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INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 8, 2016

Stan Wawrinka

Rome, Italy

An interview with:

STAN WAWRINKA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How important is it to you to have a good week here?
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, it's always important. But for sure losing first round in Madrid doesn't give me a lot of matches and a lot of points.

I'm here. I have been practicing well. I think my level is good. So hopefully I can start well and do something big.

But, you know, not having matches for Paris or not even getting ready for that, for me it's more about playing well every week I play. That's the most important for myself. As long as I'm practicing well and doing the right thing, I know it's going to come.

Q. Can you remember how you felt one year ago? Did you feel better with your game a year ago or is it the same?
STAN WAWRINKA: No, not at all. Last year I was struggling with my game before here. I was starting only here to practice a little bit better, to find some level. I wasn't playing great tennis. I start little by little to play better and better in Rome, Geneva, and then in Paris.

This year I'm just feeling really good in practice. I think I'm playing well. That's why I know that if I keep pushing myself the rest will come sooner or later. I don't know when, but I know that my level is there.

Q. Going into Roland Garros as defending champion for the first time, do you feel extra attention, extra pressure at this stage? Like in Rome, in particular.
STAN WAWRINKA: For sure extra attention. That's for sure after doing what I did last year winning there. Way more people and things to do and to talk about French Open.

Honestly the pressure, no. There is not more pressure and not less pressure. Every year I go to French Open, I put a lot of pressure on myself because I want to play well there. I love this tournament. So this year is going to be the same of the pressure-wise. Going to be really hard like every year, but that's it.

Q. Have you confirmed your Olympic program beyond singles? Doubles, mixed doubles?
STAN WAWRINKA: Not yet.

Q. No? You're not interested in -- are you interested in the doubles and the mixed?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, I'm interesting in Olympic, for sure. I just know also that playing three competition, eight days, I don't know how many matches, can be quite tricky and not easy. We need to really know what we're going to do and what you want to do. That's why I haven't decide yet what I'm going to do.

Q. Apart from yourself, who do you see as the favorite for Roland Garros? Do you see Novak or Rafa as the favorite? Or maybe Murray?
STAN WAWRINKA: I see Novak, for sure, the favorite, as last year. I think he's going to be tough to beat. He's going to be the big favorite. Then I would put Murray and Rafa. Rafa is starting to get back some confidence. He's playing better. Murray is playing extremely well since few years now especially on clay. Last year he won Madrid. Now he's in the final again.

So it's going to be I think a really interesting French Open again.

Q. I just want to ask you, there are many young players growing up like Zverev, Thiem. Do you think they are ready for very big success?
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, they are already good. They are already really good. I lost to Kyrgios last week. He's playing very well. Zverev, also.

There is many, many young players coming. If they are ready to win the Grand Slam, I don't know. I don't know yet. They gonna come closer and closer with time. How long they will need for that, we don't know. But for sure they gonna be there. They are gonna have a chance.

I don't know if it's this year but next year or the year after, but it's quite interesting to see all those player coming because you know it's going to be the next generation. It's quite good to play all those players already.

Q. Talking about Bernie Tomic, the match against Fognini, the way he ended it last week, can you understand what would bring a player to do something like that at the end of a match, or is it completely deplorable?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, I watched the video, like everybody. I didn't see the match. I don't know what's happen during the match. I just saw the last match. For sure it's not the way you want to finish a match. That's for sure.

I don't know the rest. I don't have any comment about that from me. Just a new week, a new match. Maybe I'm going to play him here. We'll see.

Q. Just going back to the young players, do you see any young Swiss guys coming up? I'm not aware of too many, but is there a system in place to develop them?
STAN WAWRINKA: There is not many Swiss players coming yet, but we'll see. We'll see. We always been lucky in Switzerland to have a lot of top players there, every generation almost, girls, guys. We'll see in few years what's gonna happen.

Q. According to you, which is the reason why there is no more, let's say, Stefan Edberg kind of players on the circuit, I mean, playing on the net and so on? Maybe there are many reasons, but to you...
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, just the game change completely. If you see, everybody is stronger. Everybody is faster. Every match we play faster, close from the baseline.

Just cannot compare generation. If you look, you still have Raonic coming up to the net. You have some few guys they come a lot to the net. Roger, when he's feeling good, he's coming to the net.

Is just for me impossible to compare those two generation with the way we play tennis now and the way they were playing before. I think there is many reason why it's just different.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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