Wimbledon
The two-time Grand Slam champion has progressed to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon twice in the past two years but has been unable to go further oin either occasion. In 2014 it was his Swiss compatriot Roger Federer who eventually overcame him in four sets, while an inspired Richard Gasquet won a five-set thriller at last year’s event.
In 2014, Wawrinka progressed to the last eight while only dropping one set, overcoming Joao Sousa, Lu Yen-hsun, Denis Istomin and Feliciano Lopez en route to his first appearance in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He did win the first set over Federer in their meeting, but appeared to be suffering physically and it eventually took it’s toll as he departed the event with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-4 defeat.
The Swiss number two backed up his maiden quarterfinal showing, by reaching the same stage the following year. This time, he looked to be in better form after lifting the French Open title in Paris just a few weeks previously. He converted this to grass by progressing through to the same stage again without dropping a set, beating Sousa in the first round again, as well as Victor Estrella Burgos, Verdasco and David Goffin. A semifinal meeting with Novak Djokovic seemed likely once he was leading by two sets to one against Gasquet, but the Frenchman played some of the best tennis of his career to triumph 11-9 in a topsy-turvy final set on Court One.
How Wawrinka’s game translates to grass
Wawrinka has never been able to produce consistently strong results on grass, with Wimbledon being the only major where he hasn’t reached the semifinals. In actual fact, he has progressed to the last four at every slam other than the London-based event twice, with the two recent quarterfinals being the first occasions where he’s been past the second round stage since 2009. Before that, he registered back-to-back first round exits but seems to be showing improvements on the grass.
He has all the weapons to be very dangerous on the surface, with a lightning backhand coupled with a powerful serve. On his day, he’s capable of beating any player on any surface, but the slightly quicker surface of grass gives him less time to wind up his huge groundstrokes, leading to him being rushed for time and unable to take full advantage of his opponent. His block return has been a huge factor in his recent few years of success but allows players to get on top of rallies more on grass than the other surfaces, due to its ability to produce short rallies because of the quicker condition. Whether or not he bags a third Grand Slam title to add to his collection is still to be determined, but the early signs at Queens are nothing to back it coming at this year’s event.
