Stan Wawrinka has won hearts all over the world, winning titles from Geneva to Chennai and being one of only a handful of men to win three of the four Grand Slams.
The 37-year-old has been making a comeback of late after a long injury lay-off and recently made the news after telling eventual champion Holger Rune to effectively 'grow-up' when losing to the young Danish star at the Paris Masters.
Tennis fans of an older persuasion could only watch the footage of Stan the Man telling his fresh-faced opponent to stop 'acting like a baby' with a wry smile, reminiscing to a similar incident with Wawrinka and none other than Roger Federer's wife back in 2014.
The Swiss pair - who had a big Davis Cup tie together on the horizon - found themselves facing off in a tense semi-final of that years ATP Finals in London.
Wawrinka was enjoying his breakthrough year on the tour, winning his first Slam at the Australian Open and winning his first - and subsequently only - ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo, beating Federer in a deciding set tie-break.
Now, not to suggest there was any pre-match bad blood between the pair when they met at the season-ending event, but trouble seemed to surface when Wawrinka overheard Federer's wife Mirka shout 'cry baby' when he was serving.
Wawrinka complained to the umpire and his opponent if they had heard what she had said only to be met with uninterested responses.
He said at the time: “She did the same thing at Wimbledon. Every time I am on her side she yells before I serve. It’s unbearable.”
Federer went on to get revenge for his Monte Carlo defeat, winning in a final set tie-break.
And the pair appeared to kiss and make up as Switzerland went on to claim the Davis Cup.
Now Wawrinka has opened up about what really happened in THAT match.
In an interview with RMC (translated by We Love Tennis), he said: “We could have made some movies together (laughs). For sure, it was very, very tense right after the semi-final.
“Very, very hot, very, very complicated, on both sides. It’s a good thing there were no cameras in the hallways and locker rooms back then.
“But once again, at some point, when you get caught up in the emotion, for things that don’t necessarily happen because of your fault, you have to know how to take some distance.
“Don’t forget everything we’ve been through together, let the night and the next day pass, don’t see each other and then simply discuss it. We had to remember that we had a Davis Cup to win. I wasn’t going to let a little argument, which became a big one because of the emotions, disrupt this victory.”
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