It appears that Stan Wawrinka was simply destined to play the men’s singles draw at the US Open one last time. After initially not gaining a wildcard for the tournament, the 2016 champion lost all hope of featuring in the competition and even bid farewell to it through a heartwarming Instagram post on Tuesday. But the tides have turned in just a day, and Wawrinka is now set to receive the last remaining wildcard for the draw at the expense of Patrick Kypson.
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Turns out Kypson has withdrawn from the tournament due to an injury. As a result, Wawrinka has been awarded the final wildcard. The Swiss will be ecstatic to get a chance of playing the Grand Slam one last time as he will be retiring at the end of this season. It is clear that he wanted to have another shot at the title and was disappointed when he didn’t receive the wildcard. That is why he wrote a social media post that would make any of his fans emotional.
“When I first arrived in New York from a small farming village in Switzerland, everything felt too big,” he wrote in the Instagram post. “The city. The noise. The energy. The crowds. The lights. But year after year, New York slowly became one of my favorite places in the world. This city challenged me. It pushed me. It brought something out of me that few places ever could…”
“The battles, the late nights, the incredible atmosphere, the love from the crowd…memories that will stay with me forever. Winning the US Open, in the city that never sleeps, will forever be one of the greatest moments of my life. Thank you, New York. Thank you, @usopen. Thank you to every single fan who supported me, pushed me, believed in me…Forever grateful.”
Many of Wawrinka’s fans were left enraged after the US Open didn’t award him a wildcard. The tournament faced a lot of flak because of this. But they will now be looking forward to seeing him in action at Flushing Meadows. This is huge news for Wawrinka and his team. He will now get to bid a proper farewell to his fans in New York.
But with this being Wawrinka’s final Grand Slam, he will be hoping to end his long career on a positive note. Having exited in the first round at both the French Open and Wimbledon, he would want to rack up a few wins this time around. He has not played a tour-level event since his first-round loss at the Gstaad Open in July, although he did compete at the Cancún Challenger this month, where he reached the round of 16.
Wawrinka has only played two Challenger events since then, but exited early in both of them. While his form is definitely a concern, fans would be ecstatic with just the fact that they get to witness their hero one final time on the iconic hard courts of New York. It remains to be seen how far Wawrinka will manage to go at Flushing Meadows.