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Can Stan Wawrinka pull off the Comeback?

By Keshav Gopalan

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 04: Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland celebrates a point against Thomas Fabbiano of Italy during their Men's Singles second round match on day three of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 4, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 04: Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland celebrates a point against Thomas Fabbiano of Italy during their Men's Singles second round match on day three of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 4, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images) /
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Stan Wawrinka stunned Grigor Dimitrov in the opening match at Wimbledon. The Swiss “Stanimal” looked to be in great form, with many expecting a decent showing in the tournament going forward. However, he is trailing by 2 sets against his Italian opponent, Thomas Fabbiano, who came through qualifying.

Trailing by a break in 3rd, Wawrinka broke back to get the set back on serve. However, he’s missed several opportunities to go up a break in this set, and is currently sitting at deuce in the 3rd, with the game score at 6-5 in Stan’s favour. Can he pull off the comeback?

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Why not?

Wawrinka has had a day’s rest, both physically and mentally. Even after being 2 sets and a break down, Wawrinka never stopped fighting for every point he played. With some more rest and perhaps some time to come up with tactics to overcome the Italian Qualifier, it is certainly possible that Wawrinka can win the match in 5 sets. The rain benefits the others too, it seems (Hi Rafa!).

His forehand seems to have become a small liability. While it is mostly solid, during moments of pressure it seems to break down, lacking the depth and the power we’ve come to associate with Stan. That’s one key area Magnus Norman and Stan can discuss as they try and mount the comeback.

Going forward?

Stan could face Greek Stalwart Stefanos Tsitsipas in the next round, should he manage to clinch the victory. It’ll be interesting to see if Wawrinka can manage to play well against Stefanos on less than a day’s rest. Moreover, Stefanos’ aggressive style of play, with him approaching the net will definitely trouble Stan, who prefers to take his time to construct and finish a point.

If not, it seems likely that Wawrinka might take wildcards to the small ATP 250 events that crowd the next 3 weeks in the calendar till the commencement of the American Hard Court season.

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