It’s wild cards for Wawrinka

– Stan Wawrinka (above) is resigned to the fact he will soon have to send out begging letters.

A year after reaching the French Open final, the threetimes Grand Slam champion will effectively fall off the tennis radar after being beaten in the first round of the clay court event.

Monday’s result will see his ranking plummet from 30th to outside the top 250 in the world when the new standings are released on June 11.

His inability to defend the 1 200 ranking points he earned in Paris last year, combined with the knee injury that shut down his 2017 season last June, means he has effectively hit rock-bottom as he will be left with around 210 points – good enough for 261st place this week.

To gain entry into events, he will now have to request wildcards and rely on the goodwill of tournament organisers if he wants to regain his place among the tennis elite.

Rather then getting worked up about his misfortune, Wawrinka put a positive spin on his predicament because as far as he is concerned the only way for him now is upwards and onwards.

“When you’re out of the tour because of injury, for sure your ranking will drop because you didn’t play,” the 2015 Roland Garros champion told reporters following his 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 defeat by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

“The ranking doesn’t lie. If you play you are at the top. If you don’t, you go down. For sure, I’m going to require some wildcards. But again, if I have to play some (lower tier) challenger (tournaments), I have no problem with that.

“I know exactly where I want to be. I’ve won three Grand Slams and I know what it takes. My goal is to get to back to the top. Sooner or later I will be.” –