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What comes next for Stan Wawrinka?

By Keshav Gopalan

ROME, ITALY - MAY 13: Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland looks on against Steve Johnson of the USA during day one of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2018 tennis at Foro Italico on May 13, 2018 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
ROME, ITALY - MAY 13: Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland looks on against Steve Johnson of the USA during day one of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2018 tennis at Foro Italico on May 13, 2018 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images) /
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Stan Wawrinka has had a tough season. After a failed comeback in Australia, Wawrinka decided to undergo further rehabilitation after his first round retirement in Marseille. A week later, his fans were greeted with an update: He would return in the clay season and skip the sunshine double to better rest his body.

While the clay season commenced in Monte Carlo, Wawrinka returned to action in Rome, where he lost in the first round. His second tournament in Geneva wasn’t much better. After a comfortable victory against Jared Donaldson, Wawrinka crumbled to Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.

Wawrinka enters the French Open as the 23rd seed and as the defending finalist. If he fails to defend his finalist points, Wawrinka might drop out of the top 300. What comes next for Stan?

The French Open will be difficult

Knee injuries are always tricky. Reigning champion Rafael Nadal had to take prolonged hiatus from tennis from Wimbledon 2012 till the South American Clay swing in February 2013. Wawrinka almost didn’t make it to the Australian Open, and perhaps it was imprudent to show up without being a 100% fit. This has made his comeback very difficult, and as seen in his quarterfinal match in Geneva, things are still not at a 100% for Wawrinka.

Wawrinka’s first-round opponent, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat him in the first round of the French Open in 2014 and could cause some major trouble for the Swiss Number Two.

The Grass Season and After

Wawrinka is defending 20 points from 2017, which can easily be bettered in this year’s grass season. Not only that, he defends zero points after Wimbledon till next year’s Australian Open.

When asked about the possibility of dropping out of the top 300 after Paris, Wawrinka remarked

"‘ I know that I have many points to defend in the clay season. But honestly, it doesn’t make a difference. Dropping to the 300th ranking position after Roland Garros wouldn’t change my life. It’s not a problem. You can be sad with no. 12 and tell stop – or play as no. 97 and still enjoy.’"

Wawrinka seems to be confident about his chances after Wimbledon and he’s not wrong about that. After Wimbledon, he will have a month’s rest where he can get back some form in the form of rest he might really need. It seems likely that he might drop out of the top 100 even if he loses in the Quarterfinals in Paris, and could climb back to the top of the rankings in the rest of the season.

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