Stan Wawrinka believes it’s pointless to think about becoming world No1 this year as he insists there remains a gulf between himself and the top trio of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

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Wawrinka, ranked No4 in the world, had the year of his life last season, capturing a maiden grand slam title in Australia, a first Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo, and winning Switzerland a first Davis Cup trophy.

The Swiss took out Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Nadal back-to-back to win the Australian Open in sensational fashion and while that triumph gave him a certain degree of self-belief, Wawrinka does not think reaching the top spot is attainable at the moment.

“I’m way too far. If you look at Novak, Rafa, Roger, they’re way too strong. Way better than all the other players. They’re winning all the grand slams, all the Masters 1000, all the big tournaments since more than 10 years. That’s the fact, that’s the reality,” Wawrinka said in Abu Dhabi, where he faces Djokovic on Friday in the semi-finals of the Mubadala World Tennis Championships.

“I don’t put a wall in front of me, because I was thinking the same about grand slams. I didn’t expect to win or I didn’t dream about that because I thought they were better than me but I did it because every time I go on the court I think I can win the match.

“But I do it step by step. I’m No4 in the world, it’s a new year 2015, I know that my game is there. I know the season is really long. I know I can beat all the players.

A lot has changed for Wawrinka over the past 12 months and it’s not just his decision to shorten his name from ‘Stanislas’ to ‘Stan’.

He admits that his results last year have brought with them several mental challenges that have forced him to adapt his way of thinking. They also changed the way the general public perceived him.

“It’s different for sure when you’ve been in the top-10 or the top-20 for six years and then you start to win a grand slam, a Masters 1000, Davis Cup for your country. It’s huge,” said the 29-year-old.

“You start to be a different personality for the people who don’t know you. They start to look at your differently.

“From my side I had some up and down because I had to deal with that mentally, to find my way how to stay the same but changing at the same time. Because you can’t just stay the same, it’s a different life.

“But I’m happy with where I am now. I happy with my last year for sure and I’m excited to start the new year and to have a new challenge and a new goal.”

Despite all the highs from last year, 2014 did not come without its lows. Wawrinka suffered a handful of bizarre losses including a stretch of opening round defeats in three straight tournaments during the fall Asian swing.

“It happens. I prefer to have some big up and big down than the year before when I was always really good but I never won big titles. I have zero regrets because it was an amazing year,” he says.

After Abu Dhabi, Wawrinka will fly to Chennai to officially kick off his 2015 campaign before heading to Melbourne, where he will enter the Australian Open as a grand slam defending champion for the first time in his career.

On how he plans on approaching the tournament, he said: “It’s nice to know that you won the tournament, the grand slam, last year. For sure it’s going to be a new experience.

“But approaching the tournament will be the same as every year. You start the year from zero and at the end of the year you see where you’re going to be.

“It’s not about defending points, it’s about making points from the beginning of the year until the end and that’s why the pressure, it doesn’t matter what I did last year, it’s the same pressure.

“Because I really want to do it well, I want to make a big result and I know the way to do it. I just need to find it.”