Despite his five-set loss to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, his difficult season altogether, and the fact that he had to see the trainer for an issue with his left knee on Monday, Stan Wawrinka insists that he is on the right path and can get back to the top of tennis.
More: Bothered by Knee, Wawrinka Falls in Paris Opener
“I know exactly where I want to be,” he said on Monday. “I won three Grand Slams in my career and I know what it takes to do it. And my goal is to get to my top [level]. Sooner or later I will be [there].”
For now, Wawrinka will have to deal with the reality of the fact that his ranking will drop below 250 after Roland Garros. It’s a fact that doesn’t bother the Swiss—he says he’s ready to take wild cards or even play the challenger circuit to rebuild his ranking.
“I say all my career is that the ranking doesn't lie,” he said on Monday. “If you play, you are at the top. If you don't play, you're getting down. For sure, I'm going to require some wild cards. But again, if I have to play some Challengers, I have no problem with that.”
There is some good news for Wawrinka, despite the loss, and the worries about the knee. He says the injury that he had checked in the seventh game of the first set was unrelated to his surgery and he believes his rehabilitation is moving in a positive direction.
“My knee is good. I'm happy with that,” he said. “That's really positive to see, but it's been now a few weeks that I'm feeling great with that sort of injury I did.”
Wawrinka erased a lot of worry on Monday when he continued to play after suffering sharp pains in his left knee. But his lack of match play and conditioning aren’t at their peak either, and these factors contributed to his loss to the Spaniard as well.
"I blocked something else at the beginning of the first set, and that's why I had to ask [for the physio], because it was completely blocked,” he said. "But the physio just manipulated it a little bit and it was completely fine. It was something completely on the side. So I just wanted to fix it, because it was really strange pain."
It’s natural for Wawrinka to have complications after such a big surgery, and with each step that Wawrinka passes he’ll be able to grow in confidence about the long-term durability of the knee and his ability to avoid re-injuring it. Based on what we saw today, he’s not quite there yet, but getting closer.
The good news for Wawrinka is that he finished the match and is pleased about the shape of his knee. The bad news is his ranking.
But given time, both the ranking and the knee will likely become a thing of the past. Then we will start to see the unbridled power of the Stanimal in all its glory. At 33, there’s still a few years left for him to find his way.
Monday in Paris was a disappointment, but it was also another step in the right direction.
“I'm in the right way, and I need to keep pushing,” Wawrinka said.