Stan Wawrinka

Stanislas Wawrinka (born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player.

Wawrinka turned professional in 2002 at the age of 17.

In 2002 Wawrinka became professional.

In 2003 he had his first steps on the tour and ended the year ranked No. 169.

He compiled an outstanding junior career, winning the Junior French Open in 2003 and reaching as high as No. 7 in the junior world rankings in June 2003.

On 11 July, at Gstaad, Wawrinka progressed into his first ever career final, in doubles, with Marc Rosset as his partner.

The Swiss pair lost in the final to Leander Paes and David Rikl.

That year Wawrinka had his Davis Cup debut with the Swiss National Team.

Wawrinka lost his first match against Victor Hănescu in a dead rubber.

Switzerland won the tie 3–2 against Romania and progressed into the World Group quarterfinals.

Representing Switzerland, Wawrinka won gold in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics partnering Roger Federer, and was also pivotal in the Swiss team's victory at the 2014 Davis Cup.

Wawrinka considers clay his best and favorite surface, and his serve and backhand his best shots.

He achieved a top-10 ranking by the ATP for the first time on 12 May 2008, and first reached a career peak of world No. 3 on 27 January 2014, at the same time as he became the Swiss No. 1.

In doubles and team tennis for Switzerland, he has won a gold medal in the men's doubles event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, partnering with Roger Federer, and the Davis Cup in 2014.

He is the second Swiss male player to win a Grand Slam after Federer.

John McEnroe once said that Wawrinka has one of the most powerful backhands ever, and in 2009 said he possessed "the best one-handed backhand in the game."

He has been described by The Economist as "tennis's great latecomer", owing to finding his greatest success late in his career.

He was coached from age eight until June 2010 by Dimitri Zavialoff.

Wawrinka is a three-time Grand Slam tournament winner, Olympic champion and Davis Cup champion for his country.

He played in the longest doubles match in history at the 2013 Davis Cup, in a tie against the Czech Republic, partnering with Marco Chiudinelli.

Wawrinka started playing international junior events at age 14 and entered the satellite circuit the following year.

He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014.

His career highlights include three major titles, those being the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open, where he defeated the world No. 1 player in the final on all three occasions.

Prior to the 2014 French Open, he requested and was granted a formal change in his name from "Stanislas Wawrinka" to "Stan Wawrinka", stating that he plans to use the abbreviated name in tournament draws and press conferences.

Wawrinka was born in Switzerland to a German father and Swiss mother.

He holds dual Swiss–German citizenship.

His father Wolfram Wawrinka, a farmer and social worker, is German of Czech ancestry.

Wawrinka's paternal great-grandfather originated from Silesia — the border region between Poland and the former Czechoslovakia — and the surname originates with the Polish language.

It is related to Wawrzyniec, the Polish version of Laurence, or Laurentius.

Wawrinka's mother, Isabelle, an educator, is Swiss.

His mother works as a biodynamic farmer helping disabled people and with her husband, took over the running of her in-law's farm.

The property, known as "Ferme du Château", is near Lausanne, and attached to the castle of Saint-Barthélemy.

The farm assists people with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, and people with depression or drug and alcohol problems.

Here Wawrinka grew up with his elder brother, Jonathan, and his two younger sisters, Djanaée and Naélla, who are students and tennis players.

Wawrinka attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Crissier.

Wawrinka started playing tennis at the age of eight, and played once a week until he was eleven, when he started to practice three times a week.

Wawrinka stopped attending regular schooling at age 15 to focus full-time on tennis.

However, he continued his schooling by distance education with the French organization CNED, which offered him greater flexibility.

He has reached four Grand Slam singles finals in his career to date, winning three: the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open; each time he defeated the reigning world No. 1 in the championship match (Rafael Nadal once and Novak Djokovic twice, respectively).

Other achievements include reaching the final of the 2017 French Open, winning a Masters 1000 title at the 2014 Monte-Carlo Masters, and reaching three other Masters finals (at 2008 Rome, 2013 Madrid and 2017 Indian Wells).