Stan Wawrinka is one of the better players currently injured on the ATP Tour. The 2016 US Open champion and finalist at Roland Garros earlier this season won't contest another match during the 2017 season. Wawrinka announced his retirement for the season earlier this month, indicating that he will not be back until the start of 2018. He reaffirmed that message on Tuesday as he tweeted an optimistic message while recovering from surgery in a hospital.
"Not the place I wanted to be," Wawrinka tweeted, "but 2nd surgery went well! That's mean I can start my preparation ... 2018 see you soon! Thanks to all" <sic> (tweeted August 15th at Wawrinka's verified Twitter account).
Wawrinka suffered a knee injury
Wawrinka has an injured knee, perhaps the reason that he went through a bad patch of tennis in recent tournaments. After making the french open final, which he lost soundly to Rafael Nadal, Wawrinka went out in both the first round of the Aegon Championships in London and the first round of Wimbledon in the greater-London area. In both matches, he was playing a player ranked outside of the top 30 on tour.
Wawrinka managed to win just one set in the two matches combined.
The Swiss player hasn't contested a match since Wimbledon and, based on his 2018 target, his fans will be expecting him back for the 2018 Australian Open in January in Melbourne. Wawrinka's early-season calendar has also taken him through Chennai on many occasions, a venue where he has won multiple titles. This year he went to Brisbane instead of Chennai, an Australian-based event that he debuted at. If things go well for Wawrinka in terms of recovering from surgery, then fans can expect him at one of those two events ahead of the Aussie next season. In a follow-up tweet, Wawrinka specifically mentioned the medical staff and his fans as providing "support" at this time.
Missing the US Open
Wawrinka's name has been a mainstay in Grand Slam draws since the 2005 French Open. In missing the upcoming US Open, which starts on August 28th, his lengthy streak of consecutive Grand Slam appearances will come to an end. It will also mark the first tournament from Flushing Meadows that he will miss since prior to the 2005 season. The start of his 2017 season was strong enough, with good results at the Australian Open and the French Open, that he likely still be a top-ten player upon his return in 2018. That is despite missing the upcoming Grand Slam and the balance of the season with tournaments in Basel, Shanghai, Paris, and London among others.