An all-time favorite victory gesture for sports enthusiasts has been the finger to the temple. While many believe that it is the iconic trademark of soccer players like Marcus Rashford or Ruben Neves, a tennis journalist on Twitter has debunked the myth. A few hours ago, the account posted pictures of a Swiss tennis legend who might have pioneered this popular gesture.

We’re talking about the 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka! The tennis player’s pictures celebrating his victory have gone viral on the Internet with this post from David Mbewa. Tennis fans from all over the world are reacting proudly to Stan’s gesture and amidst this, a new hashtag has come to fruition- #stantheman!

Stan Wawrinka fans hit Twitter hard with their loyalty

The tennis journalist tweeted pictures of Stan with the caption, “Not Marcus Rashford, not Ruben Neves…Stan Wawrinka was doing that iconic celebration long before either of those two.“

Fans of Wawrinka have claimed that the world has forgotten the Olympic gold medalist who teamed up with Roger Federer and brought glory to Swiss tennis. They feel like Wawrinka is an underrated player.

They have also come up with this new caption of “stan the man” which is gaining popularity as the tweet continues to go viral.

The gesture of putting a finger to the temple after winning a match essentially means that the real game is in the mind.

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And holding his racket up as Stan does, is an indication that he is here, present in the match, mind and soul. Keeping in line with this, fans have also taken a dig at soccer fanatics.

An Italian fan remarked, “For all those football-centric beasts who have gotten even more numb with social media,” with the viral hashtag.

A fan has just posted a hilarious picture of the Kermit sipping tea meme template and said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Taking a brutal stab at the soccer players, he added, “you know who you are”.

However, not much is heard from Wawrinka since he made his comeback last year.

Stan Wawrinka has one of the most illustrious careers in ATP history. However, his progress has often suffered due to injuries and illnesses. Naturally, his performance against Daniil Medvedev in the Moselle Open and against Casper Ruud in the 2022 Swiss Indoors sparked hope in his fans.

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Since then, he has been training with his coach Magnus Norman. Wawrinka is yet to make an appearance in the 2023 season.