Wawrinka Wants 12 In A Row In St. Petersburg

The last time Stan Wawrinka played in St. Petersburg, he lost in a final. It was August 2004, and Wawrinka, then 19 years old and No. 159 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, fell to Jean-Rene Lisnard 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Since then, much has changed for Wawrinka. Namely, the Swiss No. 1 hardly loses in finals anymore. Wawrinka is 11-0 in his past 11 finals, including his US Open victory against Novak Djokovic earlier this month.

As the top seed at the St. Petersburg Open this week, the 31-year-old Wawrinka will try to make it 12 final victories in a row. “I have to make it to the final first,” he said during his pre-tournament press conference. “I hope to win more. So far I have achieved some impressive results.”

Wawrinka has had to beat some of the game’s best to win titles during the past few years. He’s beaten Djokovic twice, the other time at the 2015 Roland Garros, when Wawrinka earned his second Grand Slam tournament title. “Stanimal”, as Roger Federer nicknamed him in 2014, has also dispatched of Rafael Nadal, Federer, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic, to name a few others. “Hopefully I can win more,” Wawrinka said.

In St. Petersburg, as Wawrinka has done in the past, he credited his coach, former ATP World Tour player Magnus Norman, for some of his success. Wawrinka also said his years of experience have helped. “Sometimes you get to your best tennis really a bit later, not when you’re 20 years old,” he said. “That’s my career… finally I could order all the pieces together and that’s why I am now playing my best tennis.”

Wawrinka chose to return to St. Petersburg this week partly because it had been so long. The allure of something new made the destination tempting.

“Every year you play almost the same calendar, the same tournaments. Some tournaments I have played 10 years in a row,” Wawrinka said. “When you have the chance to be in a new tournament, in a new city, you will always see something different, something nice to see.”

Wawrinka will open his stay with a familiar opponent. The top seed plays Czech Lukas Rosol in the second round. Wawrinka leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 5-0, including three wins this season. Their closest contest was at Roland Garros earlier this season, when the 6’5” Rosol pushed Wawrinka to five sets.

“Really tough opponent,” Wawrinka said. “I expect a tough one, that’s for sure.”