Stan Wawrinka starts is set to defend his French Open title later this month against the top tennis players in the world, but there are concerns whether the Swiss No. 2 could pull off another stunning performance in Paris amid a somewhat disappointing run this season.
Wawrinka, who currently competes at the Geneva Open, has struggled to win tournaments since his victory at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February. But the more alarming matter for the world No. 4 is his winless campaign in the clay-season, marring his hopes to defend his title at Roland Garros.
However, there are still those who believe Wawrinka could display a high level of performance at the clay-season finale despite unpleasant results in Madrid and Rome. Retired British tennis player Tim Henman believes Wawrinka is still capable of bursting into the tennis scene, although the latter's "inconsistency" may cost him the chance to successfully record a second French Open title.
"The challenge for him is the consistency. Whereas Djokovic, for example, plays well nearly all the time, Wawrinka is much more inconsistent," Henman said, reports The Independent. "However, I'm sure that he'll get a lot of positive vibes from last year in coming back as the defending champion."
Wawrinka has gone through inconsistent displays in the tournaments leading up to the red clay courts of Stade Roland Garros. After a losing against Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters, Wawrinka continued his unfortunate campaign in the European clay-court season, losing to Australia's Nick Kyrgios in the second round of the Madrid Open prior to a Round of 16 defeat in the hands of Argentine Juan Monaco at the Italian capital.
But despite the setbacks in the last two months, Wawrinka is in excitement to take on the likes of Djokovic, Nadal and Andy Murray in the second Grand Slam event of the year. The two-time major winner understands the needed adjustments when playing in Paris and Wawrinka has all the intentions to follow his game plan.
"During a tournament, every day is different to another and I definitely shouldn't try to repeat what I did in game the day before, or two days before as conditions are never the same either. You have to adjust to your opponent," Wawrinka told Eurosport. "For me, it was just two incredible weeks by playing each match to very good level and then battling right to the end."
Wawrinka has failed to gain some momentum for Roland Garros from the lead-up tournaments, but if he could have a masterful victory in Geneva, it would be monumental for Wawrinka's bid to defend his French Open title.