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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2016

Stan Wawrinka

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling?
STAN WAWRINKA: I'm feeling good. Started well the year. I won the trophy again in Chennai. Playing really good tennis. So happy to be back. Been practicing well. Looking forward to start the tournament.

Q. Your first-round opponent, what do you make of him?
STAN WAWRINKA: He's coming back I think with injury. Always been a dangerous player. I think he play a little bit last year, end of year. I saw him playing already in the past. Was always tough matches.

He's tough player because he's going for a lot of winner. He's playing hard and fast.

We'll see. I will have to be ready from the first match.

Q. What does Melbourne Park mean to you, having been a former champion here?
STAN WAWRINKA: Always amazing to come back. Always been one of my favorite tournaments to play, starting the year here. Everybody is happy to come back here, for sure. I think that makes it something really special.

Again, it's a new year. Hopefully I can do something good this year.

Q. How much, if at all, does your schedule change or how much focus do you put on this being an Olympic year and Rio this summer?
STAN WAWRINKA: Schedule doesn't change so much. It's just like in summer, it's a little bit more packed. You need to be a little bit careful.

Rio is going to be important, for sure. But it's quite far. There is a lot to do, a lot to play. That's where I put my focus right now.

Q. Roger and Martina Hingis have said they're going to play mixed doubles together. Have you and Roger talked about playing doubles?
STAN WAWRINKA: We have talked, but we haven't decide anything yet. We're not in a rush, so we'll see.

Q. For you, would you play all three events if you could?
STAN WAWRINKA: I don't know. I really don't know. That's part of the talk that we had, playing three, playing two, playing one. I honestly don't know.

Again, it's quite far. I still have time. I prefer to be focused on the tournament I'm playing right now.

Q. So much emphasis and attention on how well Novak is playing at the moment. You're the only person to have beat him at a major tournament last year. What sort of mental position does that put you in here?
STAN WAWRINKA: No, for sure he's playing amazing. The level he's putting is quite amazing. That's why he's No. 1 in the world.

For me, doesn't change anything for this tournament. As long as I don't play him, I don't need to take that. I don't need to take the victory against him.

I'm happy the way I'm playing so far. I'm confident with my game. I'm looking forward to start Tuesday here.

Q. There have been a lot of players that pulled out of warmup events. What do you feel about that? Do you think it's the player's right to do so?
STAN WAWRINKA: I honestly don't know. I saw a lot of woman. I don't know if was a lot of guy pulling out, especially top guys.

It's beginning of the year after off-season. Maybe some players still injury coming here. I don't know. So far you can see on the men's side, they all fit and ready to go. I'm sure if you look at the top 20, everybody's ready and want to do well here.

Q. You started the year again with a title. Is that something that gives you an extra boost coming here?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, for sure. As I always said, title, it's something really special. Doesn't matter the category of the tournament for me, it's always amazing to win the titles, to get the trophy at the end of the week. It doesn't happen every week.

It was great to win Chennai again. Especially I was happy with the way I was playing. Played some really good tennis. It's give you confidence, especially after the off-season, to start it well again directly from the first tournament. Hopefully I can keep playing that well.

Q. There's been a bit of talk in Australia about drugs in sport after the football scandal we had. Do you think the anti-doping regime is strict enough for tennis?
STAN WAWRINKA: There is way more than in the past, testing in tennis, that's for sure. I'm always happy when there is a lot of testing. That's good for our sport. That's good for tennis. So far I think it's been quite a good sport for that.

Q. Would you like to play (indiscernible) against Magnus Norman?
STAN WAWRINKA: I never try. I saw some picture, some video. Too dangerous if we put Magnus and me against each other.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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