STANIMAL INSTINCT

YOU MAY DISLIKE TATTOOS. You may think them ill-advised. You may think them unsightly. More than that: a stain on the body as temple. But could you make an exception, if not for yourself then for a fellow traveller? How about for Stan Wawrinka, whose career as a professional tennis player has coincided with those of the three best players (statistically, at least) who’ve ever lived? If a down-in-the-mouth Wawrinka had come across a message that could lift his spirits, anytime, at a glance, would you understand his choosing to ink that message onto the underside of his left forearm? And would it boost your understanding if the quote – lifted from a story by Samuel Beckett – encapsulated one of the finest philosophies any man could live by?

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

“I can’t remember how I first saw it,” says Wawrinka, who’s speaking to while on a spell in his homeland of Switzerland, spending time with his nine-year-old daughter, Alexia, while recharging on the eve of another year on the circuit. “When you’re a tennis player, even when you’re in the top 5 or top 15, you keep losing during the year. And when we