Stanislas Wawrinka: The glorious underachiever who finally got fed up with losing

Nobody can play tennis the Stan Wawrinka way. Even if at times his looks can be deceiving. Wawrinka looks like he has done a shift on a building site rather than one rampaging around a tennis court, but there is a beauty in his scruffiness.

Especially when he won this tournament two years ago beating Novak Djokovic in four sets wearing what appeared to be a pair of beach shorts.

He resembles a bloke who would be handy with a set of darts and pint in his hand. Only he isn’t. You don’t develop such a venomous and invigorating backhand like Stan's by chucking arrows.

And you don’t earn such a glorious back catalogue of the sport's most prized assets by sinking pints.

Wawrinka suddenly specialises in winning Grand Slams. The Australian Open in 2014, the French Open in 2015 and the US Open in 2016 at the ages of 28, 30 and 31. And the French Open in 2017 at 32? Possibly. He is the oldest man to contest the French Open final since 33-year-old Niki Pilic in 1973.

It is a curious career trajectory after spending most of his 20s underachieving.

Stan the Man is on the cusp of a fourth major in four years if he can defeat Nadal, the player he shocked to win the first of his slams in four sets in Melbourne three years ago.

But he isn’t a late developer. Because for much of his career, he did not develop the passion he possesses these days. He didn't seem to care enough about his prospects. Or the damage he could reap with his thumping groundstrokes.

Before he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the US Open in 2013, Wawrinka astonishingly reached only two quarter-finals at the majors after turning professional at the age of 17 in 2002.

Yet Wawrinka’s style has changed little. The backhand is one of the most deadly and aesthetically pleasing shots in the history of tennis, but he has always possessed that.

What he boasts these days is belief, an innate ability to believe in his own greatness. As he readily demonstrated against Andy Murray by punching away a bewildering array of winners in the French Open semi-finals that carried the match away from the Scotsman quicker than a prize racehorse at nearby Longchamp.

When he is good, he is not only very, very good. He is unplayable. Wawrinka bombarded Murray with 87 winners in response to 36 in a rousing 6-7 6-3 5-7 7-6 6-1 success.

Murray admitted he would have liked to have hung in there, but trying to hang in there when Wawrinka is working his magic is like trying to land orca with a fishing rod.

At times, it must be difficult not to become an interested spectator, a hypnotic admirer of what is going on over the other side of the net.

Like Djokovic in the final at Roland Garros two years ago, at least Murray knows he didn’t lose it. The final set in particular was taken away from him after just over four hour and 30 minutes of absorbing interaction.

When Wawrinka is hot, he becomes scalding.

Nine-times champion Nadal, the game's greatest dirtballer, is bidding for 'La Decima' on clay at the age of 31. It is a different world facing Nadal in Paris than on a hard court in Melbourne, but if anybody possesses the pedigree to trouble Nadal, it is the Swiss.

Amid a world of muscle and machismo, Wawrinka continues to do it his way.

His money shot is the backhand, but what should never be underestimated are his other attributes: instinct, appetite, deceptive natural fitness and his ability to become a genuine giant under duress. If he wins, he moves one ahead of Murray as a major winner. Not bad for a bloke who truly began caring in the autumn of his tennis career.

Wawrinka has a tattoo inked on his left arm that reads:

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” These are the words of the poet Samuel Beckett.

If he is on it on Sunday, there is every chance Wawrinka will have the final word.