Stan Wawrinka claims some members of the French group had been attempting to impress and doubtlessly divide him and Roger Federer following their 2014 Davis Cup victory however fortunately the previous 20-time Grand Slam champion discovered what was taking place.
In 2014, Switzerland lastly managed to make its huge breakthrough and land its first Davis Cup title after beating France 3-1 in an away tie in Lille.
Swiss Davis Cup group © YouTube screenshot
On the primary day, Wawrinka overcame Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to present Switzerland an early lead earlier than Gael Monfils ousted Federer in straight units to stage the tie. Within the third rubber, the 2 Swiss greats teamed as much as defeat Julien Bennetteau and Richard Gasquet and put Switzerland on the verge of successful the title. Then, the previous eight-time Wimbledon champion crushed Gasquet within the fourth rubber to finish his nation’s 3-1 triumph.
Afterward, some apparently tried to make it look as if Federer was the one who ought to get all of the credit score for the Switzerland win.
“I found myself with the whole French team around me asking me questions, not being happy, with the frustration of defeat. There was one person who intervened, it was Gael Monfils who said: ‘Guys, stop being sore losers and leave him alone,'” Wawrinka told Radio Television Suisse.
However, the now 43-year-old quickly realized the sneaky intentions behind it.
“I think they dad decided to highlight me and ignore Stan. and It was a bastard thing. Everybody was congratulating me for the Davis Cup victory. I was told, ‘Rog, you’re incredible, you’re the man.’ And I was there, ‘Guys I can read you. You want to hurt Stan,'” Federer recounted.
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka© YouTube screenshot
Reflecting on it now, Wawrinka doesn’t want to give it too much significance as he highlights that the only important thing was that they were the ones who ended on the winning side and not the Frenchmen.
“I am necessarily the easy target, because Roger is untouchable. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for us, we won. That was ten years ago, so everything is fine,” the three-time Grand Slam champion noted.
Wawrinka and Federer had a tense moment just before the Davis Cup
One would assume that the Frenchmen had in mind the dispute that the two Swiss players had just before coming to Lille.
In the semifinal of the 2014 ATP Finals, Wawrinka got extremely annoyed with Federer’s wife at one point. Apparently, he was called “a crybaby” by Mirka.
“Did you hear what she just said?” the previous world No. 3 instructed the umpire on the time earlier than including that she was attempting to disrupt him earlier than serving: “She did the identical factor at Wimbledon. Each time I’m on her aspect she yells earlier than I serve. It’s insufferable.”
Then he also turned to the former 20-time Grand Slam champion to ask him: “What did she say?”
After the incident, Wawrinka went on to miss out on four match points as Federer completed a thriller 4-6 7-5 7-6 (6) win to set up a Novak Djokovic final – which he lost.
Since the tense moment between the two happened just before the Davis Cup final, the French team maybe wanted to use to stir another controversy.
Wawrinka and Federer put that incident past them
“We could have made some movies together. For sure, it was very, very tense right after the semi-final. Very, very hot. Very, very complicated, on both sides. It’s a good thing there were no cameras in the hallways and locker rooms back then,” Wawrinka mentioned on the RMC podcast in 2022.
Nonetheless, after they cooled off, they accepted that some issues had been completed or mentioned within the warmth of the second. And so they had been capable of resolve it earlier than the 2014 Davis Cup last.
“But once again, at some point, when you get caught up in the emotion, for things that don’t necessarily happen because of your fault, you have to know how to take some distance. Don’t forget everything we’ve been through together, let the night and the next day pass, don’t see each other and then simply discuss it. We had to remember that we had a Davis Cup to win. I wasn’t going to let a little argument, which became a big one because of the emotions, disrupt this victory,” Wawrinka defined on the time.
Later, Wawrinka and Federer continued to have a superb relationship and sometimes spoke about one another as extremely and respectfully as potential.
