Where Stan Wawrinka was above Roger Federer and everyone else on ATP Tour, according to tennis legend - 'No-one compares'

The 41-year-old is set to call time on a career that has seen him win three Grand Slam titles and reach a career-high No. 3 in the world.

In his three major finals, he twice beat Novak Djokovic, at the French Open and US Open, and also Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open.

Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer were among those to pay tribute to Wawrinka after his final French Open match this week.

As well as his career achievements, his single-handed backhand will be remembered as one of the most devastating shots in the game.

”I think no-one compares to Wawrinka's backhand,” the seven-time Grand Slam winner Wilander told TNT Sports.

”No-one was able to hit it as hard as he was able to hit it. He was able to hit it from low down and he was also able to play his backhand high up, which someone like Federer struggled with and Wawrinka didn't struggle with that. 

”So, to me, his backhand is easily the best one-handed backhand. I mean, you have to throw in the fact that someone like Federer could hit the slice much better than Wawrinka. So as a weakness, I don't know if Federer's backhand was more of a weakness than Wawrinka's - it was probably on the same level. 

”But in terms of the backhand that Wawrinka hit successfully, no-one has had a backhand like that.”

Wawrinka’s backhand was at its scintillating best in the 2015 French Open final when he stunned Djokovic in four sets.

Djokovic was on a 28-match winning streak but couldn’t cope with Wawrinka’s powerful and precise hitting.

Wawrinka also got the better of Djokovic in the US Open final a year later and Wilander says the pair served up some of the standout matches this century.

”The funny thing is that Stan loved playing against Djokovic because the ball comes in at the same height most of the time, whereas with Nadal the ball bounces much higher. 

”With Federer the ball would bounce much lower because he could keep the slice down, but with Djokovic the ball was always coming in at the same height.

"Some of the best matches since 2000 have been Wawrinka v Djokovic, not Djokovic-Nadal, or Nadal-Federer. For me, it’s been Wawrinka and Djokovic who have had the best matches.”

Wawrinka, Federer and Dominic Thiem are the only three men in the past 20 years to have won a Grand Slam title using a single-handed backhand.

Among the other top exponents of the shot this century were Pete Sampras, Tommy Haas and Richard Gasquet.

Explaining why Wawrinka’s backhand was so strong technically, Wilander added: ”It was a little bit more extreme on the grip.

"Federer was a little more continental, straight up, so he had to use his wrist to come over it, whereas Wawrinka was a little bit more with the racquet tilted forwards and, therefore, kind of the same way that they do on the forehand side with western grips. He had more of a western grip on the backhand, and therefore, you can hit it higher. 

”But then you have to change the grip when you hit a sliced backhand, whereas Federer most probably changed his grip to hit a topspin and a slice but less. It was more similar in a way, and he was ready to hit a slice at any time whereas Wawrinka wasn't really. 

”He was full on, full on, full on and then maybe he would hit a slice, but Federer was always, ‘Maybe I'm going to hit a topspin, maybe I'll hit a slice.' So the grips make the big difference to me. 

”The other thing with him [Wawrinka] - so strong, I mean just so strong in the upper body and the legs and to be hitting one-handed backhands above the shoulder you've got to be physically so strong, and I would say that I don't know if we've had a stronger tennis player than Stan Wawrinka when it comes to hitting the tennis ball.”

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