ST.-BARTHÉLEMY, Switzerland — Entering the grounds of the Centre Social et Curatif, visitors are greeted by a gaggle of geese, ducks and chickens and a towering castle from the 11th century. On market day, a handful of its residents, adults with special needs, congregate around tables, where their vegetables, apple cider and handicrafts are for sale.
It seems an unlikely environment in which to produce a tennis star, and yet it was here that Stan Wawrinka, the defending French Open men’s singles champion, was raised. The center is home to 75 adults with mental disabilities and is a self-sustaining facility fed by the 80-acre farm that his father, Wolfram, has run for nearly 35 years.