Stan Wawrinka gratful for chance at US Open goodbye after originally being denied in wild turn of events

Stan Wawrinka had already said goodbye to his Grand Slam career, the U.S.Open and the city of New York.Nearing the end of his farewell tour at age 41, Wawrinka — who already was in New York training — left for his home country of Switzerland last week believing he was denied a wild-card entry to the high-profile tournament in Flushing he won exactly 10 years ago.In a twist of fate handed down by the tennis gods, however, the three-time Grand Slam champion ultimately was granted entry after American Patrick Kypson withdrew with an injury.Suddenly, he was back on a plane flying the 8 ¹/₂ hours back to New York.Wawrinka described the “roller coaster” week he had leading up to his first-round matchup against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini on Grandstand on Monday.“For me it was, in my mind, the end of my Grand Slam career,” Wawrinka said.

“I would have loved, like I said, to be here.So I had to accept those emotions by not having the wild card, and I was OK with that.

At the end of the day, I always say that the only way to be sure to play a tournament, you have to be the right ranking.And I knew I wasn’t on the list directly, so I was hoping for a wild card, but I also know that wild cards are not granted.

So it was not a problem for me not to have it.“I was just sad not to be able to say goodbye to New York and to the U.S.Open.”Wawrinka will have that opportunity after all, having received the call with word of his wild-card invitation Wednesday while in the Swiss mountains.“Of course, I was happy, and I had to quickly organize to be back here,” he said.Wawrinka, who practiced Sunday with world No.

2 and tournament favorite Carlos Alcaraz, was at the mercy of the U.S.Tennis Association while sitting on the outside of the top 100 players who automatically secure entry.The world No.

125 was an easy player for the organization to turn to when a spot became available.On the 10th anniversary of his U.S.

Open run, Wawrinka gets to celebrate with...