Playing Davis Cup without Roger Federer is 'not the same': Stan Wawrinka
Although he is reaching the twilight of his career, Roger Federer's status in the game keeps rising.
The Swiss maestro has amassed 20 Grand Slams and 103 career titles, and has spent 310 weeks as World No. 1. He has also won 28 Masters 1000 titles, and been triumphant at the World Tour Finals on six occasions.
However, one aspect about Roger Federer that cannot be explained with numbers is his value as a teammate. And according to his compatriot and Davis Cup teammate Stan Wawrinka, Federer is an absolute stalwart.
In a recent interview, Wawrinka described Roger Federer as being "like an older brother" to him. He also spoke about how he couldn't imagine playing Davis Cup events without the Swiss maestro by his side.
I remember the first encounter with Roger Federer very well: Stan Wawrinka
Speaking to L'Illustre, Stan Wawrinka revealed that he has started finding it tough to accommodate the Davis Cup into his schedule - with part of the reason for that being his advancing age.
"It is complicated. At my age, I can no longer afford to be on all fronts, I have to select the tournaments," said Wawrinka when asked if he will play the Davis Cup again.
Stan Wawrinka then went on to talk about how he was not a fan of the new format of the Davis Cup, and that it would anyway not be an enjoyable experience since Roger Federer no longer plays the tournament.
"I don't like the Davis Cup in its new format at all. And then without Roger, it's not the same. Not that I don't want to play with lower ranked guys, I did for ten years. When I was young, what made me dream was the Davis Cup. Today everything has changed a lot."
The former World No. 3 partnered with Roger Federer to win the men's doubles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Swiss maestro was also at Wawrinka's side in several Davis Cups, including the triumphant year in 2014.
Stan Wawrinka also spoke about how special it was to represent Switzerland at the Davis Cup, irrespective of whether they won or lost.
"Because I love team matches, many of my best memories are related to the Davis Cup. I played it for 11 years and had immense pleasure each time, not just the year of our victory," the 35-year-old said.
Stan Wawrinka has gone head-to-head with Federer several times, but has ended on the winning side only thrice. Those wins, however, have been at crucial times in Wawrinka's career - including a quarter-final triumph on the way to the title at Roland Garros in 2015 and the Monte Carlo Masters final in 2014.
The Swiss international claimed that he vividly remembers his first meeting with Roger Federer.
"Yes, very well," Wawrinka said when asked if he remembered his first meeting with Roger Federer. "It was on a clay court in Biel, at Swiss Tennis. I was 16 and I was there as a sparring partner. I remember that I put myself under crazy pressure, I was paralyzed at the idea of missing my shots. I had given everything, I was red after five minutes on the ground."