Stan Wawrinka Hopes for Last US Open Wildcard After Playing Final Career Clay Tournament

Stan Wawrinka bid farewell to clay-court tournaments on tour after exiting the Estoril Challengers earlier this week. The former World No.3 lost to Roman Andres Burruchaga in three sets. However, he has now focused his attention on the North American hard-court swing and has admitted that he hopes to get a US Open wildcard.

Wawrinka announced earlier this season that he will be playing his final season on tour. The 41-year-old has been ranked outside the Top 100 on tour but has received wildcards from Grand Slam tournaments and a few ATP Masters events, bidding farewell to fans in each of those tournaments.

He used the Australian Open wildcard to reach the third round before losing to Taylor Fritz, but failed to win a match at the French Open and Wimbledon. Wawrinka is a former champion at the US Open, and his most recent triumph at New York came in 2016. It was the first Grand Slam in which he reached the last eight back in 2010.

He then reached the semi-finals of the Flushing Meadows three of four times between 2013 and 2016. At the 2016 US Open, he came from a set down to beat Novak Djokovic, claiming his third Grand Slam title. His poorest Grand Slam run was at Wimbledon, where he never went beyond the quarter-finals, but the organizers handed him a wildcard earlier this month.

Wawrinka has played at the US Open 17 times in his career but was not given a wildcard last year. But since last winning the championship 10 years ago, he has managed to reach the quarter-finals just once. After exiting the Estoril Challengers, he admitted that he hopes to get a wildcard from the US Open organizers:

I have requested a wildcard for the US Open. I hope to play there for the last time. There is also a Challenger in Cancun. If I secure the invitation for New York, I will play that Challenger to get ready. I am only guaranteed to play in the Lyon and Basel tournaments. I will still decide if I play more tournaments. I’m trying to maintain a good level of play, put together a suitable schedule, and play the tournaments I’ve always enjoyed.

This means Wawrinka, World No.118, will not feature at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Canada and Cincinnati. He might get a wildcard for the Winston-Salem Open, which comes a week before the US Open. However, the Swiss legend is only focused on playing his final career Grand Slam at the US Open.

Stan Wawrinka admits he’s happy to bid farewell to Estoril after opening match loss

Stan Wawrinka was bidding to become the oldest man to win a match on clay since Jimmy Connors in 1984 and the oldest man to ever do so at Estoril Challengers. But he has managed to win just 10 matches in the ATP since turning 40, more than anyone at that age since 1990. However, most of the wins have come in ATP 250 tournaments.

Since January, he has played only 20 ATP matches, winning seven of them and losing the rest. His best result this year came at the Australian Open, where he reached the third round. Since then, he has not won back-to-back matches at another tournament. During the aforementioned press conference, he admitted that he has always loved playing on the clay:

I grew up on clay. I grew up practising on clay and watching clay-court tournaments, so clay was always special for me… Unfortunately, my week here (in Estoril) was very short. But I’m very happy to have returned.

Wawrinka has won 16 tour-level singles titles in his career. He’s planning to end his career at the Swiss Indoors Open in October, which is his home tournament. His fellow compatriot Roger Federer ended his career before the ATP 250 event, playing his final match at the Laver Cup in London in 2022.

Also Read: Patrick Mouratoglou Doesn’t Think Alexander Zverev Has Reached Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s Level Despite French Open Win