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FAMOUS TENNIS PLAYER
YB WEB DESK. Dated: 12/3/2020 12:29:45 PM
Stan Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 3 singles ranking for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlights include three Grand Slam titles including the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 French Open and 2016 US Open, where he defeated the No. 1 player in the final on all three occasions, reaching the final of the 2017 French Open, winning an ATP Tour Masters 1000 title at the 2014 Monte-Carlo Masters, and reaching three other finals at 2008 Rome, 2013 Madrid and 2017 Indian Wells. As a competitor for Switzerland, Wawrinka won gold in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with teammate Roger Federer, and was also pivotal in the Swiss team's victory at the 2014 Davis Cup. Wawrinka considers clay his best and favorite surface, and his serve and backhand his best shots. John McEnroe once said that Wawrinka has one of the most powerful backhands ever, and in 2009 described him as having "the best onehanded backhand in the game." He has been described by The Economist as "Tennis's great latecomer", owing to finding success late in his career. Prior to the 2014 French Open, he requested and the ATP granted a formal change in his name from "Stanislas Wawrinka" to "Stan Wawrinka", stating that he plans to use the abbreviated name in tournament draws and press conferences. Tennis career Wawrinka started playing tennis at the age of eight, and played once a week until he was eleven, when he started to practice three times a week. Wawrinka stopped attending regular schooling at age 15 to focus full-time on tennis. However, he continued his schooling by distance education with the French organization CNED, which offered him greater flexibility. Wawrinka turned professional in 2002 at the age of 17. He was coached from age eight until June 2010 by Dimitri Zavialoff. Wawrinka is a three-time Grand Slam tournament winner, Olympic champion and Davis Cup champion for his country. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the ATP for the first time on 12 May 2008, and first reached a career peak of world No. 3 on 27 January 2014, at the same time as he became the Swiss No. 1. He has reached four Grand Slam singles finals in his career to date, winning three: the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open.