I wrote most of this in 2014

Finally getting recognition as one of the best players on tour, Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka (STAN niss las VAH vrin kah) has been in the shadow of Roger Federer for his whole career.  However, “Stan the Man” has much more of a game packed in is nonchalant demeanor that most people would realize.  When talking about Wawrinka, you really get down to the meat and potatoes of tennis.

But first. I need to address the crazy stuff I remember about Stan.

There was that time he started dating a younger tennis player and Nick Kyrgios called him out on it.

There was that time he was supposed to Win a match at the ATP finals. Roger Federer was injured and needed to heal for the Davis Cup Final. Stan is his compatriot and is supposed to beat him. But he was playing bad and Federers wife called him a crying baby.

That time Stan called Holger Rune a baby

OK that was fun. Lets get to Business.

First of all. Stan is the originator of the head point. He would usually point to his head when he overcomes some stress to produce his best tennis. He’s a little mentally fragile. At some point he linked up with Magnus Norman as a coach and then he went from being a great player to a 3 time slam champion.

Playing Style

Stanislas has a game that is based around heavy and consistent groundstrokes.  He can do many things on the court efficiently but normally doesn’t have to because his groundies result in a winner or an error.  The interesting thing about Stan is that he can pull a considerable amount of power out of his body.  His ball is pretty heavy as he seems to use his core to produce most of his power.  As you can see in this picture. He’s got some teeeny tiny arms that don’t look like they fit on the big torso.

He can move considerably well.  His defense isn’t really great but he is on balance an astonishing amount of the time.  Its actually impressive. He doesn’t do the splits or anything crazy but he is very sure footed.

Why He Wins

Stan has probably the strongest one-handed backhand (OBH) in all of tennis.  There are OBHs that have a ton of variety like Roger Federer.  And there are some that can produce a ton of topspin like Richard Gasquet.  Wawrinka’s OBH, however, is a monsterous stroke of power. Stan can use his OBH to direct the ball down the line and mess up the opponents balance considerably.   He backs this up with a competent forehand that he hits heavy and does not ask too much for when it comes to accuracy.  This combination alone, along with the free points his gets from his beefed up serve, is what makes him VERY dangerous (especially in heat).

Why He Loses

Stan is not a flashy personality, and sometimes he starts to play too unemotional.  Many times he neglects to pump himself up during the big moments and thus loses his will to fight.  Also, during the semifinals of the ATP world championship (indoors and cool temperature), Djokovic took advantage of Stan’s technical problem with his OBH.  Because Stan uses his core so much, he cannot hit a good OBH on the run.and almost always slices it crosscourt.  Also, when the ball bounces at the service line with little energy, he has to go crosscourt as well (as all of us do).  Using that, he was able to control much of the rallies as the down the line OBH is Stan’s greatest rally weapon.

Speaking of which, lets talk about stands OBH

Stan’s BH takes a big core explosion and the his arm takes over. He doesn’t have a true eastern grip like most one handers have. He holds it closer to the continental grip. and then he hits the ball pretty flat like Stefan Edberg. when the ball is high, Stan loses his strength. so most of that time he will spin the ball. BUT if you hit ANYTHING that allows him to put his front foot down, he will SLAUGHTER the ball. You can almost see him using his rally skills to bide his time until that ball shows up. Novak Djokovic seems to understand Stan’s OBH completely. Hes the only one I’ve see break Stan’s BH down to him not getting to use it the way he wants. He has been having problems winning lately and I suspect that the lower OBHs are starting to wear on his back.

There are two types of OBHs. The one where you step towards the ball and hit with your arm and shoulder and the one where you step sideways and hit with your core. Good players should learn how to hit both. People who want power from the baseline will used their core. but twisting around is not good for moving forward and approaching the net. He can do it. But most of the time he has to stop, hit the backhand, then move in. Where a player like federer can move through the backhand more and get closer to the net.

Stanislas Wawrinka is a fundamentalists player.  He is strong and hustles and does not complain too much.  If you like your one-handed backhand or just like to watch a player beat up on the ball competently, then Wawrinka is your player.  He is like a fighter who hits hard but does not knock people out in one blow and is willing to go the distance.