Stan Wawrinka grateful for Roger Federer’s ‘help and support’ as he plays Diriyah Tennis Cup ahead of Australian Open

Stan Wawrinka has said he “owes a lot” to Roger Federer, who took him under his wing “like a big brother”.

Wawrinka and Federer won Olympic doubles gold together in 2008 and also the Davis Cup for Switzerland in 2014. They also often practised together on tour.

Federer, who was

, had won 17 Grand Slam titles by the time Wawrinka won his first at the 2014 Australian Open.

Wawrinka would go on to win two more majors (French Open in 2015 and US Open in 2016) and says Federer’s influence on his career was important.

“He helped me, we trained a lot together. I was lucky enough to be able to work with him a lot, in training and in tournaments. In the Davis Cup, we shared a lot of things. Afterwards, he became a friend.

“We were on the same level, not in terms of our careers, but in terms of our behaviour and our mutual support.

“I owe him a lot in my career. There were positive things. I grew and improved thanks to him. He helped me a lot. Thanks to him, I won the Olympic Games and the Davis Cup. Those are two of the biggest titles of my career.”

Federer, 40, retired from tennis at the Laver Cup in September.

Wawrinka, 37, is still playing but has not been able to return to the top of the game after a long spell out following a foot injury.

He says he was grateful to play alongside one of the greatest players of all time.

“It’s sure that coming in behind him, especially in Switzerland, no matter what results I had, it was always going to be light years behind him anyway,” he said.

“No one can do what he did, at least not in Switzerland. What I do, I do as well as I can. You have to be able to appreciate this kind of career.”

He

, who is making his first appearance since suffering torn ankle ligaments in the French Open semi-finals in June.

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