‘Let’s go!’ – Stan Wawrinka set to make long-awaited return next week
Stan Wawrinka has confirmed that he has accepted a wild card to compete on the ATP Challenger Tour at the Andalucia Open in Marbella at the end of this month.
Three-time Grand Slam icon Wawrinka will make his first return to the Challenger Tour since August 2020 after he competed at two successive events in Prague.
This news comes as he begins to step up his preparations in order to compete at next month’s Monte Carlo Masters and the French Open.
Over the past few seasons, Wawrinka has been blighted by multiple major injury concerns.
His main injury woes began five years ago at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships in an opening round loss against a young Daniil Medvedev, who was making his Queen’s debut. After the loss, Wawrinka announced he would be undergoing surgery on his knee.
After missing the rest of the 2017 season, Wawrinka began to stage a return in 2018 but was still hampered by his knee injury.
Then in 2020, just as the Swiss star was beginning to put his injury troubles behind him Covid-19 hit, cancelling both the French Open and Wimbledon. Wawrinka then missed the US Open due to the concerning health situation in New York.
Swiss maestro Wawrinka last played at the Qatar Open last March but has not featured competitively since after he underwent two surgeries on a foot injury. Thus meaning he has been absent from the ATP Tour for just over a year.
As he begins to stage yet another return, 36-year-old Wawrinka previously told French news outlet L’Equipe that he is not staging a return just to say goodbye, much like fellow icon Juan Martin del Potro did last month.
Instead he is making a return in an attempt to return to his best, saying “I still have this flame inside me” and “I’m not done with my chapter on tennis.”
The former World number three revealed his participation at the Andalucia Open via a Twitter post in which he quote Tweeted the announcement saying “Let’s gooooo.”
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