'Passion Is Still Intact': Vintage Stan Wawrinka Rolls Back Years at Australian Open Farewell

Last Updated:January 19, 2026, 15:15 IST

Stan Wawrinka, 2014 Australian Open champion, wins his opening round at Kia Arena, showing passion in his final season before retirement.

Stan Wawrinka beat Laslo Djere in four sets (Picture credit: AP)

2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka has said that it has been a while since he made a proper comeback, but he still has the passion intact, as he pulled off a four-set win in the opening round of the season-opening Slam.

Wawrinka, 40 and in his final season before retirement, dug deep to defeat Serbia’s Laslo Djere 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), with a partisan Kia Arena crowd roaring him on.

But Wawrinka made life tough for himself, working 18 break points but only converting three of them in a draining three-hour and 20-minute-long battle.

“It was amazing today, so thank you so much. It’s my last year. It has been too long since I last came back, but the passion is still intact. But I am not young anymore, so I need to be careful also," Wawrinka said after the match.

“It is my last time and I am trying to enjoy it. But at the same time as I am trying to compete. I am always going to fight," Wawrinka added.

The Swiss stalwart, ranked 139, bounced back from losing the opening set to overwhelm the 92nd-ranked Djere in the second.

Defying his age, Wawrinka then took the third before an energy-sapping fourth went to a tiebreak where his experience came into play.

“He is a great player. Last time we met, he beat me, so I expected a tough match today. But I am happy with the discipline I put on myself, to keep staying with him, to keep fighting, trying to be a bit more aggressive, trying to find a way," Wawrinka said.

The 2015 French Open champion claimed the first of his major titles in Melbourne in 2014, a season in which he rose to a career-high world No. 3 and reached two other Grand Slam semi-finals.

Along with that title, Wawrinka won the French Open a year later and the US Open in 2016.

News sports tennis 'Passion Is Still Intact': Vintage Stan Wawrinka Rolls Back Years at Australian Open Farewell

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