Swiss press hails Stanislas Wawrinka's 'impossible exploit'
A Zurich daily said that anyone who would have said 13 months ago that Stanislas Wawrinka would shortly win a Grand Slam title, would probably have been classified as insane.
The Swiss press on Monday hailed the "impossible exploit" of newly-crowned Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, who has finally come out of the shadows of more illustrious compatriot Roger Federer.
The Swiss, who also upset three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, capped a magnificent fortnight in Melbourne with his 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over Rafael Nadal for his first major title.
"Giant," headlined Le Matin, including a signed poster of the player inside a 14-page spread dedicated to the "triumph" of the native of Saint-Barthelemy, a village which was renamed "Stan-Barthelemy" by its mayor on Sunday.
"Stantastic", read the "Neue Zuericher Zeitung".
"Anyone who would have said 13 months ago that Wawrinka would shortly win a Grand Slam title, would probably have been classified as insane," the Zurich daily said.
If Wawrinka had until recently lived in the shadow of 17-time Grand Slam winner Federer his marketing value has now surely exploded, estimated the newspaper.
"Wawrinka represents like few athletes popular values such as reliability, work, and modesty," it said.
"The triumph of work, courage and humility," added the Tages Anzeiger, the other major German-speaking newspaper, of the player who had ironically dubbed himself "the Swiss player who loses".