Wawrinka, his entry into the quarter-finals of the French Open this time around has been a trial by fire.
Despite inconsistencies and injuries in the past few years, the Swiss showed why he is described as a Big-match
player after brushing aside ATP NextGen winner Stefanos Tsitsipas.
On Monday, and in general, Wawrinka's variation of technique has been what has won him matches and troubled his opponents. With his powerful attacking serve, Wawrinka frequently came up to the net, held his nerve against his young, already-a-champion rival, and unleashed his all-too-famous one-handed backhand.
The last two years have not been easy for Wawrinka. Following his three majors – all three distinct, and either won against Djokovic and Rafael Nadal – no mean feat, Wawrinka has struggled with a knee that has required multiple surgeries, rehab, and a recovery period that bled from 2017 into a large chunk of 2018. But for someone who dropped out of the top 200, to be able to come back enough to be seeded at a Grand Slam is not easy: Wawrinka should know.
With him ruling, at the time, near the top of the rankings consistently for years, Wawrinka's surgery put an abrupt end to his momentum, and put him out of commission for nearly two seasons. Inconsistencies, pain and early losses can and do take a significant psychological toll, and coming back from them is an uphill battle, one that is sometimes insurmountable. Indeed, for Wawrinka, who was pushed to the brink on Monday, he may well have crumbled and lost the match.
The second set alone went on for 80 minutes, longer than some matches have been, and one might not have blamed the Swiss for a loss against the World No 6 on the other side of the net.
Numerically, there was not much to separate the pair. The deciding set was a nail-biter for spectators, certainly, but perhaps no one more so than the two players on each side of the net. It was only at the end that fans, particularly a Roland Garros crowd cheering on their previous champion, saw Wawrinka break down in a combination of exhilaration, pride and probably complete physical exhaustion – the first hint of major emotion during that match from an otherwise stoic Swiss.
In the time the two were on court – 5 hours, 9 minutes – you could watch half a season of Game of Thrones. Now, Wawrinka faces his friend, rival, Olympic-winning partner and perhaps the greatest tennis has ever seen - Roger Federer, in the quarter-finals. Federer has won the pair's last six matches - but their last meeting on clay - at the 2015 French Open, went in favour of Wawrinka.
If this French Open has been Wawrinka's rebirth, then the match against Tsitsipas was his baptism of fire.