We’re watching you, Stan

Wawrinka is on a farewell tour, and even though at the start of the year we felt he was capable of doing some things, well over the past few weeks the trend has reversed properly.

Wawrinka’s losses are getting more and more one-sided; you can see that physically it’s very tough and that he needs a fast surface to save energy. It’s no coincidence he’s improved indoors over the years; his serve and his power can still work wonders, but on clay I’m pretty skeptical. You’ll tell me that last year he made the final in Aix, but the rest of his clay season was really not good, and his match against Baez supports that in my opinion. He quickly goes up a break but then completely collapses; the 7–5 in the second set doesn’t reflect the match at all, he could’ve lost 6–1 just the same, but Baez tightened up. I’m having a hard time seeing Stan being effective as a result.

Barcelona is just as slow and unfortunately not suited to him either; it’s Norrie who’s happy with these conditions, especially since the Brit has a good history at this tournament and was already in good rhythm in Monte Carlo. If the baseline battle sets in right away and he makes the rallies last, then I don’t see many ways out for Wawrinka. He’s going to have to serve like a cannon, play his best tennis, and hold up physically—that’s a bit too much…