TENNIS US OPEN – 1st of September 2014. S. Wawrinka d. T. Robredo 7-5, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. An interview with Stan Wawrinka
Q. That was a pretty hard-fought match. Do you think you won it because you wanted it a bit more than him?
STAN WAWRINKA: I don’t know if I want it more than him, but I want it a lot for sure. I think there were a few moments in the match that’s make big difference. I think I want it also because mentally I was really strong today. I was accepting the fact that I was really down physically in the third set, that I was struggling a lot with cramping and everything. But I wasn’t complaining about that. I stayed positive with that. Tried to find solution how to relax mentally, how to be better, in better shape after and how to fight with him. To find a solution in the game, try to be a little bit more aggressive, try to start again to take my forehand back, not only playing backhand. Few little change that make big difference at the end of the match.
Q. What effect on you does Australia still have?
STAN WAWRINKA: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know for sure. Give me always confidence when I’m on the court, especially in five-sets match, especially in Grand Slam. For me it’s more that my level is way better this year than last year and I’m playing better. I’m stronger mentally when I have to. But then when I’m playing today I’m not thinking about Australia. I’m thinking about how to find a way to beat him, because I think he was really playing his best tennis. It was tough to beat him today. But I’m happy the way I did find some solution and the way I start to play better in the fourth set.
Q. Can you describe the play when you dove into the stands? Maybe take us through that and what effect it had on you.
STAN WAWRINKA: It was crazy a little bit when I arrive in the stand, because it never happen to me. It was quite a bad fall. But I’m lucky it didn’t have any big problem with that. I was already struggling physically, so was nothing from the fall. I think I was quite lucky with that.
Q. You were saying that future venues, Ashe or Armstrong, that you have more preference to play in the smaller venue. Is that because it’s a more intimate setting?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah. Just love to play on the Armstrong court. Atmosphere is always great, especially when you play a late match and it’s packed. Like today. For sure the fans are closer. It’s fun from every court. The atmosphere, you feel it more. You feel more the support from the fans. Even if Ashe is good, but to have a great atmosphere on Ashe you have to be sure that it’s full house.
Q. What was Robredo complaining about? He said you did something that was not nice.
STAN WAWRINKA: What was that?
Q. That’s all he said. You did something that was not nice.
STAN WAWRINKA: Like he did something that was not nice. That’s it. I have no problem with him. It’s always the same when you play a tough match. Always try to find solution how to win. He did few things that I did not like it, but at the end of the day it’s a tennis match. What’s happen on the tennis courts, you have to keep it there. I think it’s all okay. No, I have no problem with his team.
Q. Since you won Australia, did you notice some difference in the way that other players treat you? I mean off the court in the locker room, are they more friendly? Or the opposite, less friendly?
STAN WAWRINKA: (Smiling). When you go up in the ranking, for sure you have more friends (laughter). But nothing more. The rest, the rest I don’t care. I’m doing my own thing trying to be there, trying to be the same. I’m here to practice; here to win matches. That’s it. The rest I really don’t care.
Q. How did you cope with the four days off now that you had? Did you find easy to have a rhythm?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, the only part that was difficult is to find the rhythm when you come back to play the match. The good thing, good news is that I won that match. I still had only three matches since now, so even if today was really tough match I did save a lot of energy during the four days. But for sure when you don’t — especially in Grand Slam, when you don’t play matches for four days or even more, because I had quite a lot of time, it’s never easy to find the rhythm straight when you come back and you play Robredo.
Q. Raonic said at Wimbledon that your victory in Australia gave him and all the other guys trying to break into the Big 4 to win a major belief. How does that make you feel when you hear your effect with that win on everybody else?
STAN WAWRINKA: Nothing special for me. I heard that a lot straight after my victory from almost all the players. But in the end, if you look who won the majors since then, it’s still the same. For Milos, it’s a little bit different. He’s improving a lot. He’s really young. He’s there. He’s No. 5 in the world. He’s going to be even better in the future. But from the other players that was saying that just after my victory, I think it’s not that simple just to win a major. It’s not because I did it that they gonna do it. It’s quite difficult, especially when we see you have Novak to beat, you have Roger to beat, and you also have Andy to beat. You have Rafa is not here, but he was at the French Open. So it’s quite not simple to win a major.
