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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 13, 2018

Stan Wawrinka

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Welcome back. How are you?
STAN WAWRINKA: I'm here, so I'm better. It's been six months now. It's been tough, really tough, to get back on the place to be able to play again.

But I'm feeling better. I'm slowly getting there. First thing was last-minute choice to come here for a week to practice without knowing if I would be able to play or not. But I think was the right choice after few months being home, practicing a lot to get my knee a little bit better.

I think I'm happy with the week I had. It was important to get push, to practice with the top guys, to practice a lot more than normally because it's the first week I had the chance to play points and practice at a high level.

I know I'm not at the level I want to be yet because it's a long process to get there. But I'm happy with the way the knee is handling.

Q. How would you rate your chances, given you're not 100%?
STAN WAWRINKA: For me, I think the fact that I'm here and I'm going to play the first one, it's a big victory. It's the best that I could have dream when I had the surgery, is to be here sitting in front of you and to say, Okay, I'm going to play the first match. That's something really good from my side, especially from the knee. The knee is getting way better. I still have a lot of work to do physically and also tennis-wise to be to my top level.

I'm going to take the time I need for that. I know I need to get through those -- I need to start somewhere anyway. I think here was a good start. It's a good place to start, to get pushed, to see also mentally how I'm going to react, how I'm going to feel when I'm going to be playing matches.

Q. When you withdrew the other night, were you a bit more pessimistic than you are now?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, for sure. The thing is, when you come from where I come with this injury, there's a lot of up and downs. Still now. I pull out because I wasn't ready at all to play. I know that's what the question was. If he's not ready to play a super tiebreak, why would he be ready to play a five-set match? That's the question. But there's nothing to compare. Super tiebreak, you have to be completely ready for short points, it's going quick. I wasn't ready at all to do that.

Q. How touch and go was it whether you came here or not? Were there times you thought you weren't going to make it?
STAN WAWRINKA: When I was home last week, I was improving every day with the fitness, with the tennis also. One moment I had to choose by coming here without knowing if I will be able to play, accepting it, but also having the chance to practice with the top guys, test myself a little bit, test the knee. That's the choice I made.

Q. Rafa yesterday had a full practice match with ball kids, umpires, scoring, like a real match for all intents and purposes. Would you have liked to have done that, given you're in a similar position to him, not having had many matches?
STAN WAWRINKA: No, because at the end even if it's with the ball kids, umpire, you don't get the stress of a match, of a real match, of the competition, of the tournament. For me, today I played set. That's where I test myself. That's where I decide if I'm ready, if I have a chance to win matches or not. I don't need to play a practice match with umpire, judge line, and ball kids to feel better.

Q. You say you wanted to test yourself against the top guys. Who do you actually go out there and play with and practice with?
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, the big week, I practiced with Rafa, I practiced with Novak, with Berdych, with Monfils, with Dimitrov, with (indiscernible) today. I didn't win many sets, but that's not the most important. I did way more hours in one week that I've done the last few months, and against a way better level of intensity. That's my goal, was to come here, to practice three, four hours a day, to see how the knee can keep it.

Q. Is there any pain at all in the knee?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, there is still, for sure. Depends of the way I'm moving, what I'm doing. But it's normal. I need to get there. I need to get through this.

Also I know that physically I'm not at my level at all, but it's okay.

Q. Are you taking painkillers or cortisone injections?
STAN WAWRINKA: No, nothing like that.

Q. How cautious are you about coming back and maybe aggravating the knee again?
STAN WAWRINKA: It's the most important for me to be careful with the knee. That's why I waited the last minute to decide if I was going to play or not. We decide with my team that the practice of today will make the decision if I'm ready or not.

For me, most important was to make sure the knee doesn't risk anything. There's always a little risk, for sure, especially starting after six months in a match, you going to get more tight, you going to get nervous, you're not going to feel as comfortable in match as in practice.

But the knee is staying there, so that's the most important.

Q. It was only today you decided to definitely play?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yes, yes.

Q. When Andy Murray withdrew from this tournament, he wrote a long post on Instagram explaining all of his emotions while he was out, how difficult he was finding it. How difficult did you find it? Did you ever worry that maybe you would not be able to come back?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, for sure. For sure I was worry a lot because I had eight weeks on crutches. I started my first fitness by just walking. The thing is, it's always complicated when you're like at that level before, you get injury, you can get through pain mentally also, feeling lonely, not feeling good. It's tough to explain because some people will always think, C'mon, you have amazing life, why you complain, why you complain about feeling not great? It's always difficult of what you can tell people and what you have to keep for yourself.

For sure, I'm not comparing myself to a lot of people where they get a big problem in their life. It's just an injury in a career. It can be really tough for an athlete to get through this.

Q. Thinking about 2017, are there points, thinking now, you think maybe you shouldn't have played on the knee at certain events, maybe Wimbledon or something?
STAN WAWRINKA: No, not really. If I look my six months, I made a final French, semifinal here, final Indian Wells. I still finished top 10 with six months of playing. I was still playing at the highest level.

For sure, the few weeks on grass was tough, but it's also when I had no choice and I had to stop, because my knee problem were too high.

Q. What is your main goal for the season?
STAN WAWRINKA: My main goal is first to get to the level I want to be physically and also tennis-wise. I know I need few weeks, month. I don't know, I will see. That's my first goal. Then I will decide what will be the next goal.

Q. Have you been told by your surgeon, doctors, that if you feel intense pain, you must stop immediately?
STAN WAWRINKA: I've been in contact a lot with my doctor since the surgery. I know he always told me that it was a big surgery, that it was a complicate one, and it was important to take the time, not to rush, really follow all the process to get there. He knows exactly the pain I feel, the pain I don't feel. At least once a week we talk.

I know exactly when I have to stop practicing or when I have to go a little bit less intense, when I can push.

Q. Where is your surgeon? In Switzerland?
STAN WAWRINKA: In Switzerland.

Q. While you were out, your relationship with Magnus ended. You've been together for a very long time. I read some quotes from you that maybe you weren't too pleased with the fact that he'd left you at that particular point. Could you expand on that, please.
STAN WAWRINKA: No, for sure, it was already a tough, tough, tough moment for myself, to be out, to get surgery, to know that it will take at least six months to be back at a place where I can play tennis again. It was, for sure, tough to hear from him that he will stop at that moment.

As I already said, when you in a tough place like that as an athlete, you want the people who knows you the best to stay around you, to stick with you. You want your team, your family to be here. They will help you the most to get back where you want to be.

For me, Magnus, he was my coach, but he was a friend, even closer than a friend. It was tough to know that he will not be here to start again with me. I was more sad than angry at him.

At the end of the day, I will always be grateful for all the work we've done together the past many years, winning Grand Slam with him. That's what I want to keep from our relationship.

But for sure, that moment, when he came to tell me it was maybe not the best moment to have your coach stopping with you. But it's like that.

Q. What is your situation now coaching-wise?
STAN WAWRINKA: I'm working with Yannick, who was already since four or five years with me, part-time with Magnus also. He's going to travel more with me. I'm looking. I'm thinking. But I had too much in my mind to really go to coach what I want. I have too much to be focused on my knee, my fitness, on getting back there, on my practice.

It's still tough. It cost me a lot of energy to get back where I want to be. My focus is more there than finding a new coach.

Q. Billie Jean King said yesterday, if she was still playing, she would refuse to play on Margaret Court Arena because of comments Margaret made, derogatory comments about gay people. Would you prefer not to play on Margaret Court Arena if you had a choice?
STAN WAWRINKA: At the end of the day, the comments she made was wrong, for sure. But as a player, you don't decide which court you're going to play. It's not really an option to say, I don't want to play on one court, because you cannot decide.

It's not something that, honestly, is really important right now for me, which court I'm going to play. I have other thing in my mind.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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