Stan Wawrinka spent time talking about his views on the 2020 tennis season and what might be some of the difficulties when it comes to bringing the tour back online with Covid-19 still lurking as a threat across the globe.
The three-time major champion spoke to Alizé Lim for the website Tennismajors.com to give his views on several subjects while also engaging in some light-hearted conversation about his quarantine.
Wawrinka says that that new events, such as Patrick Mouratoglou's Ultimate Tennis Championship and the the Tennis Point Exhibition Series, currently taking place with no spectators behind closed doors are good for the players and the fans.
“Everything that leads to playing tennis again, for the players, for the coaches, for the fans as well, is something that is very positive for tennis,” he said.
Wawrinka says he might play an event such as this later in the summer, but for now he doesn’t feel he is ready to take the injury risk. Currently the Swiss is practicing three times a week and doing as much as he can to stay in shape on the off days. But he’s far from Stanimal form.
“Do I imagine playing [this type of event]? Maybe but not for now,” he said. “For the moment we are very far from competition.”
Wawrinka says he is not willing to fully ramp up his training with the commencement of the season in doubt. He says he needs a time—and a challenge—to begin his intense tournament routines again. Until then, playing competitively would be too much of a risk.
“It’s too early to do this kind of competition for me,” he says.
While the 2015 Roland Garros champion isn’t sure about the possibility of playing Roland Garros on its scheduled date in September, he does hold out some hope that it will happen.
“I hope,” he said. “I hope for the world that we will all be at the stage where we can compete again in September, that would mean things went well.”
But Wawrinka added that it is simply too early to tell.
“Currently we are in the middle of this crisis,” he said. “It is difficult to see the end.”
The biggest problem with tennis, Wawrinka says, is the travel. And those problems ring true for the players, coaches and fans as well.
“We come from all around the world,” he said. “We are all in confinement. So the first step is for us all to get out. The second stage is to get to the shopping and the restaurants. The third is to travel. It takes time.”
Wawrinka also discussed what his quarantine time away from the game has been like, and explainined how he is extremely busy home-schooling his ten-year-old daughter when she is with him. When he is alone he enjoys his epic Instagram Live cocktail parties with Benoit Paire.
Wawrinka says he and Paire like to do their cocktail hours in person but since they are both confined they figured they should have some fun and let fans watch.
With confinement we began to talk more by Facetime,” Wawrinka said. “One day we said: “Let’s try a live! We are ourselves, like we are off-screen.”