“Without Roger Federer’s shadow, Stan Wawrinka would be an absolute superstar” says Dieter Kindlmann, former coach of Angelique Kerber


“Without Roger Federer’s shadow, Stan Wawrinka would be an absolute superstar” says Dieter Kindlmann, former coach of Angelique Kerber

Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Dieter Kindlmann

Roger Federer is without a doubt the greatest tennis player Switzerland has ever produced and in the process, his success has eclipsed the efforts and achievements of many other players who also were successful on the Tour but not as successful as the 20-time Grand Slam champion who became an icon of the sport globally.

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One such athlete who was eclipsed by Federer’s success is Stan Wawrinka. While Federer and Wawrinka won the 2008 Beijing Olympics doubles Gold medal together and also led Switzerland to the 2014 Davis Cup, when it came to individual accolades, Federer was miles ahead of his compatriot who himself had some great achievements on the court.

“You cannot compare Roger Federer, Martina Hingis, Belinda Bencic or Stan Wawrinka between them. But Switzerland is incredibly blessed with the number of good players from here. Without Roger Federer’s shadow, Stan Wawrinka would be an absolute superstar in any other country,” said Kindlmann during his interview with tennisnet.com.

Kindlmann’s claims can be backed by the record of Wawrinka who won a total of 16 titles from the 30 finals he played which included 3 Grand Slam titles winning the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open defeating the then World No. 1 on all three occasions.

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Wawrinka remains one of the few players apart from the Big-3 trio of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to have won the Grand Slam title as the trio won a combined total of 60 of the last 75 Grand Slam titles. He was also a runner-up at the 2017 French Open and has 1 ATP-1000 title, 3 ATP-500 titles and 9 ATP-250 titles to his name.

Roger Federer leads Stan Wawrinka 23-3 in H2H

Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Federer and Wawrinka battled 26 times on the court with Federer leading the head-to-head tie 23-3. Federer leads 7–1 in Grand Slam matches while on different surfaces Federer leads 17–0 on hard courts, 1–0 on grass courts and 4–3 on clay courts.

Kindlmann also appreciated the atmosphere and support for tennis in Switzerland that also helps in creating players that can lead the country in the sport further.

“As far as I know, after my seven months here, the success is also due to the fact that tennis is very important to society. There is an incredible amount of support and enthusiasm for the sport. I would like that in other countries too,” added Kindlmann.

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