Stan Wawrinka will begin his 12th Wimbledon adventure against American Taylor Fritz on Tuesday confident he can go further than ever at The Championships.
The former Australian and French Open champion knows what it takes to win major titles on hard and clay, but so far south west London’s lawns have presented the Swiss with more of a challenge.
Back-to-back Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2014 and 2015, though, as well as the recent addition of former men’s singles champion Richard Krajicek to his coaching team means the world No.5 is feeling confident about his chances.
“I think the last few years, I start to play my best tennis on grass,” said the right-hander, who lost 11-9 in the fifth set to Richard Gasquet on his last visit to SW19. “I know I can play my best game. Hopefully I can do something big this year.
“I really like the condition from the first day. I really enjoy playing on grass. For sure, we all know that if I can win a few matches, I start to play better and better because I take confidence from that.”
Many little things: the tactics, what's good to do on grass, how you need to be ready mentally and always tough
In the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal, Wawrinka begins the tournament as the No.4 seed and in the same half as Andy Murray. Before he can start to get carried away with thoughts of a first Wimbledon semi-final, however, he must negotiate two tricky matches in the first two rounds.
First he must get past American rising star Fritz – at 18 the youngest player in the men’s singles draw – who reached his first ATP final in Memphis in February and took Roger Federer to three sets on grass in Stuttgart earlier this month.
Should he survive that test, his second-round opponent might well be former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, providing the Argentine gets past Frenchman Stephane Robert in his first match.
Thereafter, Wawrinka could find himself up against Australian Bernard Tomic in the last 16 and is in the same quarter as dangermen Dominic Thiem, recent Halle champion Florian Mayer, Alexander Zverev and former runner-up Tomas Berdych.
When Wawrinka’s full-time coach Magnus Norman suggested they welcome 1996 champion Krajicek into the fold, he was enthusiastic. The 31-year-old says he hopes the on-court work – and conversations – they have enjoyed since teaming up at Queen’s two weeks ago will serve him well over the next fortnight.
“We decided that maybe the grass was a good time to [starting working with Richard], not only because of the surface, but because I'm here in London for three, four weeks in the same place,” he explained.
“You have time to practice. You know you can work on many things. The things we wanted to work on with Magnus were the things that we thought that Richard can help with a little bit. He brings his experience, a few things in the technique side. For me, it's really interesting to have someone like Richard.
“We had quite a lot of talk the way you can play on grass. Many little things: the tactics, what's good to do on grass, how you need to be ready mentally and always tough. Now we need to focus on the first one.”
