By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, June 25, 2016
"We had quite a lot of talk the way you can play on grass, many little things, the tactic, what's good to do on grass," Stan Wawrinka said of working with coach Richard Krajicek.
Photo credit: Internazionali BNL d'Italia
Talk is cheap, but Stan Wawrinka hopes his discussions with new coach Richard Krajicek will yield value as he aims for his best Wimbledon result.
The two-time Grand Slam champion has contested quarterfinals at The Championships for the past two years, falling to Richard Gasquet, 11-9 in the fifth set last year after bowing to sometime doubles partner Roger Federer in the 2014 quarterfinals.
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"That's not something that change because one person coming in the team for three weeks," Wawrinka told the media at Wimbledon today. "I think the last few years, I start to play my best tennis on grass. I know I can play my best game. Hopefully I can do something big this year."
None of Wawrinka's 14 career titles have come on grass. In his lone grass-court final, he fell to then world No. 113 Steve Darcis at the 2013 's-Hertogenbosch.
Adding 1996 Wimbledon champion Krajicek to his coaching team, is part of Wawrinka's ongoing effort to solve the surface that has challenged him.
It won't be easy. Wawrinka opens against explosive American teenager Taylor Fritz.
In round two, the fourth-seeded Swiss could face 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in his last appearance at SW19 three years ago.
"He's amazing player. He won a Grand Slam few years ago," Wawrinka said of del Potro. "He's going to be, for sure, dangerous. He played a great tournament in Stuttgart on grass. If he's fit, he's a tough player to beat, that's for sure."
The 2015 Roland Garros champion said long-time coach Magnus Norman proposed the idea to hire Krajicek to help strengthen Wawrinka's grass-court game.
"First, it's an idea who came from Magnus basically," Wawrinka told the media at Wimbledon today. "We were talking about that in French Open already, about not to do it now, but maybe in the future.
"Then we decide that maybe the grass was a good time to do it also, not only because of the surface, but because I'm here in London for three, four weeks in the same place. You know you have time to practice. You know you can work on many things. The things we wanted to work on with Magnus was the thing that we thought that Richard can help a little bit."
A powerful serve-and-volley player, the 44-year-old Krajicek is one of a few champions who holds a winning record against Hall of Famer Pete Sampras. Krajicek won six of 10 meetings with the seven-time Wimbledon winner, including a 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-4 quarterfinal conquest en route to the 1996 Wimbledon crown that snapped Sampras' run of three straight titles at the grass-court Grand Slam.
"Krajicek could really put the pressure on," Sampras said. "If he had his serve going, he was very tough to break, and that put more pressure on my service games."
Wawrinka is seventh on the ATP Tour in the all-important holding serve category (86 percent), but ranks 17th in return games won (25 percent).
The sturdy Swiss' tendency to chip some returns back and his return comfort zone several feet behind the baseline can make breaking serve problematic. Wawrinka has posted an 11-5 record in 16 tie breakers this season, posting the third-highest tie break winning percentage (79 percent) over the past 52 weeks.
Whether Krajicek encourages Wawrinka to occasionally play chip-and-charge returns, alter his return positioning or sometimes take some big cracks at down the line returns remains to be seen. Wawrinka says his work with Krajicek has yielded some technical and tactical benefits.
"We've been talking a lot. He brings his experience, a few things in the technique side," Wawrinka said. "For me, it's really interesting to have someone like Richard.
"For sure he had amazing memories here, winning here, that's for sure. But also we had quite a lot of talk the way you can play on grass, many little things, the tactic, what's good to do on grass, how you need to be ready mentally and always tough. Again, now we need to focus on the first one."