Stan Wawrinka says he's in the stretch run of his career—and he's pumped for one final surge before closing the curtain.
The three-time Grand Slam champion opened his Rolex Paris Masters with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Vienna semifinalist Dan Evans.
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Afterward, the 35-year-old Wawrinka conceded he sees the light at the end of the career title and he's determined to make another run at the Top 10.
"I'm close to the end of my career, but I also believe I have one last push that I really want to, again, one more time push myself to the limit, make the sacrifice that you need to make to be at my top, and I'm trying to do that," Wawrinka said. "I'm going to try to even push it more during the off-season and see what next year bring."
Three years removed from his last ATP title in Geneva, Wawrinka made a strong start to 2020 reaching the Doha semifinals and successive quarterfinals at the Australian Open and Acapulco. Wawrinka, who parted company with long-time coach Magnus Norman in September, arrived in Paris ranked No. 20 and said he's pleased with his current form, but knows there's room for improvement.
"I think in general my form has been going okay," Wawrinka said. "It's been going well. I'm playing well. I still need to work on many, many aspects. But, yeah, as I say, going to be the last tournament here so I'm trying to do as well as possible, trying to keep pushing myself."
Will that push include reprising his gold-medal winning doubles partnership with good buddy Roger Federer a the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games?
The former world No. 3 says the pair have not discussed playing together in Tokyo.
"No, we didn't talk about Olympics," Wawrinka said. "I think this is far away from what's happening now, not only in the tennis schedule but with what's happening in the world right now.
"I think it's difficult to plan and to talk about in nine months where we're gonna be. No, we didn't talk about it yet."
Photo credit: Christophe Guibbaud/FFT/Rolex Paris Masters Facebook