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FEVER-TREE CHAMPIONSHIP

June 20, 2018

Stan Wawrinka

London, England

S. QUERREY/S. Wawrinka

7-5, 6-7, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What was your feeling about your singles match today?
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, it's for sure some frustration to lose it, but I have to look the right thing, the right way. I think the level is there. I think I'm moving quite good on the grass. I was feeling good. I had a lot of chance in the first set. Didn't make it. I feel I could have made it better.

He was playing really good. He's a tough player to play on the grass. He loves the grass. He always have great result. He won here. Semifinal last year.

It was a tough match, but I think in general this is a positive loss for me, if I really look the right thing in the right way. For sure, I'm sad and frustrated because I need to win matches, I want to win matches, and I want more. That's for sure.

But there is a lot to take in the right way, and I'm sure if I can, as I say, keep doing the right thing day by day, building on this and keep trying to improve, the result will come. I need to be patient with that.

Q. How close do you think you are to your best tennis now?
STAN WAWRINKA: I don't know. It's not the question that I ask myself, because when I was at my best, everything, it's too difficult to say, okay, my tennis is at my best, my physical also.

But there is mentally, there is the confidence. There is playing a lot of match week after week, all the year, six months, more than six months. So it's tough to really say.

All I know is that I personally feel really good with the way I'm practicing, the way I'm moving and the way I'm playing my game. Now all I need is to keep playing match like today, like two days ago, also, try to win little by little, get the confidence back, get used to play all those important points, feeling the right way mentally on the court, knowing that when you play a match like that, if you play ten matches like that, then you think less and you know exactly what you're going to do at 5-5, you know what you're going to do in the tiebreak, and that's how you start winning again.

Q. Do you believe completely now in your knee? Is it 100%?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, I do. I do believe completely. I think since arrive on the grass, I had the good surprise. In Paris, was tough, was tough to keep it also the level. After Paris I did two strong week of practice physical, a little bit of tennis but mostly physical. And when I arrive here, I'm feeling great.

For sure, there is there that is not the same and there is few things on the court that is not the same and maybe will never be the same.

But I believe that I'm strong enough now to play my best tennis. Is it going to be enough? We don't know.

Q. Is it difficult when you've been off as long as you were to wait like until the right moment? We have seen a lot of players come back this year and then go away for a bit. Is it a difficult thing? Because you want to play so much.
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, for sure it's difficult, especially when you've been out like I did for first time six months. Then I came back on the tour. I wanted to play. I was good mentally, but I knew I wasn't ready but it was important to do it.

It's tough to take the decision of putting yourself away from tournaments, getting stronger physically, getting ready tennis, and know exactly when you are at 100%, because especially -- I don't know. I talk for myself, but even if I'm not really 100%, I still believe I can win some matches.

That's when it start to be tricky. You need to really find the right moment. And even when you come back on the tour, you need to still be patient, because it's not going to come back like that and you're going to be the same player as one year before.

You need to, to work out on the tour, you need to accept to the first round, need to accept to second round, to have one week before the next match, to play another tournament, maybe to lose first round again and to go like that for that weeks or months and suddenly everything come back together and you can start to win tournaments.

Q. Is it too easy to rush it, too eager to push yourself too hard?
STAN WAWRINKA: No. I think for me my injury was too bad to even have a choice. I start from zero. My first fitness practice was just walking. The most difficult part was to be happy with it when you know what you can do.

If you start from zero and you finish 20- minutes or 30-minutes session and you have to tell yourself, wow, this is good, this is positive, and that's when it start to be tough, because it last for months.

Q. Would you make a difference between the fitness you need to play in an ATP event and a Grand Slam, you may have to play five sets? Is there a huge difference, do you think?
STAN WAWRINKA: There is not a huge difference, because I have been on the tour for more than ten years, so you get used to it and you adapt a little bit. For sure if you come from zero, for sure it's a big difference.

I think when you come back from surgery, yes, there is few level of your fitness when you come back, so you cannot do everything. For me, it was like step by step, and the last step is to be 100% physically ready but for five hours and not going down and up and down during five hours.

I think I'm close from that. When I came back in Geneva, I wasn't, for sure, ready to play five hours in the same level physically. That's for sure. But there is only one way to do it. It's to keep working out, to keep playing tournaments, keep fighting. And then you put everything back together.

Q. How did you find playing with Novak in the doubles?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, it's always fun. He's a great friend. We have a lot of things to talk. It was not the best match, but it was good.

Q. How do you rate his chances with Queen's going forward and his chances at Wimbledon?
STAN WAWRINKA: I think he has a big chance. He's playing well. Always love to play on the grass. Always been a strong player to play on the grass. If he's 100% and ready, he's going to be tough to beat.

Q. Did you see any of Andy's comeback match yesterday?
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, I watch a little bit. Let's say it's a tough match to really know exactly how he is, because it was strange match. Don't know.

It was tough to comment anything, you know. And also the first match I think he was for sure moving, playing well, knowing that he's been away for a year. But if I take my experience, what's important is how he's going to be the next match he's going to play, when he's going to play, how it's going to feel, because yesterday was kind of different match.

Q. He said that he only played for an hour and a half on the practice court, and so at about an hour and 45, he had to kind of go -- his body wouldn't do what he told it to. Is it awkward he didn't play longer?
STAN WAWRINKA: No, I know the feeling. I know the feeling. You know, we have different injury, but for me I was also similar. I was only allowed to do certain amount of time on the court or on the physical end.

And if suddenly you have to play a match, that's what happen also for me like at the French Open, I never play that long on a practice court since a year. So for sure you start, your body start to be off, even if you have no pain or nothing, but you're just not used to play that long.

So when you come back from injury, there is things that you have to follow. There is rule that from your doctor or from your physio fitness team. For sure, when you come back from so far, you cannot just start suddenly and say, okay, I'm going to practice three hours in a row. Yeah, I understand what he's saying.

Q. Must be very frustrating, because you must want to practice so much.
STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, it is, it is. That's the difficult part, when you are injured, to accept the process, to accept, like -- even if you feel bad or even if you feel good and mentally you want to practice three hours, you cannot. You're not allowed to. It's not good for you. You have to be patient and wait weeks or months to be able to do it.

Q. How sore were you physically maybe two days after your first match back?
STAN WAWRINKA: Well, my first match was Australian Open, and two days after I was not feeling like pain or whatever, but my body was completely off. I lost 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, but I couldn't really do anything.

That's mentally tough, because you have never experienced that in the past. So you need to learn from it, you need to adapt and accept it and be patient with yourself and what you're gonna do.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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