His word is rare, the solemn moment. From his vacation location, Pierre Paganini won his phone. In addition to two decades, Stan Wawrinka’s historic physical trainer – and Roger Federer when he still played – has given few interviews. To tell the truth, they barely counted on the fingers of both hands. In recent years, “Stan the Man” has sometimes said that without the man who has accompanied him since the end of the 2002 season, he has already retired. With him, Pierre Paganini has always known how to find the words, even in the darkest moments and the convalescences of the injuries. Interview.
Pierre, we see you little with Stan on the circuit. For what?
I am a certain age (Editor’s note: 67 years old)I go less to tournaments than before (smile). This season, I accompanied her to Bucharest. I can also count on the support of his other trainer, Dario Novak. But we have known each other for so long with Stan that we don’t need to be all the time together. We know what we have to talk about to optimize our shape. Last week, I watched three of his five games in Aix-en-Provence on the internet. The Challenger circuit is easy to follow. We send some messages after his matches. When he wins, it is to congratulate him and when he lost, it is to tell him that you have to keep moving forward.
He won little in 2025 before his good week in Aix. How do you judge his start to the season?
I think it is physically and tennistically ready but this sport has evolved a lot over time. He spent more than 20 years on the circuit and wear settled. In our training, we have to take this into account. What impresses me most today is his pleasure, this desire that he has to continue to put the work at work. It’s fascinating. If we know him well, it is the answer to his fantastic career. He never let go, in any field. On the court but also outside.
How does your collaboration work?
I have known him since he was 15 years old and it is our 23rd season together. We have always agreed on basic blocks and other sharpening. The former are heavier and the others are more to make small reminders, like a link between two blocks. At his age (Editor’s note: 40 years old)it’s essential to do the right things at the right times.
When is the last time you worked physically with him?
Just before Aix-en-Provence.
After more than 20 years, are the exercises different?
We know perfectly the strong points and the more delicate areas. We also know the pre-fatigue of the body, in terms of wear. This influences the way we approach things but the themes don’t really change. We are always talking about a tennis player who trains athletically. But we can adapt how to prevent, make periodization, and treat priorities. This is what is different from when he was 25 years old.
Should we adapt his way of working with a 40-year-old player?
Of course, we do it all the time. This also allows us to evolve with reality. Nowadays, with artificial intelligence, we tend to forget the importance of dialogue. But it is the link between objectivity and subjectivity. This is where the differences are made. You know, Stan has great objectivity but also immense human sensitivity. He is sometimes raised on what he feels and at the same time, when we speak a little between the lines, for adaptations, he has this feeling. Working with him is exciting.
“What impresses me most today is his pleasure, this desire that he has to continue to put the work on the work”
How do we talk to Stan Wawrinka between four walls?
My role is to put myself at the service of the player’s needs, while communicating to him what he should do in my sector. Stan loves it to be told exactly as they are. When an exercise must be redone, he knows. We then enter into a notion of rehearsals to optimize and if he has to redo a movement 10 times, I ask him with respect. It is not to annoy him. It is for our common goal. I speak to her clearly, with short sentences. But it can be longer when talking about sensations. This is what I love with him.
Does Stan still come to the room with the same enthusiasm?
He says it himself and it is true: he loves training. He loves to suffer, he was born with that. It is his identity: to fall and get up. He has this discipline, it is vegetative. The only problem I had with him, younger is that it had to brake it. But there was never any question of pushing him.
The images were quite striking in January, in Australia. Stan seems to be more “dry” this season. You confirm?
Yes, and that was one of the goals. We had to find the right middle between nutrition, training, competition, stress and recovery. It is not easy to reach the ideal weight. Stan has always been a powerful player, who uses a form of explosiveness more linked to force than to velocity. He needs this power for his game, so we cannot transform it into a dental wire. He made enormous efforts in nutrition. But it takes time. We see the difference today but it is a job that started two years ago.
We tend to forget it but at the end of 2023, so almost 39, Stan returned to the world top 50. Before you injure your ankle …
It was very hard to swallow. In these moments, it is friendship that counts. He was a bit demoralized but Stan did not complain. We are all aware of being privileged, there are people who are in very worse situations than ours. I have great respect for this gentleman who gets up all the time. Stan has always had this faculty to see the glass with full three -quarters. It’s been a healthy year and a half now, even if you sometimes have to be careful in its calendar so that it does not pay the price later. But he is still there, competitive. I will tell you something very important for young players: Stan has the modesty to be very demanding with himself while knowing that he must sometimes do more to get less. It is not today that he will slam four Grand Slam and crush everyone. He knows that it is no longer the same as in 2015, so his philosophy adapts. But the most admirable is that his motivation is intact. And I am convinced that something beautiful is still waiting for him.
Are you talking about young players, how can Stan be a model for them?
Because he is the very example of continuity. Today, we see many young people who change trainer or physical trainer as a shirt. But for me, the very essence of this sport is not to build the next day but the next ten years. You have to take the past to use the present knowing where you want to try to go. Even if it doesn’t always work and make mistakes on the way.
“Stan has the modesty of being very demanding with himself while knowing that he must sometimes do more to get less”
How close you are outside the sessions? Do you consider him a bit like your son?
We have always kept this mutual respect. I am mandated for a job and have it on the court. We know that we have a professional relationship but at 67, I can say that it is one of my best friends.
Do you wait for him to retire to take yours? Have you made a pact, in a way?
We are full but a pact is made so as not to be communicated. This is where friendship is played out (laughs). What is certain is that Stan will be the last player that I physically train in continuity. I will try to stay healthy to end my career at the same time as his. It would be a great happiness for me.
When we see him moving like in Aix and beat Alexei Popyrin (26th world player), we tell ourselves that he could almost push another season or two, right?
I will try not to avoid the question (smile). Sometimes it’s good not to know when it stops. Together, you never work in the short term. Planning is made on one or two seasons. To ensure the continuity of our work, we cannot imagine the end. However, we sometimes talk about it around coffee outside. But in training, we do not think of the fact that his last match is tomorrow or in two years.
