Roger Federer will miss the rest of the 2020 season after two knee surgeries in February and May. As he works his way back, the rest of Federer’s team are trying to get involved, with Severin Luthi training promising Swiss juniors and Piere Paganini who has also been busy.
Three-time Major Champion Stan Wawrinka shared a photo with the famed athletic trainer, training hard in Nyon and preparing a return to Prague Challenger in two weeks. The former champion decided to skip the US Open, opting to stay in Europe and compete in the Challenger Tour for the first time in a decade.
After a couple of months free from the coronavirus outbreak, Stan is back on the training ground, shaping his game and hoping to build a form before Rome and Roland Garros. World no. 17 had to skip the US Open three years ago, undergoing two knee surgeries in August and dropping out of the top 250 in June 2018.
By giving everything he could to comeback, Stan returned to the top-30 in May last year, hitting the top-20 in October and settling there. Wawrinka scored eight wins in 11 fights in 2020, losing in the semi-finals in Doha to Corentin Moutet and Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
The Swiss competed in his last tournament before the coronavirus in Acapulco, losing in two sets to Grigor Dimitrov. In Prague, Stan is expected to face Jiri Vesely, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Marton Fucsovics, in search of the third consecutive Challenger title after winning Lugano at home in 2009-2010.
Pierre Paganini will undoubtedly be able to get the most out of Wawrinka after a long hiatus, working with him in those tough times of 2017 and bringing the best of a player who had won the majors crowns in the last three years.
Pierre Paganini has been working with Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka for years.
Showing interest in working with soccer stars, Pierre Paganini ended up in tennis, leading Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka to the pinnacle of men’s tennis and 23 Major titles combined.
Paganini met 14-year-old Roger Federer at Ecublens near Lausanne, joining his team in 2000 and remaining in the chosen group for two decades. Making him one of the most prepared athletes in the world, Paganini had the opportunity to follow Roger’s every step during recovery or pre-season, sharing the joy of winning with the Swiss at Roland Garros 2009 and Wimbledon 2017.
“We always take advantage of the experience and, as we planned with Stan, it is useful to have just dealt with Roger,” Paganini said in 2017. “What is comparable is the duration. Roger stopped in July 2016 and started to January. Stan stopped in July 2017 and the goal is to start in January 2018 “.
