It’s tough to keep a champion down for long. An impressive scar down his left knee told the story of Stan Wawrinka’s forced time away from the game when he strolled onto a packed Hisense Arena on Tuesday.
But the 2014 Australian Open champion let it be known a last-minute trip Down Under for his first match since Wimbledon was the right move.
MORE: All the latest scores and results
Six months on the sidelines was sending the Swiss a little stir crazy.
Battling a man who knows the pains of coming back from major surgery, Wawrinka withstood an onslaught from sturdy Ricardas Berankis in a 6-3 6-4 2-6 7-6(2) victory.
Battling a man who knows the pains of coming back from major surgery, Wawrinka withstood an onslaught from sturdy Ricardas Berankis in a 6-3 6-4 2-6 7-6(2) victory.
“It's great to be back. It's great to win, for sure. Was a tough one in all aspects of the game, of the energy,” Wawrinka said.
“But in general, I'm really happy to get through a match like that, to fight the way I did today, to win the match like this.
“Being out for six months. I was just happy to be back on court here winning in front of a crowd like that is something really special to me.”
Untested in match competition coming in, this was the greenest Wawrinka had arrived in Melbourne.
After so long out and the first serious test of that battle-scarred knee, it could well mean the sorest his 32-year-old body will have pulled up after an Australian Open first round match, too.
“Yeah, some pain, for sure,” Wawrinka said of his knee. “I still have some pain. It depends the way I'm moving, how I push on it. In general, it's going the right direction. That's the best news.
“To see that the knee is keeping it, that I can play a match with the stress, back being tight, with hesitation. The knee doesn't move even after three hours, so that's great.”
A little rust was to be expected when he quickly fell behind 0-2.
When those thunderous baseline blows began to find their mark, however, he was on a roll.
When a heavy second serve drew the shanked return from his opponent a roar of “Allez” signalled the Swiss star’s relief at taking a two-set lead.
Berankis, a former top-50 player, was building a comeback of his own.
He too had endured the struggles of six months out of the game.
Now ranked No.136, the Lithuanian returned to action last May after hip surgery in 2016.
He had not won a Grand Slam match since the 2016 US Open but was determined to capitalise on an underdone Wawrinka.
And having stormed through the third set, the 27-year-old looked to have well and truly taken control when he broke for 2-0 in the fourth.
The Swiss, who fell in the semifinals last year in five sets to compatriot Roger Federer, had never lost in the first round at Melbourne Park.
There was a growing sense, however, he would have to close this out in four to ease the first-day-back-at-work strain on his stitched up knee.
And as great champions do, he delivered when he broke back for 2-3 and closed out the tiebreak on match point No.2.
“It’s never easy struggling to come back,” Wawrinka said. “I was trying a lot, doing the rehabilitation and fitness and everything, I had a lot of doubts. I’m proud to being back already.”
A first-up test of will and rehabilitation passed. A first-time meeting with American Tennys Sandgren is next.
“I came here without really knowing what would happen in a week,” Wawrinka said. “I came here to have some answers to where I was … all week trying to get ready and I did so it’s great to be back.”
