This week the tennis world was rocked by the news that three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka and his coach Magnus Norman have parted ways after four years together.
The working period with Norman can conceivably be considered as Wawrinka’s career, the point where the natural talent and the mental attributes to survive and flourish at the top of the game merged to devastating affect.
Working on Wawrinka’s mental state is where Norman has garnered the most credit in transforming the Swiss’ game. With weapons such as a cannon-like single-handed backhand, Wawrinka already possessed the physical and technical tools that had taken him to a pre-Norman career-high ranking of No.9, and a pair of grand slam quarter-finals from thirty-five attempts.
Norman got to work on Wawrinka’s psyche, and got ‘Stan the Man’ believing that it was possible for him to join tennis’ elite. With Norman in his corner Wawrinka rededicated himself to fighting for the cause. Early in the partnership the change in the man was apparent; taking World No.1 Novak Djokovic to a gruelling five-sets in the fourth round of the 2013 Australian Open, their first major tournament together.
- The match that brought Stan Wawrinka into the public eye as a Top 5 talent.
Norman and Wawrinka then made defeating Djokovic their speciality. Wawrinka gained revenge for the loss by defeating Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the next year’s Australian Open, before also taking down the Serb in the 2015 Roland Garros final as a big underdog, and finally defeating Djokovic in the 2016 US Open for his most recent Grand Slam crown.
Defeating Djokovic was not a anomaly for Wawrinka amongst the big players with Norman as his coach. Wawrinka may have only defeated Roger Federer three times from twenty-three meetings, but Norman engineered Wawrinka’s to date only Grand Slam win over his compatriot, at the 2015 French Open en route to the championship. Pre-Norman Federer had never dropped a set to Wawrinka in a Grand Slam meeting. Under Norman Wawrinka was only beaten by Federer in a Grand Slam in straight sets once in four meetings. Similar trends can be observed with Wawrinka’s records against Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal. Indeed, Wawrinka had never beaten Nadal before working with Norman.
Norman took Wawrinka from a player who was respected to a player who became feared, and a force to be reckoned with on most surfaces, (we won’t talk about Wawrinka’s less than impressive record on grass.)
Norman and Wawrinka’s run as a duo perhaps makes sense. Norman used a familial reason to breakaway, coincidentally a similar reason was used by Norman when he parted ways with Robin Soderling. Norman and Soderling ended on excellent terms with Soderling choosing his next coach on Norman’s recommendation.
Sometimes the ending of such close and focused relationships can be the result of strains, tensions, lack of chemistry, or the desire of one party to work with someone else. This does not seem to be the case here. No real politics. Norman does have an academy he will likely choose to be more involved with in the future, and we may well see the Swede back on the tour after a break should the right opportunity present itself.
Beyond Norman’s personal motivations, looking at Wawrinka’s future it is arguable how much further the partnership could have gone. Now 32, and working to recover from a serious injury that has derailed his end to the season, it is hard to see Wawrinka improving on his record of three Grand Slam titles and the Davis Cup all won when working with Norman. Ending on a high before age, and the likelihood of more injuries, could have turned a perfect partnership into one that could have been frustrating for both in later years is perhaps the perfect ending to this magnificent run.
