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40 Love: Wawrinka's reflections on milestone birthday

If Stan Wawrinka celebrates his 40th birthday today with a lively party, it will be hard to top his big night out after winning his first Grand Slam title at the 2014 Australian Open. After earning his major breakthrough at the age of 28, the Swiss star shut down a Melbourne bar, staying out until the sun came up.

"After the final of a Slam, if you're not going to party now, you will never party during your whole career," Wawrinka said recently on the Nothing Major podcast. "We had a big party. We closed the bar. I remember they had to lock the bar from inside because we were not allowed to stay longer."

The three-time Grand Slam champion was something of a mold-breaking guest on the show hosted by former American tennis stars John Isner, Steve Johnson, Jack Sock and Sam Querrey. As the podcast's name suggests, none of those four managed to win a major singles title; as such, they half-jokingly vowed to exclude Grand Slam singles champs as guests. But a half hour with Wawrinka was too good to pass up.

Ahead of his 40th birthday on 28 March, Wawrinka looked back at some of his best tennis moments and also shared what keeps him going on the ATP Tour, opening up in a comfortable conversation with his former colleagues.

Wawrinka never expects to win any tournament he enters — "[Until I'm] playing a final, I never see myself winning a tournament," he said — but he believes he can come out on top any match he plays. That was the case at the 2014 Aussie Open, when he battled past Novak Djokovic in the quarters and Rafael Nadal in the final to claim his first major crown. 

In line with his reputation as a big-match player, Wawrinka explained how he was fully locked in ahead of the championship round against the Spaniard.

"For me it was much easier than the semi-final. I was feeling honestly my best," Wawrinka explained. "I was really excited in a good way. I was not nervous at all. I knew I was playing my best tennis... If I'm going to lose the final against Rafa, it's still going to be an amazing tournament."

But Wawrinka admitted the nerves did kick in when he realised just how close he was to glory. In a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory, Nadal threatened a comeback despite a back injury before Wawrinka composed himself to close out the momentous win.

^{Stan Wawrinka defeated Rafael Nadal in the 2014 Australian Open final to win his first Grand Slam title. Photo Credit: Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images.}

"I started to be nervous during the match when Rafa started to have some back problems. At that moment I started to look on my right, I saw the trophy and I'm like, 'Oh, maybe I can bring it back home.'  So that's when I started to be nervous, but before the match I was just enjoying that moment."

After the title and the subsequent party in Melbourne, Wawrinka used that momentum to win his first (and to date, only) ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo, beating Roger Federer in a three-set final. His victory against his good friend and fellow Swiss gave him wins against each of the Big Three over the first four months of the 2014 season. While he did not resume his Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry with Andy Murray that year, Wawrinka at his peak was sometimes branded as part of a Big Five along with that quartet.

The Swiss distanced himself from that elite group: "I think I get bothered when they call it like the Big Five or they put me close to Andy Murray just because he won three Grand Slams and I have three Grand Slams," Wawrinka said. "But he has [14] Masters 1000s and he's been in the Top 10 for [so many] years and Top 5. So for me, I'm completely away from them. I'm miles away from what they achieved and I think it's a little bit disrespectful for them and especially for Andy because that's the talk that came more often."

While praising Murray for his longevity at the top level, Wawrinka had no doubt about which of the Big Four was hardest to play against — and where. Unsurprisingly, he singled out Nadal at Roland Garros, where a steady diet of high balls to his one-handed backhand proved impossible to counter.

"You feel like he's coming at you every single ball," said Wawrinka, who suffered twin 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 losses to the Spaniard in the 2013 quarter-finals and 2017 final. "You don't see any option how to put any winners or to put him out of the court."

Wawrinka's win over Nadal at the 2014 Australian Open final was his lone Grand Slam victory in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. His only major win against Federer came in straight sets in the 2015 Roland Garros quarter-finals, after which he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Djokovic in four sets to claim his second Grand Slam title. Wawrinka again beat Djokovic in the 2016 US Open championship, having saved match point against Daniel Evans earlier that fortnight in New York.

^{Stan Wawrinka defeated Novak Djokovic in the 2015 Roland Garros final. Photo credit: Patrick Kovarik/AFP via Getty Images.}

With Nadal, Federer and Murray now retired, Wawrinka and Djokovic remain to carry the flag for their generation. For Wawrinka, while the constant travelling required by the ATP Tour has become harder with age, his joy for competition and for pushing himself on the match and practice court has never faded.

"I know that the day I stop, there will be no comeback. So I want to squeeze it until the end, that's for sure," said Wawrinka. "Is it going to be a few months, is it going to be one year or two? I don't know, I think the results will tell us. I enjoy it if I feel competitive, if I feel that I can still win some good matches and feel happy with myself. If I don't have the level, this is not something I enjoy too much."

With 16 tour-level titles to his name and a 578-367 career record, Wawrinka knows better than most the level required to compete on the ATP Tour. Having hit a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 3 in 2014, he has dropped outside the Top 150 this year. But with a Top 10 win against Andrey Rublev last October on his way to the Stockholm semi-finals, the Swiss proved he still has what it takes to beat the best.

Editor's Note: The use of extensive quotes from the Nothing Major podcast was approved by the executive producer.