Stan Wawrinka is known for his mental resilience and ability to stay calm under pressure, but he went against the grain during his first-round match at the 2022 Roland Garros.
Wawrinka was back at his happy hunting Grand Slam. He is a former French Open champion and the only man besides the Big Three to reign supreme on the final Sunday at the clay-court major since 2005.
He famously won his only title at this tournament in 2015 with a smashing victory against Novak Djokovic in the final and reached his second final in 2017, losing to 13-time champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
But now in his late thirties and having undergone multiple surgeries on his knee and foot in the last few seasons, Wawrinka is a shadow of his former self.
There were flashes of brilliance from the powerful one-hander, who appeared to have got his season up and running in Rome two weeks ago until his third-round defeat to Djokovic.
But tempers boiled over when Wawrinka, who was playing his opening match in Paris against Corentin Moutet, got into a heated argument with the umpire.
Apparently, the source of the Swiss' fury was that he was offered cold water at the changeover contrary to his pleas and took issue with the official on the hot seat.
"We can not get a normal water. Is that normal at Grand Slam? I asked you some water that's not fucking freezing."
After the match, Wawrinka summed up his thoughts about his performance. He felt he was not feeling the positive energy on the court and needed to play more matches to restore that feeling.
"Obviously it's a great disappointment to lose in a Grand Slam, but it's the reality of my life now. I knew before the match that I needed to work a lot physically, to work my tennis. It's not [that] I'm playing badly or I'm not good, but I'm not yet feeling good for matches like that."
"This is the mirror of where I am now. You have to go through times like this with bad matches, with bad first rounds in a Grand Slam, because I need to play a few matches to renew the feelings you look for in a match."