Wawrinka looking forward to 2021: “I believe I have one last push”

Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka admits he is close to the end of his career but believes he has enough in the tank for one final push in 2021.

Stan Wawrinka, Rolex Paris Masters, 2020

Simon Cambers

November 3, 2020

The outstanding career of Stan Wawrinka is coming to an end but the Swiss says he wants to give it “one last push” to achieve big things in 2021.

At 35, and after two knee surgeries, Wawrinka knows time is against him but said Tuesday he thinks he can get close to his best once again.

“I’m close to the end of my career, but I also believe I have one last push that I really want to, again, one more time push myself to the limit, make the sacrifice that you need to make to be at my top, and I’m trying to do that,” three-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka said. “I’m going to try to even push it more during the off-season and see what next year bring.”

More from #Stanimal : “I think in general I’m playing well. I’m feeling good. But not yet at the maximum I feel, and I’m going to take the next few weeks to try to push it for next year.”

— Tennis Majors (@Tennis_Majors) November 3, 2020

Wawrinka finishing the year in the Top 20 for the ninth time in the last decade

Wawrinka beat Briton Dan Evans 6-3, 7-6 in the first round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Tuesday and will end the year inside the world’s top 20 for the ninth time in 10 years, the only exception being 2018 when he underwent heavy surgery on his knee.

The champion at the Australian Open in 2014, Roland-Garros in 2015 and the US Open in 2016, Wawrinka missed this year’s US Open and said the Coronavirus pandemic had not been particularly bad timing after a promising beginning to the year.

“I started the new year really well, and then we were in lockdown for many months,” he said. “Again, as I say, I think in general I’m playing well. I’m feeling good. But not yet at the maximum I feel, and I’m going to take the next few weeks to try to push it for next year.”