Wawrinka admits to surpassing his career expectations in the Big Four era

Although he competed in an era dominated by the Big Four of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka was able to distinguish himself by wrestling a few Grand Slams out of their grasp.

The former World No.3 was at the peak of his career between 2014 and 2016, claiming three Grand Slam titles during that period; the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 Roland Garros and 2016 US Open singles title. However, after reaching the French Open final in 2017, Wawrinka began a downhill battle with several injuries that saw his form and ranking take a huge dip.

Nonetheless, the 37-year old believes he overachieved in his tennis career, staking claim as one of the few men to win Major titles in an era that was dominated by the Big Four of tennis.

“I am aware of what I achieved. And I also know how difficult it was, especially in this period of tennis history when the Big 4 was dominating," said Wawrinka. "So for now, legend or not, it depends where you place the cursor. We can really take stock when I stop my career.”

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The Lausanne native revealed his dream as a child was to become a professional tennis player, and he never imagined he would win 16 career ATP titles including three Grand Slams.

"When I was younger, I never set myself the goal of winning a Grand Slam," he said. "My dream was to be a professional player, to live from my passion, to be part of the top 100. However, I managed to build a nice track record. But to be totally sincere, I would never have dared to dream of winning so much.”

Wawrinka is set to compete at next week's Roland Garros event, and will be facing Frenchman Corentin Moutet in the first round on Sunday.