Wawrinka-Safin Comparison

[Bad_Knee]

As a huge Safin fan, the more I watch Stan the more I see similarities in terms of what they bring to the tour and what their game possesses to bother the top players. Although Safin was more charismatic, What Stan lacks in personality he makes up for in pure entertainment on the court, both are arguably the best to watch of their time when it comes to shot making in big matches....Anyway I decided to look at their stats and saw some amazing similarities, I'll just dump them here before bed and add more tomorrow, and yes there are more!

(I'm going to refer to Safin in the present tense here)

Both have 2 slams

Both have an incredibly destructive backhand

Both defeated a world number 1 en route to their slams wins, Safin in the F and SF, Wawrinka both in the F.

Safin 61.3 % career wins, Wawrinka 62 %

Safin in slams is 95-38, Wawrinka is 94-39, 1 result away from being exactly equal.

Safin career titles = 15, Wawrinka =10, quite likely to at least equal 15.

Boths most successful slam is the Australian Open

Boths worst slam is Wimbledon

In their best result at Wimbledon, both lost to Federer. Safin SF 2008, Wawrinka QF 2014.

Both have won the Davis Cup

Both have a best results of SF at the ATP tour finals

Both have achieved the above result the same amount of times, twice.

Both have a R2 best result at the Olympics (singles)

Both coached by Peter Lundgren at some stage

Both at their best can be said to be unplayable, due to consistent brute power and accuracy.

Both are susceptible to random dips in form and inconsistency, Safin more so although he had to deal with some serious injuries.

Safin reached SF at all slams, if Wawrinka can get to a Wimbledon SF, he will join that club.

In grand slams, they have both beaten each other once.

In their 2nd grand slam final victory, each lost the opening set before winning in 4 sets.

Both have a won a doubles title partnering Roger Federer. Safin at Gstad, Wawrinka at the Olympics.

Both have defeated Novak Djokovic en route to an Australian open title.

Both have women trouble

I know it's meaningless trivia, but hey

 

[Backhanded Compliment]

As a huge Safin fan, the more I watch Stan the more I see similarities in terms of what they bring to the tour and what their game possesses to bother the top players. Although Safin was more charismatic, What Stan lacks in personality he makes up for in pure entertainment on the court, both are arguably the best to watch of their time when it comes to shot making in big matches....Anyway I decided to look at their stats and saw some amazing similarities, I'll just dump them here before bed and add more tomorrow, and yes there are more!

(I'm going to refer to Safin in the present tense here)

Both have 2 slams

Both have an incredibly destructive backhand

Both defeated a world number 1 en route to their slams wins, Safin in the F and SF, Wawrinka both in the F.

Safin 61.3 % career wins, Wawrinka 62 %

Safin in slams is 95-38, Wawrinka is 94-39, 1 result away from being exactly equal.

Safin career titles = 15, Wawrinka =10, quite likely to at least equal 15.

Boths most successful slam is the Australian Open

Boths worst slam is Wimbledon

In their best result at Wimbledon, both lost to Federer. Safin SF 2008, Wawrinka QF 2014.

Both have won the Davis Cup

Both have a best results of SF at the ATP tour finals

Both have achieved the above result the same amount of times, twice.

Both have a R2 best result at the Olympics (singles)

Both coached by Peter Lundgren at some stage

Both at their best can be said to be unplayable, due to consistent brute power and accuracy.

Both are susceptible to random dips in form and inconsistency, Safin more so although he had to deal with some serious injuries.

Safin reached SF at all slams, if Wawrinka can get to a Wimbledon SF, he will join that club.

In grand slams, they have both beaten each other once.

In their 2nd grand slam final victory, each lost the opening set before winning in 4 sets.

Both have a won a doubles title partnering Roger Federer. Safin at Gstad, Wawrinka at the Olympics.

Both have defeated Novak Djokovic en route to an Australian open title.

I know it's meaningless trivia, but hey

You have convinced me, Stan is Safin's long lost twin! (fraternal type and a frozen embryo to account for age)

Kidding aside... they are both uber spoilers in any draw. The Wimbledon result similaries make sense since they both need time to set up and pummel their huge groundstrokes... really low slices to the backhand (their best stroke) can be a problem for backhand clobberers.

Stan just seems so introverted... till he becomes the Hulk in big slowcourt finals.

 

[Kalin]

These are some nice parallels, great post OP!

Both really fun players to watch when in 'seek-and-destroy' mode :shock:

 

[racquetreligion]

Give Stan some time to wind up and hell blow anyone into the weeds but Stan is at his peak age and I feel he has only 2-3 years max to be at this level of reliable offensive play.

 

[dgold44]

Stan is about 1000 times more mellow and seems like more likeable guy?
Safin was a massive head case!!!!
The women through seem to love Safin more than any player.

Safin would break rackets like you or I break open a can of new balls.

 

[Deleted member 410229]

This is what made safin likeable too

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Kyrgios = Philippoussis in terms of playing style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLCPsgVOYn4

 

[Deleted member 716271]

A rather apt comparison OP

I'd say that Wawrinka is better on slower surfaces than Safin, who struggle on grass but was best on fast hards and nowhere near as good on clay.

Otherwise the 2 are very similar in playing style, both have a power baseline game and Wawrinka is shorter but stockier to make up for it; Safin is more what you would expect in the body type of a powerful baseline basher.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Funny thing is Roddick was a bigish guy in his prime too (up there with Safin) but he didn't make any use of that power. Maybe he didn't know how to.

 

[NatF]

Safin > Wawrinka at the AO
Wawrinka >> Safin at the FO
Safin ~ Wawrinka at Wimbledon
Safin > Wawrinka at the USO

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Funny thing is Roddick was a bigish guy in his prime too (up there with Safin) but he didn't make any use of that power. Maybe he didn't know how to.

Yeah he had the huge serve but increasingly pushery groundstrokes that got worse under Stefanki. Was quite amazing to see his Wimbledon 09 run when he started hitting somewhat less spinny and powerful again, especially the backhand.

I think the Babolat pure drive didn't suit Roddick's game 100 percent.

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Safin > Wawrinka at the AO
Wawrinka >> Safin at the FO
Safin ~ Wawrinka at Wimbledon
Safin > Wawrinka at the USO

Agree with all, but the 1st is debatable and might be equal.

Safin's impressive win over peak Federer in the 05 SF I think sways a lot of people.

 

[NatF]

Yeah he had the huge serve but increasingly pushery groundstrokes that got worse under Stefanki. Was quite amazing to see his Wimbledon 09 run when he started hitting somewhat less spinny and powerful again, especially the backhand.

I think the Babolat pure drive didn't suit Roddick's game 100 percent.

The guy had a huge forehand from 01-04, in 2005 after the first part of the year he started trying to be more conservative. The funny thing is that when he did do well it was always because he played aggressive, he generally played Federer quite tight when he went for it.

Agree with all, but the 1st is debatable and might be equal.

Safin's impressive win over peak Federer in the 05 SF I think sways a lot of people.

Safin has the extra 2 finals so I gave him the nodd there. In terms of level of play I'd say they're equal'ish. Also it's not just his win over Federer that sways me it's his run the year before as well. The win over Agassi in the SF of 04 (and to a lesser extent the win of Roddick in the QF) were both very high quality.

 

[thomasferrett]

Safin had a 2hbh though... that in itself makes a huge difference because a lot of 1-handers like to stand back to wind up for the shot and belt it hard, but I don't know of any 2-handers who have such a long wind up that they have to stand deep in the court to hit it?

Safin's backhand was compact and good at re-directing pace - similar to Djokovic's, Nishikori's, and basically any other good 2hbh.