Wawrinka, in Federer's Shadow: "I Always Tried to Take the Positive from the Situation"
Stan Wawrinka spoke at length with Eurosport France during the Monte-Carlo tournament. It was an opportunity for him to reflect on his career and discuss many topics.
He notably addressed the fact of having been in Roger Federer's shadow: "All I know is that I grew up in Switzerland and had my career as a Swiss player in Roger's shadow, which wasn't easy either.
I had both positive and negative experiences. I always tried, as best I could, to take the positive from every situation.
For me, I think it was a huge opportunity—at least, that's how I took it—to have Roger in the same country, to have the greatest player of all time nearby.
But that doesn’t mean it was easy either. So, to come back to this question, I simply can’t answer it.
I couldn’t change the fact that Roger was there, that he was the greatest player of all time. You can’t decide the results of other players, those from our generation.
All you can do is focus on your own career. That’s what I’ve always done. And I’ve always wanted to be the best version of myself.
I was lucky to share so much with Roger—we had the chance to play in the Olympics, the Davis Cup…
I was fortunate that he was already at the top when I joined the tour. I trained a lot with him, talked with him a lot about tennis and other things. I always tried to take the positive from the situation.
So, I’ll always say it was a huge opportunity."
