Dubai: Three-time Grand Slam winner and defending Dubai champion Stan Wawrinka has brushed aside all notions of attempting a career Grand Slam, at least for the near future.
Ranked No. 3 and entering the competition as the second seed, Wawrinka will be playing for the first time since his loss to fellow Swiss Roger Federer in the Australian Open semi-final at the end of January. Prior to the season’s first Grand Slam, Wawrinka had also reached the semi-finals at the Brisbane International.
Always under the limelight due to the presence of countryman, Wawrinka has done well in recent years while assimilating three Grand Slams over the past three years — Australian Open in 2014, French Open in 2015 and the US Open last year.
However, with injury forcing him to pull out of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam Open earlier this month, the 31-year-old has kept his pursuit of Wimbledon at bay. “A career Grand Slam is not a goal at the moment,” Wawrinka told media as play was suspended for the second day of men’s qualifying rounds on Sunday.
“It is already an amazing thing for me to have won three Grand Slams. Each one of these are so very special for me,” he added.
Missing on his resume is Wimbledon, but that one will have to wait till later this summer. “Every year I am trying my best at Wimbledon and during the grass court season. But I have never played grass as good as the rest of the surfaces. I am still pushing for finding my best game on that surface, so we will see this year,” he said.
“Looking back at Australia, in the end it was a really great tournament for me. Making a semi-final was a big result for myself as it was so close to yet another final. And I think with what was happening with me [with the knee injury], I think I played really well. In general I was feeling good also in Brisbane. My tennis was there and I am still happy with what I’ve done so far,” he added.
The losing semi-finalist in Melbourne was thrilled with the Federer-Nadal final on January 29. “It was amazing to see them playing again in a big final like that. It is always such a special match when Roger and Rafa play, and because they’ve played so many times against each other their level was so high. And the way Roger came back in the fifth set was something special,” Wawrinka smiled.
Wawrinka’s place in Rotterdam was taken by Frenchman Benoit Paire, who in fact, is scheduled to play Federer in their first round in Dubai on Monday, while Wawrinka will be up against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur. “I first want to see myself starting well here. I am playing against Dzumur in Round One and I have never played him before,” Wawrinka related.
“I am going to see how I am going to feel and then take it match by match,” he added.
“Right now I am happy to be back after spending a lot of time out of competition. This was not the best, but I needed to take time to recover and feel better physically. After one month you’ve got to see how you can reach a high level again. In general, the tennis has been good tennis in the last few days. I started tennis only last week. I took the time I needed to take to get back and hopefully I can stay healthy for the rest of the year,” Wawrinka hoped.
