Where’s the love for Stan the Man?
Seriously, he’s ranked No. 3 in the world and has a great chance at this tournament, but all we kept hearing are Djokovic and Murray.
And most Stan Wawrinka’s matches have been pushed to Armstrong and the Grandstand.
“I played first match on Arthur Ashe, first round. But it’s okay,” he said after dispatching Ukrainian Illya Marcheko, 6-4 6-1 6-7(5) 6-3. No, I don’t mind. I don’t mind. It’s normal that all the focus are on Novak and Andy. They’re the two big favorite of the tournament. (Juan Martin) Del Potro coming back from injury, playing really well again. He won here.
“So I don’t really mind. I’m doing my tournament, and we’ll see at the end.”
Well, he will be under the new roof on Ashe going forward, because the Swiss national is in the Quarterfinals.
Wawrinka has quietly moved into the second week. It’s Stan the Man time and he seems to be ready.
So much so that he isn’t even enjoying New York.
“As long as you play, you don’t enjoy anything in a Grand Slam,” Wawrinka said. “You just have some busy day, trying to make it work to go far in the tournament. That’s something for sure you can enjoy when you retired and come back. I think it’s a great thing for ex-player to come back and watch some tennis, have the possibility to invite some guests.”
Wawrinka has plenty of time left to do that. At 31 he’s at the top of his game and can be considered a worthy successor to Roger Federer, who is out of the tournament.
He had a scare the other day, winning in five sets against Britain’s Daniel Evans, but otherwise smooth sailing.
“I feel good. I was a little bit tired yesterday,” he said. “I didn’t really know what to expect today, this morning. But since the beginning, I was feeling 100%. I was feeling good on the court. Even if it was close from three hours, I don’t think it’s going to affect a lot in two days.
“So far I think I’m feeling great.”
Well that’s good, because he has Del Potro in the next round, who thinks it’s 2009 all over again.
“When I play him on grass, he was slicing a lot, that’s for sure. But also was good on grass to do the slice he was doing,” Wawrinka said. “If I look now the way he’s playing on hard court, against Ferrer, against all the other players in the Olympics, his backhand is strong. He’s returning. He doesn’t use the slice as much as he did on grass.
“At the end I think the tactic is more or less the same.”
Stan the Man will be ready.
Give him some love.
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