Stan ready to defend title
dubai — With just 25 days to go until the men’s finals of the 25th anniversary of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, defending champion Stan Wawrinka is hoping to repeat his victory in Dubai and hold the trophy aloft again.
After enjoying yet another successful season on the ATP World Tour in 2016, and beginning 2017 by reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open before falling to the resurgent Roger Federer in a nail-biting five setter.
But things do not always run smoothly for the Swiss number one and spectators might experience more of the roller coaster excitement he produced on his last appearance. Last year he arrived in Dubai knowing that in his previous two visits he had failed to even win a set. The first time was understandable as he had the misfortune to draw Roger Federer, but the second time he fell to a qualifier ranked 188 in the world. And last year he found himself within two points of defeat against Sergiy Stakhovsky in his opening match. Even in winning the final he kept the sell-out crowd on the edge of their seats as he fought off five second set points against Marcos Baghdatis in a nail-biting tiebreak.
Although he holds three of the four Grand Slams, after winning the Australian Open in 2014, the French Open in 2015 and the US Open in 2016, Wawrinka still feels that he is far from the finished article.
“There’s many things I can improve,” he said as last season drew to a close. “If I look in general, the (2016) season was amazing for me. I won a Grand Slam, plus finished in the top five. I won in my home in Geneva, which was really important for me. But I’m not consistent enough during the year. I can play amazing, I can win a Grand Slam, but I’m not playing well enough all the year.”
Action gets underway first with the WTA event that features seven of the world’s top 10, including world number one Angelique Kerber, reigning French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, 2017 Brisbane winner Karolina Pliskova, 2017 Sydney champion Johanna Konta and former Dubai winners Agnieszka Radwanska, Sara Errani and Caroline Wozniacki.