Stan Wawrinka reflects on his second round Australian Open exit

The Australian Open 2021 is underway and the biggest upset in the second round of the Men’s singles has to be the exit of the former Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka. The Swiss went down fighting in a five thriller against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.

The match lasted four hours and finally, Fucsovics edged it 7-5 6-1 4-6 2-6 7-6.  Wawrinka lost the first time he played against the Hungarian but emerged victorious in the last three previous meetings. While Wawrinka and Fucsovics served decently throughout the match it was down to the Swiss’ unforced errors (73) which cost him the match in the end.

Reflecting on the encounter after the game, the 35-year old said, “Yeah, tough match, of course, I said four hours. Always been a difficult battle against my opponent, we played a few times in the past, always a tough match, and today was the same.”

“It wasn’t the best level for me but again I was fighting, I had some chance to finish the match but I didn’t finish. I hesitated a little when I had the match point and I lost it.”

Wawrinka opened up on how he hesitated a little and in the final set tiebreaker. He admitted that he was not clinical enough to bury his chances and therefore the Hungarian saw that opportunity and seized it.

The former World No. 3 added, “I was playing well since the game at 5-6, I was serving well and super focused in the tie break at the end, and from 6-1 I started to hesitate a little bit.

“The way I was playing, I wanted to put the ball a bit too much in… helped him come back into the match. He was fighting well, he is a tough player and a good one and deserved to win.”

It is a shame to see Wawrinka crash out of the Australian Open in the second round but that has been the case over the years with upsets. But it is no secret that fans will miss the tennis of the 3-time grand slam winner and he will bounce back soon.