”Many moments of doubt” – Stanislas Wawrinka vows to be positive on return
Three-time Grand Slam winner Stanislas Wawrinka says he questioned his future in the sport following his lengthy spell on the sidelines, but is determined to remain positive as he continues his return to full match fitness.
The former Australian Open champion suffered a foot injury in early 2021 and required two operations on his way to recovery. The 37-year-old has said there were times that he doubted if he would be able to return, especially as he underestimated the severity of his injury.
“I thought I would be (out) only a few weeks. It lasted a whole year with many moments of doubts. Of course, there were those questions in my mind. I was afraid things wouldn’t happen the way I wanted them to happen, and when you have those difficult times and those doubts, you know you need to go through rehab to be able to live a normal daily life anyway. So in my mind, one way or the other, I knew I would want to come back.”
After 13 months out, he finally made his return at a Challenger Tour event last month in Marbella and is now set to face Alexander Bublik in the first round of the clay-court tournament in Monte Carlo.
Despite a turbulent past 12 months Wawrinka believes that the key to his return is to stay positive and be patient.
”Mainly what I need is practice with the best players, [to] practice a lot. I only started playing again at the end of the month of February, so I don’t have a lot of tennis under my belt.”
”I have to go through this. My level is pretty good in practice, but of course I need to find also my game during matches. The puzzle is a bit complicated. Sometimes you need time before you are able to coordinate all this.”
“So I need to be patient with myself. I need to try to do the right things and practise a lot and stay positive, even if sometimes I feel very frustrated, because I can see what I need to do and I can’t do it.”
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