In an era that has been dominated by the almighty Big Four, Stan Wawrinka could go down as the name who broke the long-standing monopoly of the infamous group. Despite winning the same number of Grand Slam as Andy Murray did, the Swiss player is still behind and the main reason is that he has been lacking consistency. He did great winning three Majors over the past three and a half years but a further impact from his side is yet to be determined. Traditionally, his success is then followed by a letdown period. As the season has shifted from grass court to North American hard court, Wawrinka will have to target US Open as the primary goal of the following weeks.
As a defending champion, he has a lot on his plate given the fact that he hasn't been able to successfully defend any Grand Slam title yet.
A solid start of the season and few significant finals in 2017
Wawrinka had a decent start in 2017 reaching the semis at the Australian Open where he fell short to Roger Federer at the end of an epic five sets thriller. A few months later, he made it to the final in Indian Wells where Federer knocked him out once more. The clay season saw Wawrinka scrambling to find some pace on the European red dirt. As he did in the past, he went on reaching his peak of form during the French Open where he made it to his second final. But this time he failed to win as he did in the previous three Grand Slam finals as Rafael Nadal was a bit too much for him to handle.
The grass season brought no significant result as he went off early at Wimbledon.
Wawrinka won three Majors breaking the Big Four monopoly
Finding his best game while approaching the 30 years of age limit, Wawrinka dug the foundation of a personal pattern as he went on winning one Grand Slam per season starting with 2014 Australian Open.
Last year, during the North American outdoor hard session he had little success losing early in Canda while in Cincinnati he fell short to Nishikori in the semis. But those results didn't stop him from pursuing his dream at Flushing Meadows.
Currently ranked fourth in the world, Stan Wawrinka needs some solid results prior to US Open.
If he won't complete the defending run at US Open he could use some ranking points to limit the fall. With Djokovic out of the contest, Wawrinka can hope for an accessible draw at US Open. So far, in 2017 his numbers are a bit lower as he has gathered a 26-11 win/ loss and a single ATP 250 title in his home country in Geneva just before Roland Garros. A small harvest for a player who can produce irresistible tennis.
