If there’s one thing that would eat away at Stan Wawrinka, that would be a lifetime of being the second-best player to come out of Switzerland. That would certainly not be his fault. He comes from the same country as the Swiss maestro Roger Federer.
Now, even if Wawrinka spent much of his career playing second fiddle, there was one point where he was actually giving Roger a run for his money. This was during the middle of this decade when Federer battled inconsistency and poor form, while Wawrinka managed to win three grand slams in three years.
Things came to a head in 2014 at the ATP Tour Finals in London. Things got ugly between the two Swiss players. What was worse was that Roger Federer’s wife Mirka was at the center of this battle between the two.
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Why was there a fight between Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka?
Roger Federer went on to win the contest in a closely fought battle. However, it was not without its fair share of drama.
Mirka was caught heckling Stan in between key points. This frustrated Stan who had missed three match points through serve and volley efforts. He took into the chair umpire as he said angrily –
“Not just before the serve, not just before the serve.”
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Mirka wasn’t too kind to him as she said – “Cry baby”. Wawrinka turned to Federer in frustration asking – “What did she just say?”
Reports said that the two men came to blows later at the Locker Room. This was confirmed by Commentator John McEnroe. If true, it was certainly an unfortunate incident. However, the two made up years later. Great players don’t let conflicts take too big of a shape beyond the tennis court. That’s the quality that these men displayed in this case as they buried this issue on the court.