Stan Wawrinka: Did I Say FUCK?

After a solid start to the year and two titles (Chennai and Dubai), Stan Wawrinka ran into trouble at the three M-tourneys: Miami, Monte Carlo, and Madrid. Coming into Rome, the defending French Open champ was feeling the pressure to get some impressive clay court results — and tensions no doubt increased when he drew BFF Benoit Paire for his first match.

The Frenchman had his own ambitions for the match, and a sterling patch of play netted Paire the first set 7-5. Things were looking up for Stan in set 2, when he raced out to a 2-0 lead, but things went awry in the very next game.

After a stunning drop shot on advantage point, Paire got the break right back for 1-2. Stan fought hard in the next game, but when his chances started to slip away, he grew frustrated. After muttering something at the baseline, presiding umpire Carlos Bernardes announced an obscenity violation. And then something amazing happened.

Stan stalked up to the center of the court, and then BOLDLY inquired of Carlos:

We all know Stan is, as our friend Sar likes to call him, “Mr. Justice.” He is always ready to let the umpire know if the rules of fairness have been violated, and in this case, Stan felt the violation was EXTRAORDINARILY unfair, since he hadn’t actually sworn at all. That is, until he MARCHED UP TO CARLOS AND YELLED THE F-WORD for all to hear. It was a moment of pure hilarious Awesomeness.

Stan’s coach Magnus Norman tried to pretend the DRAMAZ wasn’t happenning.

“When did I say that?” Stan demanded of Carlos. “Do you want to see the camera and hear it? I said ‘why do we practice so much?’ How can you give me a warning for that?”

Carlos calmly replied, “I understand the bad word.” It’s unclear if he meant the one before or after he gave the warning.

“Okay, so listen,” Stan went on. “Ask the supervisor to listen. How can you give me something if you don’t hear it?” He stared up at Carlos, waiting for Justice.

Carlos gave him an icy blast of “We’re done here, you little Swiss shit” body language.

Stan huffed his way back to the baseline, then wound himself up again. He dished out the emphatic finger point…

…the dripping-with-sarcasm thumbs-up…

…and the mocking racquet clap.

“The warning stays,” Carlos insisted. To Stan’s query of “Why?” he replied: “Because I can not change now. We can not go and watch.”

“Why can you not change?” Stan and his nipples asked passionately. “If you don’t hear the right thing, you do a mistake, you change.”

In the background, Stan’s nearest and dearest gave a collective look of “Duuuude….let it go.”

Carlos brought out the “Talk to the hand” gesture, and gave Stan the bad news: No matter how wrong the call might be, “We change after.”

Forced to accept the Injustice of it all, Stan strutted his way back to the baseline.

As Thelma would say, “I love to watch him go.”

Ahem.

So sassy Stanley continued on with the match, and the next points revealed that the altercation with the umpire had released the STANIMAL. With a succession of bellowed “COME ONNNNN!!” exultations, the number 4 player in the world showed his strength and broke for a 3-1 lead.

(Article continues below)

Not to be outdone in the Awesome Dramaz department, Benoit strode over to his bench, despite it not being a changeover yet.

With a sudden flash of anger, he slashed his racquet at his tennis bag, then calmly had a drink of water and toweled off as if nothing had happened. Despite Benoit’s best efforts, Stan maintained the momentum in the match, amping up to close it out for a final score of 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

It was a rough match for the two friends, full of raw emotions on both sides of the net that made that final meeting at the net a bit awkward. Almost as awkward as Ben’s ’70s-era headband.

Stan and Benoit with the “I love you but can’t really look at you right now” embrace at net. #Wawaire pic.twitter.com/2QsNot95LV

— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) May 10, 2016

Hopefully it won’t have any lasting effect on the #Wawaire bromance, which remains one of the highlights of the tour for fans. The tennis powers-that-be need to keep these two away from each other in the draw….forever….except maybe for a final. These early round meet-ups are just too cruel.

As for today’s Injustice, we may never really know if Stan said “FUCK.” Well, if he said it more than once, that is.

~~

Earlier that day….

“If you don’t use bad words, you don’t get a fine,” Carlos says to Ernie…lol.

— Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) May 10, 2016