Stanislas Wawrinka (born March 28, 1985 in Lausanne)
is a Swiss male tennis player. As of January 2008,
he is one of two Swiss players in the ATP top 30
(the other being World Number One Roger Federer).
His career high was #28, achieved on January 7,
2008.
The surname Wawrinka is of Polish descent but
Stanislas is only Polish by ancestry. His father
Wolfram is German, and his mother Isabelle is Swiss.
Both work on a biological farm helping handicapped
people. Wawrinka's grandparents are Czech. He has
one older brother Jonathan, who teaches tennis, and
two younger sisters Djanaee and Naella, who are
students and tennis players.
Wawrinka stopped attending regular schooling at age
15 to focus full-time on tennis. "It was the natural
line for me, the right path to take with my tennis",
he said. However, he continued his schooling by
distance education with French organization CNED,
which offered him greater flexibility with studying
times.
He started playing international junior events at
age 14 and entered the satellite circuit the
following year. He compiled an outstanding junior
career winning the 2003 French Open junior
championships and finishing number 14 junior.
Wawrinka, one of four tennis-playing siblings,
turned pro in 2002 at the age of 17. By the end of
2005 he hovered just outside the Top 50.
He currently lives in Saint-Barthélemy (10 minutes
from Lausanne). His hobbies include movies and
music. He considers clay his best surface and the
backhand his best shot. He has a 2-3 career Davis
Cup singles record in three ties. He has been
coached since age eight by Dimitri Zavialoff.
In the 2007 Australian Open, Wawrinka reached the
3rd round to be beaten by second seed Rafael Nadal.
He has so far never beaten Nadal, losing in
Melbourne 6-2 6-2 6-2. He showed some impressive
backhand skills, but was unable to deal with Nadal's
heavy game.
In October 2006, he reached a career high No. 29 and
had high hopes to reach the Top 20 in 2007. But
those plans were put on hold when he suffered a
three-month setback, tearing a tendon in his right
knee while practicing for the Swiss Davis Cup team’s
tie against Spain in February.
In the 2007 French Open, Wawrinka pushed No. 7 seed
Ivan Ljubičić to four sets before falling in the
second round. He also claimed wins over Guillermo
Cañas and Juan Ignacio Chela en route to a meeting
with Rafael Nadal in the finals of the Mercedes Cup
in Stuttgart in July. There, Nadal barely edged the
Swiss 6-4, 7-5.
In the 2007 US Open, Wawrinka reached the eighths of
finals, a stage he had never reached previously in a
Grand Slam event, notably defeating 25th seed Marat
Safin (6-3 6-3 6-3) in an amazing show of talent in
the second round. There, he was ousted by Juan
Ignacio Chela at the end of an impressive 3h40 match
(4-6, 6-2, 7-6 [6], 1-6, 6-4).
