Wawrinka Pleased With 2013 Progress

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 12th November 2013

Wawrinka Pleased With 2013 Progress

epa03941343 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland reacts after winning a point against Spain's David Ferrer during a singles Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tennis match at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 08 November 2013. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Stanislas Wawrinka took longer than many expected him to crack the top 10 and be able to stand toe to toe with the elite players.

But some competitors mature later than others, and some take longer to figure out how far they need to go to get the most out of themselves.

Wawrinka needed to understand which key elements were missing from his game, like a strong serve, forehand, court positioning and movement, all of which he’s improved.

“It’s like a puzzle,” he said. “You have to put all the pieces together. When you win, you get more confident, so you feel better on the court. When I feel good physically, I can play better tennis, so technically I’m much better. It’s a lot of small things that make huge difference. But for sure I think this year the most important was my self‑confidence on the court. Now when I come on the court, even against Berdych, against Rafa, against Ferrer today, I know that I can beat them. That’s already a big step ahead.”

Reaching the semis of the ATP World Tour Finals was a step in the right direction, as was finishing the season in the top 8. He feels like he’s peaking at the age of 28 and belongs to a generation of mid-career to older players who proliferate the top 10. No man under the age of 25 made it to London this year, continuing a troubling trend for the youngsters.

“I think in this generation right now is really strong,” he said. “If you look at the tournament here, World Tour Finals, you have almost the same players in the past five, six years. So that’s a really strong generation. I think that in general we are much, much more professional. We all have our own physio. We all do better schedule. That’s why players stay longer in age. That’s part of why you have so many player, top player, in 28, 29, 30 years old.”

Wawrinka is bit of realist and he realizes that he still has to refine his game if he is going to be able to take down the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who with the exception of the now injured Andy Murray’s run at Wimbledon, dominated the season. But he’s right there with everyone else, except for his countryman Roger Federer, whom he seems to have a mental block against.

“You could see my level all the year,” Wawrinka said. “I had nine victories against the top‑10 guys. [In London] I had a win against Berdych. I always say that the ranking doesn’t lie. Even when I was 17 in the world, I was saying that. Even if I was playing great tennis, I was not good enough to be in the better place. But right now I think that I deserve where I am and what I get this year. That gave me a lot of confidence for next year. I still think that I can improve. I just need to find the way how and to do it for next year.”

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, ATP World Tour Finals, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych

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TennisReporters says:

November 12, 2013 at 8:37 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Wawrinka Pleased With 2013 Progress: Stanislas Wawrinka took longer than many expected him to crack th… http://t.co/TPZ…