Chennai: Andre Agassi needs to be held responsible, rather credited, for the pioneering effort. Running up the hills in his home town Nevada, the American tennis star set the trend of pre-season training during what supposed to be an ‘off-season’ in the packed tennis calendar.
The four Australian Open crowns — season’s first grand slam — were fruits of his labour and Agassi’s success inspired other professionals to give up their Christmas parties for strengthening camps.
Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka was on the road till mid November playing the year-end ATP World Tour Finals and hardly enjoyed the break as he had been putting his body through punishing regime in Europe before he packed his bag again the day after Christmas for the new season.
The Swiss world no. 8 is not complaining though as he knows the Tour has become so competitive that only the fittest survive.
As the 19th edition of the Chennai Open that begins here on Monday ushers in a new season, Wawrinka would be hoping to translate that hard work into success stories and live up to the expectations he left behind last year.
In 2013, a dream year that saw Wawrinka emerge out of the shadows of his illustrious countryman Roger Federer, he showed the tennis world that he has it in him to end the Big Four’s — Rafael Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — slam domination.
He knocked out defending champion Murray in the US Open and came close to beating Djokovic in his maiden grand slam semi-final appearance.
Wawrinka, who won the title here in 2011 as a wild card entrant, is the top seed. The 18-year tournament history suggests the 250-point event has been a curse for top seeds.
The no.1 seeds were eliminated either in the first or the second rounds on five occasions, while the no. 2s suffered early exits seven times.
Boris Becker, Rafael Nadal, Richard Krajicek, Magnus Norman, Nikolay Davydenko and Marin Cilic are part of the ignominious list of those who packed their bags early.
