Swiss pride at Wawrinka Australian Open win

Wawrinka returns against Nadal during his match Keystone

Tennis is dominating old and new media in Switzerland following Stanislas Wawrinka's first grand slam title at the Australian Open.

Wawrinka, who has long played in the shadow of Roger Federer, defeated world number one Rafael Nadal to claim the title with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory on Sunday in Melbourne.

Swiss President Didier Burkhalter was quick to react after Wawrinka’s win. “Congratulations for your magnificent tournament on the other side of the world, all in strength and courage,” he said in a statement.

The government in canton Vaud where he grew up also warmly congratulated the player.

Le Conseil d'Etat vaudois félicite chaleureusement @stanwawrinkaExternal link pour son exploit retentissant à Melbourne http://t.co/J7plHCC1ObExternal link

— Etat de Vaud (@actualitesVD) January 26, 2014External link

Back home, his village temporarily changed its name from Saint-Barthélemy to celebrate his win.

St-Barthélemy en fête ! pic.twitter.com/aIpWI6lepyExternal link

— Robin Carrel (@robincarrel) January 26, 2014External link

The tabloids reacted immediately. Le Matin posted this on Twitter, putting him on “top of the world”:

FELICITATIONS @stanwawrinkaExternal link #AusOpen2014External link pic.twitter.com/aODs58mWPBExternal link

— LeMatin.ch (@Lematinch) January 26, 2014External link

while Zurich’s Blick was only slightly more low key

YES! Super-Stan gewinnt das Australian Open gegen Nadal in einem Psycho-Final! http://t.co/aCUcG6MihAExternal link

— Blick (@Blickch) January 26, 2014External link

However the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper’s website summed it up perhaps best with this comment about the player’s recipe for success:

“[Wawrinka] embodies Swiss virtues: diligence, humility and perseverance. […]  And that’s why his success is a strong signal at a time when it is difficult to see what our country stands for,” it wrote.

A tennis power

Wawrinka, who jumps from eight to three in the world rankings and leapfrogs Federer as Swiss number one, was unsurprisingly on the cover of Switzerland’s main newspapers on Monday.

“We are tennis!” was the frontpage headline in Blick, over a full-page photo of Wawrinka, echoing the famous “We are the pope!” headline in Die Bild in Germany when Joseph Ratzinger was elected pontiff.

“Switzerland: a power since 1992” was the analysis in 20 Minuten. That was when Marc Rosset surprised everyone by winning Olympic gold in Barcelona. Then there was Martina Hingis in 1997, Federer in 2003 and now Wawrinka. The good news didn’t stop there, the paper continued: the future’s also looking rosy in the shape of 16-year-old Belinda Bencic, who in 2013 won junior Wimbledon and the junior French Open.