Stanislas Wawrinka - French Open Men's Tennis Players

Stanislas Wawrinka will be hoping he will one day be able to emulate the fiery form and elegant stroke play of his countryman, Roger Federer, the man who has single-handedly dominated the men's game for over four years on the trot.

Got the Gold at Beijing!

The young man from Lausanne certainly has loads of talent as we all witnessed in Beijing when he and his doubles mentor, Federer, downed the formidable Bryan Brothers and then went on to claim the coveted Olympic gold medal by defeating the partnership of Aspelin and Johansson!

Wawrinka is another young player who has claimed clay as his preferred surface and to date all his title wins - 1 ATP and 4 Challenger - have been on clay. His weapon of choice is his blistering back hand and he has proved he is a force to be reckoned with, having claimed the scalps of some very able clay court technicians, including French Open quarter finalist, Guillermo Canas and controversial Argentine, Juan Ignacio Chela!

Wawrinka is clearly no slouch on the courts having proved he can compete at the highest level - in 2007 he reached the finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart but had to contend with the awesomely talented Master of clay and the newly crowned King of the courts, Rafael Nadal. Although he didn't pull of an upset he did hold his own, going down 6-4, 7-5.

Finalist at 2008 Rome Masters

At the 2008 Rome Masters, again part of the clay court season, Wawrinka confounded his critics by reaching the finals only to go toe-to-toe with another man tipped to be on top of the world in the not too distant future, the incumbent number three and 2008 Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic! Needless to say, Wawrinka bowed out to the superior stroke play and unfettered aggression of the young Serb.

His only win to date on the ATP tour was in Croatia in 2006 and again his rival was Djokovic. The two were 6 all in the first set when Djokovic had to retire, so although he can claim an ATP win, it was really by default!

Wawrinka is definitely a man to keep a close eye on - his game has improved by leaps and bounds and he has proved his prowess by reaching the finals of 4 ATP tournaments and 1 Masters Series event:

• 2005 - Gstaad - Gaston Gaudio on clay
• 2007 - Stuttgart - Rafael Nadal on clay
• 2007 - Vienna - Novak Djokovic on hard
• 2008 - Qatar - Andrew Murray on hard
• 2008 - Rome - Novak Djokovic on clay