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Wawrinka Still Believes, KOs Basavareddy in Aix-en-Provence
· Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
Stan Wawrinka is 40 now and though he is years away from any elite results, he continues to put in the work, striving for that one last hurrah.
This week in Aix-en-Provence Challenger he was given another wildcard and has won two rounds – beating ALT Ugo Blanchet 63 64 and the top seed Alex Popyrin 36 63 61. Right now Wawrinka is playing Nishesh Basavareddy in the QF.
The former world no. 3 back in 2014 and winner of 16 ATP singles titles, has a 1-7 ATP match record this year and 6-9 overall counting these wins this week.
Ranked 158 right now, Wawrinka needed to ask for wildcards into Monte Carlo and Barcelona where he lost respectively to Tabilo and Fokina. Wawrinka has been wildcarded into most of his main draws this year and so his results this year will determine how much longer he can play the ATP World Tour. If he can’t win enough matches and points to regain the top 50 range, he will need to ask for wildcards again next year, if he intends to play 2026.
And it appears Wawrinka does seek to play on and as continues to say in interviews how much he still loves the process of hard work and training, and his desire to keep being an active professional player.
The first point of the match vs Basavereddy on the red clay in a full house stadium packed court saw Wawrinka miss the first serve and then engage in a long rally ended on a Wawrinka forehand cross court missed long. Wawrinka would lose that game at 15 on a missed backhand pass when Basavereddy attacked the net.
Dressed in blue shirt, shorts, shoes by Yonex, Wawrinka still looks like he did a decade ago, same hair style, face still looks young but his arsenal no longer delivers those stream of conscious winners.
Basavareddy held serve for 2-0 and in the first two games Wawrinka showed two hints of frustration. A missed first serve was hit back to him which he deflected to the ball kid at net post. Unable to track down a drop shot, Stan smacked the ball into the net.
As if feeling guilty for beating the legend 2-0, Basavareddy then stepped off the gas and allowed Wawrinka to hold at love. The crowd sensed Wawrinka’s semi desperation and became more engaged in the match clearly pulling for the aging former super champion.
Basavareddy will need to play to kill and not relent a fraction out of pity or mercy for Wawrinka. Which will be very hard for the 19 year old to do in France where Stan is beloved. It appears Basavareddy is not up to the task of slaying a dragon legend though. Stan broke Basavareddy for 2-2 and then held at 15 for 3-2.
Some young players just don’t have the killer instinct to kill the legend. Some notable examples – Vince Spadea serving for the match vs. Michael Chang at US Open Armstrong Stadium. Teenager Alexander Zverev missed that match point volley vs Rafael Nadal and lost the match. Jenson Brooksby vs Novak Djokovic at US Open.
It will be interesting to see if Basavareddy will be able to finish off Wawrinka today, if he has what it takes to be a ruthless, merciless future impact player in the ATP.
Update: Wawrinka prevailed 76 63. Basavareddy needs to work on his killer instinct and not having too much respect for the legends (earlier this year he lost twice to Monfils but was in the winning position in both duels). Basavareddy again had his foot on the throat of Wawrinka in the first set but stepped off. Wawrinka has earned almost $37m by winning tennis matches, so far in his budding career, Basavareddy has earned about $500,000.
Nishesh Basavareddy · Stan Wawrinka · Yonex
