Australian Open: Two Swiss farewells, but one chooses to do it the hard way

Dubai: Even as his countryman and former Swiss Davis Cup teammate Roger Federer hogged the limelight while bidding a ‘formal goodbye’ to the Australian Open on Saturday, 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka chose a more difficult path on his own farewell tour.

The three-time Grand Slam and Olympic doubles champion, playing his last season before retiring, gave his all to down Serbia's Laslo Djere 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) on Monday in front of a Kia Arena crowd willing him to victory.

The 3hr 20min battle wouldn’t have done the former Australian Open champion any good, however, as he made life hard for himself, forcing 18 break points but only converting three of them.

"It was amazing today, so thank you so much," said the current world No 139, who made his debut at Melbourne Park in 2006.

"It is my last year. It's been too long that I'm coming back, but the passion is still intact.

"But I'm not young anymore, so I need to be careful also.

"It's my last time and I'm trying to enjoy it," he added. "But in the same time as I'm trying to compete. I'm always going to fight.

“I'm happy with the discipline I put on myself, to keep staying with him, to keep fighting, trying to be a bit more aggressive, trying to find a way."

The man with possibly the most sublime yet brutal single-handed backhand in the game won the first of his majors at Melbourne in 2014, a season during which he peaked at world number three, and reached two other semi-finals. Along with that title, he won the French Open a year later and the US Open in 2016.

The triumphs all came at a time when Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were dominating men's tennis.

Wawrinka has 16 career ATP titles although the last came in Geneva in 2017. He won Olympic gold in doubles alongside Federer at Beijing in 2008 and helped deliver a first Davis Cup triumph for Switzerland in 2014.

Wawrinka will next play Arthur Gea of France who took out 17^th seeded Czech Jiri Lehecka in the first round on Monday.