Just over a day after Stan Wawrinka spoke candidly about his friendship with Roger Federer in a press conference, the legendary Swiss turned out at the Dubai Tennis Stadium to support his friend.
Federer’s eyes trained on the action from the Royal Box, Wawrinka, who is retiring after Wimbledon this year, rolled back the years with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Lebanese wild card Benjamin Hassan in Monday’s opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Hassan, who was born in Germany, did cover himself with credit on the first set against the three-time Grand Slam winner but Wawrinka was cruising in second as he moved to next stage of a tournament that he had won back in 2016.
In his farewell season, the 40-year-old is attracting large crowds wherever he has competed.
The Monday afternoon match on the tournament’s opening day did not fill the stadium, but it drew enough of a crowd to see the slick Swiss shot-maker in full flow, particularly during the second set.
And topping all of this, Federer arrived in the Royal Box alongside fans as the Swiss maestro smirked and waved at them.
Wawrinka said it was a special moment for him to play his last Dubai tournament when Federer was around as a guest.
“It’s always special for everyone (to see Federer in the stadium) because Roger is a legend of the sport and I have so many memories with him,” Wawrinka said.
Wawrinka became just the second player to rank inside the top 100 of the ATP world rankings after he turned 40, which is remarkable in itself.
Federer, who retired in 2022 at the age of 41, was of course the first to do so.
“He told me he was going to come watch my game today, so that was nice. But yes, it’s always put a little bit of pressure (with Federer in the stand),” Wawrinka said.
But if he manages to face Daniil Medvedev in the next round, then Wawrinka would certainly have extra pressure on him.
If Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, can defeat his first-round opponent, Juncheng Shang of China, on Tuesday he will face Wawrinka in the second round.
Even though Wawrinka is not getting ahead of himself, he did have some kind words for his opening round opponent, Hassan, who brought a fair number of Lebanese supporters to the stadium on Monday.
“He has traveled with me for many years. He is always a great player, a strong player,” Wawrinka said.
“He plays a really nice game; he tries to serve and volley from the baseline. And today it was a battle, I had to really play well. I found a way to win, and I’m pleased with how I played.”
Elsewhere, Canadian ace and top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime opened his account with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over China’s Zhizhen Zhang.
Auger-Aliassime, who lost last year’s final to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, will seek one better this week in Dubai.
The two-time US Open semifinalist cruised through the first set and led in the 2023 second by breaking his opponent’s third game, but Zhang pressed Auger-Aliassime to a tie-break before he finally knocked down a series of big shots.
In the day’s first match, big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard had to dig deep against Tunisian wildcard Moez Echargui.
The 21-year-old Perricard leaned on his big serve to get through, taking the dramatic clash 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4).
Earlier in the night, Britain’s Jack Draper fired 13 aces to defeat French qualifier Quentin Halys 7-6 (10/8), 6-3.
Draper, in just his second event back from a long injury layoff, was happy with the victory on his Dubai debut.
“It wasn’t my cleanest performance, but after all that time, I’m really proud of myself. The way I came out and competed; it was not easy but from here on, hopefully I can go from strength to strength,” he said.