Stan Wawrinka displayed a major dose of confidence in both shot selection and style choices at the 2015 Roland Garros.
Wawrinka showed audacity tattooing 60 winners against Novak Djokovic in the French Open final, while wearing plaid shorts that look like they'd been fashioned from a table cloth swiped from a nearby cafe.
Stan: Rafa's Injury No Big Secret
Grand Slam success instills stronger self-belief Wawrinka: The two-time major champion believes the match is in his hands against any opponent.
"I have defeated all these guys over the past few years. So I can play anyone," Wawrinka told the media after his straight-sets win over Jeremy Chardy. "When I'm playing against (Viktor) Troicki or a player like today, it's all up to me. A few years back it wasn't just up to me. If I just come along and I move physically and I feel the ball, I have the match under my control. Then of course I need to win it. But it's already great to be able to think like that."
Asked to compare himself today to the player he was before his Grand Slam breakthrough, Wawrika cited all-around strength and confidence.
"And then what makes a difference between me a few years back and me now, everything in the sense that everything is much stronger," Wawrinka said. "My level of play is much stronger. Physically things are much stronger. I'm much more confident."
Wawrinka warmed up for Paris capturing his third title of the season on the red clay of Geneva. He rides a seven-match winning streak into his fourth-round clash with Viktor Troicki.
The fourth-ranked Swiss is 4-0 against the 22nd-seeded Troicki, but their last clay-court encounter was an epic. Wawrinka prevailed, 7-6 in the third set, in the 2010 Belgrade quarterfinal.
"I think the last time I played on clay was in Belgrade, a three-hour match," Wawrinka said. "But he's a player who plays well, who's robust, who plays his own round of tennis. He plays from the baseline. First service is pretty good. Second ball not so good. But it all depends on what's going to happen on there."
Photo credit: EPA