Stan Wawrinka – Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. He played some great shots today.

STAN WAWRINKA: Yeah, he’s playing good. He was playing good today.

Q. What about yourself?

STAN WAWRINKA: Not that good. Not good enough.

I think I start well, but it was tough match a little bit between missing a little bit something to push a little bit more to be a little bit more active. I think after coming back one month out, I had to recover from the injury.

In practice it start to be okay the last few days, but today I was missing a little bit something.

Q. You started off brilliantly, explosive hitting winners everywhere. What actually went wrong after 4-1?

STAN WAWRINKA: I think he start also to play a bit better, to put a little bit more first serve, to put a little bit more pressure.

As I say, I think I was missing a little bit something. Physically I was a little bit slow sometimes, so I couldn’t hit that hard from the baseline to push him back. I think I was a little bit too early in defense.

Q. How long have you been back in full practice training since Australia?

STAN WAWRINKA: I think I start last Monday.

Q. So just a week, really?

STAN WAWRINKA: With tennis, yes. Fitness I start before. The tennis, I needed to be really careful with my body to be ready.

Again, as I say, I was missing something, for sure, today, but it wasn’t that far. And I know that kind of match can make me get in quicker.

Unfortunately, I didn’t took it. I lost it, so now I need to do my plan before Indian Wells.

But, yeah, again, I think practice last two days was good, but today in match it’s a little bit different. I wasn’t playing good enough to win.

Q. Was the knee hurting out there? Which knee was it?

STAN WAWRINKA: In Australia it was the right knee. Last year it was the left knee.

But, no, let’s put it that way, the positive of the tournament here is that the knee is feeling good now. I don’t have any pain. I need to still be really careful, but that was the only positive of today.

Q. How much do you put the result down to his inspired performance versus your own perhaps slow start physically coming back into things?

STAN WAWRINKA: That’s tough to say just after the match. I expect tough matches. He’s playing good. I saw him play this year already.

Again, I need to focus on myself. I need to practice more, to get in better level, to expect to do some good results.

But, yeah, tough. I’m quite unhappy to lose first round. It’s tough, because I played well last year here. I was happy to be back. I was happy to be back on the ATP Tour after a month.

I was excited and I wanted to do better this week. But the result is not there, but I think in general it’s positive for my tennis.

Q. What are you going to do now? Go back to Switzerland to practice or get out to Indian Wells early?

STAN WAWRINKA: I don’t know. I’m going to check with my team, with Magnus, and I’m going to see what’s the best. I will see what’s the best.

For sure, I’m going to practice a lot, as much as I can, always being careful. But, yeah, I’m going to try to probably be early there.

Q. Needing to be careful, was that on your mind through the match today?

STAN WAWRINKA: A little bit. You’re always going to be a little bit, for sure. When you come back from injury, you always think a little bit. But then you need to try to separate your mind from what you’re doing during the match and what you do outside.