Stan Wawrinka, who trained with Rafael Nadal on Wednesday at the Roland-Garros Central, assured AFP on Thursday that the Spaniard, who is trying to come back after two years of battling injuries, was “still as strong as ever “.
“It’s good to see that he (Nadal) can play again, that he’s not injured. I really hope that he can come back in shape because if his body leaves him alone a little bit, he has plenty to do. He is still as strong as ever,” the Swiss told AFP as part of the announcement of a partnership with the company Bitpanda specializing in trading and cryptocurrencies.
“I trained with him on Wednesday. I love training with him, he always puts a lot of intensity, we always do very good training. If injuries leave him alone, he risks being very dangerous during the “year if he manages to string together tournaments and matches,” added the 39-year-old Swiss.
The former world No.3, who fell to 97th this week, nevertheless recognizes that Nadal, who will celebrate his 38th birthday on June 3, is no longer quite the clay-court ogre he once was. summer and in particular because it no longer moves as fast. But for Wawrinka, more than age, it is the injuries that handicap the Mallorcan.
“There are things he does less well than before but it’s because of injuries,” assured the three-time Grand Slam winner (Australian Open 2014, Roland-Garros 2015 and US Open 2016).
He himself will face another glorious veteran in the first round in a duel with the flavor of a final… from a few years ago: Andy Murray.
The Swiss and the Scotsman are the only two players to have won three Majors during the era of Big 3 domination (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic).
“A reunion. We have played each other several times in recent years at Roland-Garros, big matches and slightly less big matches since our injuries,” recalled Wawrinka.
He himself had surgery on his right knee in 2007 and his left foot in March and June 2021.
“He’s someone I know very, very well. We’ve played each other plenty of times throughout our careers. We’ve had some big injuries in recent years, but it could be a very interesting match “, he said, emphasizing that he and Murray were “looking for victories this year”.
“I have won few matches since the start of the year, but overall my level physically and technically is there. In training, things are going well so I hope to be able to win matches,” replied Wawrinka to the question of what objectives he had set for himself.
2024-05-23 20:57:07
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