Wawrinka started his 2016 tennis campaign by playing at the 2016 Aircel Chennai Open, where he was bidding for his third straight title win in a row.

Wawrinka won against Andrey Rublev, Guillermo García-López and Benoît Paire in straight sets, before facing Borna Ćorić in the final.

After winning the title in Chennai, Wawrinka participated in the first Grand Slam of the season in the 2016 Australian Open.

He first faced Dmitry Tursunov who is participating on his first Grand Slam after more than a year of being absent on the tour due to injury.

[2][3] After early exits in Madrid and Rome, Wawrinka won the Geneva Open, defeating Marin Cilic in the final in two close sets.

[12] He then beat Illya Marchenko, Juan Martín del Potro, and Kei Nishikori, each in four sets to reach his first US Open final.

[13] In the final, Wawrinka beat defending champion Novak Djokovic in four sets to win his 3rd grand slam title and first at the US Open.