Stan Wawrinka admits what ‘wasn’t easy’ about being from the same country as Roger Federer

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Stan Wawrinka is one of only two men from Switzerland to have won a Grand Slam singles title.

Wawrinka has won three major titles in his career, and is still competing on the ATP Tour at 40-years-old.

While his fellow Swiss Federer retired at the Laver Cup in 2022, with 20 major title victories to his name.

Although they were compatriots and Davis Cup teammates, Wawrinka has made a confession about the difficulty of being in the shadow of Federer.

Stan Wawrinka admits what wasn’t easy about being from the same country as Roger Federer

In a recent interview with Eurosport France, Wawrinka was asked about his friendship with many French players and if he thinks his career would have been different if he was from the Grand Slam nation.

When responding to this question, Wawrinka admitted that he had his own pressures of being from the same country as Federer.

“The only thing I don’t like about sport is the ‘if’ questions (smiles),” said Wawrinka. “With ‘ifs’, you can change the world. With ‘ifs’, I could have been world number one or won every Grand Slam tournament five times.

“What I can see is that it’s different than being in Switzerland. The pressure is different, but on the other hand, in France, it’s easy to start your career with support thanks to Roland Garros and all the tournaments in the country. There are always positives and negatives.

“All I know is that I grew up in Switzerland and made my career as a Swiss in Roger’s shadow, which wasn’t easy either. I’ve had positives and negatives. I’ve always tried, as best I could, to take the positives from every situation.

“For me, I think it was a huge stroke of luck – at least, that’s how I took it – to have Roger in the same country, to have the greatest player of all time next to me. But that doesn’t mean it was easy either. So, to come back to that question, I simply can’t answer it.”

Wawrinka appeared to thrive under that pressure, winning three out of his four Grand Slam finals.

The former world number three was asked to elaborate on how he managed this pressure, with Wawrinka explaining that he decided to focus on his own situation rather than external factors.

“You can’t change situations, you can’t change what’s happening around you,” explained Wawrinka. “I couldn’t change the fact that Roger was here, that he was the greatest player of all time. You can’t decide the results of other players, those of our generation. All you can do is focus on your career.

“That’s what I’ve always done. And I’ve always wanted to be the best version of myself. I was lucky enough to share a lot with Roger, we were lucky enough to play in the Olympic Games, the Davis Cup…”

“I was lucky that he was already at the top of his game when I arrived on the tour, I trained a lot with him, I talked a lot with him about tennis and other things. I always tried to take the positives from the situation. So, I will always say that it was a huge opportunity.”

Stan Wawrinka’s head-to-head with Roger Federer

Although they won the Davis Cup and an Olympic gold medal together, Wawrinka and Federer also went head-to-head on multiple occasions.

Despite being a three-time major winner, Wawrinka was dominated in his 26 meetings against his compatriot.

Federer won 23 of those matches, with Wawrinka’s only three victories coming on the clay of Monte Carlo and Roland Garros.

While Federer continues to enjoy his retirement, Wawrinka appears to have no plans to retire just yet.

The current world number 158 has lost his last three meetings, but is bidding to return to form at the ATP Challenger tournament in Aix-en Provence.