Knee surgery prevented Stan Wawrinka from defending his US Open championship in August.
The three-time Grand Slam champion returned to practice this week with an eye on the 2018 Australian Open.
Watch: Rafael Nadal Stopped By Security
Injury-induced inactivity hasn't hampered Stan's signature one-handed backhand.
Watch Wawrinka take down the target with his wondrous one-hander.
Wawrinka pulled the plug on his 2017 season following his first-round Wimbledon loss to 49th-ranked Daniil Medvedev, revealing he’d been bothered by the knee issue since late last year.
“It's not something new, but something I had in the past,” Warinka said at Wimbledon. “End of last year and also in Australia.
“But, again, since I had that problem, was the first time I'm playing on grass. Apparently grass is not the best surface for my knee. I need to figure it out exactly what's the problem now, what I'm going to do, and come back on the tennis court when I will feeling without any pain.”
Since the 2015 Roland Garros champion lost to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final, he played just two matches losing his Queen's Club opener to Feliciano Lopez before his first-round exit from Wimbledon.
The seventh-ranked Swiss will launch his comeback without long-time coach Magnus Norman, who opted to end their partnership to spend more time with his family.
His practice form prompted this exchange with Darren Cahill, who coaches world No. 1 Simona Halep.
Photo credit: Billie Weiss/BNP Paribas Open Facebook