"Well, he took away two Grand Slams from me": Djokovic says with a smile about role Wawrinka played in his career

World number two Novak Djokovic has heaped praise on Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka and called him the player ‘who took away two Grand Slams’ from him.

The 38-year-old is in line to face the current world number two in the third round at Wimbledon if he manages to get the better of Argentina’s Tomás Martín Etcheverry in the second round fixture.

Talking about the prospect of facing Wawrinka, Djokovic was full of praise for the three-time Grand Slam winner and admired his passion to keep on playing at the highest level despite multiple injuries in the recent past.

"Well, he took away two Grand Slams from me,” he said. That's the role he played [in my career], beating me in two Grand Slam finals. No, I like Stan a lot. He's a great person. Really always inspirational what he's doing at his age. He's almost 40 years old and he still keeps going strong. That's something that not many people can do," Djokovic said.

"After several surgeries of his knees, he keeps going strong and trying to create some more history for himself and tennis. We cannot forget that he's a three-time Grand Slam champion and Davis Cup winner and also Olympic gold. He had a fantastic career.

"That's why I think it's something that is very admirable and very impressive that after the difficulties, physical difficulties, he has been through in the last five, six, seven years, he still refuses to give up and still keeps going.”

Wawrinka’s two out of the three Grand Slam title victories came after beating Djokovic in the final. First was back in 2015 when he defeated the Serb with a score of   4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 in the French Open and the second was in 2016 when he got the better of his opponent with a score of 6–7(1–7), 6–4, 7–5, 6–3 in the US Open.