Yesterday, we reported news of Venus Williams and French Open defending champion Jelena Ostapenko being knocked out of the tournament in just Round 1. Today, we have similar news, with former French Open champion and number 23 seed Stan Wawrinka being knocked out of the men’s tournament.
The 33-year old turned pro way back in 2002 but has been enjoying the best phase of his career only in the last 3-4 years, winning his first Grand Slam title in 2014 and then winning the 2015 French Open as well. He reached the final of last year’s tournament as well, only to lose to the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. However, his best result in the last four grand slams was Round 2 in the recent 2018 Australian Open.
Earlier today, Wawrinka was seen struggling in a 5-set marathon 1st Round game against the Spaniard Guillermo García López, who came back from being 2-1 down to winning and knocking out the ATP World Number 30, Wawrinka. What this loss does is it sends Wawrinka spiralling down the rankings, out of the top 250. Wawrinka addressed the issue after the game but seemed uninterested in his huge drop in the rankings. Here’s what he commented about the same:
“You practise well and you get your level back and you win matches, and in a few months you’re back up to your level if you play well. That’s as simple as that. You know, when you’re out on the tour because of injury, that’s for sure your ranking will drop no matter what, because you didn’t play. I think all I say all my career is that the ranking doesn’t lie. If you play you are at the top. If you don’t play, you’re getting down.”
The winning moment:
Vamos! ??
For the second time, @GuillermoGLopez knocks out Wawrinka in Roland-Garros 1R with a 6-2 3-6 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3 win.#RG18 pic.twitter.com/1ctOf3njks
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2018
