‘Underestimated’ Stan Wawrinka ‘one of the best players to ever play the game’, says coach Magnus Norman

ATP Tour
Stan Wawrinka

Stan Wawrinka’s coach Magnus Norman feels the Swiss is “a little bit underestimated”, saying he is “one of the best players to ever play the game”.

Wawrinka has three Grand Slam titles to his name and the missing Wimbledon trophy is the only trophy separating him from a Career Grand Slam.

The 35-year-old reached a career-high of No 3 in the world while he is one of only three players to have beaten Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray at Grand Slams.

Yet he doesn’t often get mentioned when it comes to talking about the current greats of the game, something that his coach Norman disagrees with.

“Stan is one of the best players to ever play the game, if you look at his record, if you look at winning three Grand Slams, winning three different Grand Slams in the era where he had the Big Four playing,” he told ATP Tennis Radio.

“He’s a little bit underestimated for sure… He’s had an unbelievable career.”

Wawrinka won his first Grand Slam in 2015 at the Australian Open and the following year he added the French Open before lifting the US Open in 2016.

However, he suffered a serious knee injury in 2017 and struggle to regain form in 2018 before finally finding his mojo again in 2019 to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open and US Open.

He also started the 2020 season with a last-eight appearance at the Australian Open and climbed back to No 17 in the rankings after dropping out of the 250 in 2018.

“It’s been a little bit up and down. He doesn’t have the same stability as Andy Murray or Novak or Roger or Rafa, but in his best moments, I think he can beat all of those names on a very good day,” Norman continued.

“That’s what makes him a little bit special.

“Stan is a gambler. He plays with small margins. He’s the kind of guy that will put everything in red, do or die.”

Follow us on Twitter @T365Official.

Stan Wawrinka

Latest