Coach Magnus Norman gives full credit to his grand slam-winning pupil Stan Wawrinka for the world-class success enjoyed by the Swiss over the past few seasons.
Swede Norman turned 40 during the soggy second week of the French Open and reflected on his coaching relationship with the world number three, who has won 50 grand slam matches since taking on the 2000 Paris finalist as his mentor three years ago.
Wawrinka is defending the Roland Garros title under trying conditions after two days of washouts in Paris amid a schedule now turned on its head in the second week. Under the steady Norman, Wawrinka has reached the quarter-finals or better in 10 of the 13 major he has played after managing the feat just twice before the coaching change.
“It’s not so much about me, it’s more about wanting to help him,” Norman told Dubai’s Sport 360.
“It’s been going really well since we started and I’m more happy for Stan, because I know how many years he was trying and how many years of hard work is behind these results. So I’m happy he’s been able to finally produce good tennis at big tournaments.”
Norman gives Wawrinka solid chance of more Paris success but is taking nothing for granted.
“Every year starts from zero and you try to take as many points as possible throughout the year and if you take them in January or May it doesn’t really matter,” Norman said.
Wawrinka broke with accepted practice for top players and competed the week before Paris, adding his third ATP title of the season in Geneva.
“We knew that the tennis was there because he was playing well in practice, but in the matches he was struggling to find it, so it was more about that than being stressed of having to defend something,” Norman added.
“The more tennis he plays, the better he is. The last few years he has a better record in best-of-five sets than best-of-three. For some reason he’s an aerobic player.
“He needs time to get going and he can go for a long time. Best-of-five suits him well and playing long tournaments and a lot of tennis seems to bring the best out of him.”

Stosur just accepts the dire Paris weather
While women’s fourth-round losers Agnieszak Radwanska and Simona Helep were complaining bitterly about being forced to play in a mist at the French Open, Australian winner Samantha Stosur was taking it all in her stride.
“I guess in this situation they need - every minute counts, and I’m just playing. If the umpire says we’re stopping, we’re stopping,” said the 2010 Roland Garros finalist who has overcome a pre-Paris wrist injury as she stands in the quarter-finals at the rain-soaked major after beating Halep 7-6 (0), 6-3.
“We’re told to play, we play. If it gets too wet you’ve got to say something. Yeah, I mean, like it’s not good out there, but it was fine for us,” she said.
“Heavy, wet conditions like this don’t typically help me too much, but I think I was able to use them better to my tennis than what she was and I was able to put her under more pressure.
“I was able to use them a lot better I think than she was. I didn’t necessarily think about hitting with heavy spin, but more harder over the net I guess to get the same kind of result. But, you know, slightly in a different way.”
Halep tipped gave Stosur as a title contender if conditions remain heavy and damp. “If the courts stay like this she has a chance to go till the end, in my opinion,” said the Romanian. “She played really well, and her ball was heavier than normal.”