It’s hard to picture Stanislas Wawrinka in the mold of tennis firebrands like John McEnroe or Andy Roddick but the Australian Open champion does admit to occasionally picking a row with the chair umpire to “pump him up” while playing.
While some might say this shows a lack of respect for the officialdom, Wawrinka believes their authority has already been undermined by an over reliance on the Hawk-Eye electronic line judging system, which was first introduced at a top-level tennis tournament late in 2005.
Roddick, who retired in 2012, recently called for Hawk-Eye to be scrapped, arguing that controversial arguments between players and umpires helped to boost TV ratings and draw crowds to tennis matches.
“It’s helped a lot for the players to make sure the call is right and you can prove it.” Wawrinka told CNN’s Open Court
“But it doesn’t help the umpire at all anymore. They don’t really take control of the match, leaving it to the players and Hawk-Eye.
“They don’t have to take responsibility for mistakes,” he added.
The world No. 4 also pointed to an inconsistency whereby many matches on the ATP Tour are played on outside courts without the system installed, leading to umpires being caught between two styles of officiating.
“When an umpire is used to not taking responsibility and not overruling (an incorrect line call) when the match is played on a smaller court he’s not going to do anything.
“That’s not good for the game,” said Wawrinka.
The Swiss star is seemingly not adverse to having it out with umpires in the heat of the moment.
“Yes, it’s good — it makes you pumped,” said the 29-year-old Wawrinka.
Last year in his Australian Open four-set final victory over Rafael Nadal, Wawrinka became embroiled in a spat with the chair umpire after the Spaniard left the court to have treatment on his injured back without the Swiss player being told the nature of the injury.
“If he’s off you have to tell me why!’ Wawrinka shouted.
A year later Wawrinka is playing down his chances of repeating that 2014 triumph, picking world No. 1 Novak Djokovic as the “big favorite” along with his compatriot and 17-time grand slam champion Roger Federer.
The pair combined to help Switzerland win the Davis Cup for the first time, beating France in last month’s final.
“It was an amazing feeling — especially winning like that with Roger on the team,” said Wawrinka.
Wawrinka, who plays Romania’s Marius Copil Thursday, believes he has the armory to beat any of the “top three” as he did last year in seeing of Djokovic and Nadal in successive matches in Melbourne.
“When I go on the court against Roger, Rafa or Novak .. I know I can beat him and how I made this happen.”
The confidence comes from his tremendous performances in 2014, with his first Masters 1000 success coming on the clay of Monte Carlo to be added to his Australian Open and Davis Cup triumphs.
It elevated “Stan” to superstar status around the world and he admits it was difficult to adjust to his new found fame as he suffered some surprise losses among the standout victories.
“I think for sure last year everything changed. It’s a different level — as you know when you win a grand slam — you are part of the history of tennis.
“I had to adapt a little bit –especially mentally to find my way to be the same on the court and off the court — that’s why I had some up and down days all the year.”
Another release valve has been social media, with Wawrinka regularly updating his Twitter account to keep his fans in touch with his progress.
“It’s a little bit more private because you can say or give what you want — picture, different picture,” he said.
So sure enough, when Wawrinka made a successful defense of his Chennai Open title in India, his final warmup before the Australian Open, he was quickly tweeting.
The popular world No. 4 for will be hoping to relay news of his second grand slam title on the final day in Melbourne on February 1st.