Stan Wawrinka failed surprisingly in the second round of Melbourne at Tenny’s Sandgren from the USA. The former Australian Open winner was not physically fully up to speed after his knee surgery.
He didn’t give himself up, struggling for a magic twist or turn until the last game. But after 88 minutes it was all over for Stan Wawrinka, in this second round game against the unknown American Tennys Sandgren. And at the Australian Championships of the year 2018 in general. 2:6,1:6 and 4:6 were the sobering results for the former tournament champion, who still has a long, hard way to go after his knee surgery – and a comeback that will be more like a marathon effort.
“It was clear that I could not play a decisive role here,”Wawrinka said afterwards,”I am a realist. I still have a lot of work ahead of me,” said Wawrinka, adding that after a break of about six and a half months, Wawrinka was able to take the Grand Slam stage and win his opening match. He was “much further ahead than he thought ” on his comeback, Wawrinka said,”a few days ago it wasn’t even clear that I was going to start.”
After winning the start duel against the Lithuanian Berankis, Wawrinka had already signalled that he was reasonably confident that he would “not be here in ten days’ time”, i. e. at the Grand Slam venue in Melbourne. And this prophecy was already fulfilled in the next match, the next task – against a somewhat unleashed outsider Sandgren, who consistently and energetically used his chance for a surprise coup.
Actually, only in the early stages did Wawrinka feel like he could keep up with his opponent on this hot day in the Grand Slam metropolis, especially at the moment when he scored two break points in the 2-2 tie in the first set. The chances remained unused, however, and from then on the Romand only seemed to be a sparring partner of the 26-year-old nobleman, who had previously rather tried to make a living on the stages of the Challenger tour.
But Sandgren was not impressed by the great name of Wawrinka, who won three Grand Slam titles, nor by the big stage in the Margaret Court Arena. In the meantime, he even won nine games in a row and relentlessly left his mark on the match,”It was sometimes like a dream. You suddenly feel like you can’t do anything wrong,”said the American, who is currently ranked 97th in the ATP pecking order and only won his first career match at a Grand Slam in round one of the Australian Open.
In the third set Sandgren took a break early on, defending his lead to the finish. He, Sandgren, is now battling against the German Maximilian Marterer (ATP 94) for a place in the last sixteen, while Wawrinka faces a complicated return mission weeks ago. And possibly even before further painful defeats. Wawrinka’s next engagements are the tournaments in Rotterdam and Marseille.