Absolutely, you deserve it today. “Well done”, said Djokovic to Wawrinka during his on-court post-match interview. “I decided like eight, nine days before the start of the Open just to try so to play finals, it’s quite wonderful”.
Advertisement
And it wasn’t for the first time that the Swiss was lavishing praise on his Serbian opponent.
He didn’t win a match at the Olympics and, even while doing his Djokovic thing en route to the final, he never felt like the dominant player he had as recently as this year’s French Open, when he finally capped his career Slam.
The “Top of the Rock”, an observation deck 65 storeys up the Rockefeller Centre here in the middle of Manhattan, was an appropriate place for Stan Wawrinka to reflect on the remarkable events of the evening before.
His newly earned U.S. Open trophy was sitting on the table beside him.
There were early signs of some physical discomfort when Djokovic patted over two smashes at 3-0 down in the third set but again he broke back, converting just his third break point of 14. “He’s a very complete player”.
He has now won 11 tournament finals in a row.
The two mega-stars within the sport of tennis did battle against one another for nearly four hours, before Wawrinka was finally able to see out the match, beating Djokovic by a scoreline of 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-3.
Wawrinka appeared to have been distracted as he fell break-point down three times in the following game, but he held on each time, pumping his fist as he clinched what proved to be the decisive hold. Sleep didn’t help Murray in the quarterfinal round, as he fell to No. 6 Kei Nishikori of Japan, who also won the bronze in Rio, in five sets (6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 5-7).
But as he did at Roland Garros previous year, Wawrinka would fight back to take the next three sets, including a 76-minute third set which lasted twelve games, to claim his third Major and leave Wimbledon as the only title which he has yet to win.
Wawrinka trailed Djokovic 19-4 in their career meetings, but the hard-working Swiss saves his best for the big stage and he came through with a superlative performance that extended his remarkable streak to 11 straight wins in tournament finals. For the final of the US Open, 9/11, have to bring them out. “Yeah, it was quite painful to move around”, he said later. Instead of losing focus, Wawrinka continued to strengthen his grip with more winners and eventually left Djokovic heartbroken yet again.
He knows that he’s getting old (he’s the oldest U.S. Open champ since Ken Rosewall at 35 in 1970) and he doesn’t want wasted chances.
“He was more courageous because he stepped in and played aggressive where I was kind of more waiting for things to happen”. I am very proud of it, so this loss today can not overshadow the great moments I have had in Australia and especially in Paris. He kept his cool. I love him. He’s a good friend. I just think about match after match. But the 29-year-old Serb finished runner-up in NY for the fourth time after paying a heavy price for converting just three of 17 break points.
The Swiss claimed his only point of the tie-break in an astonishing rally of attack and counter-attack, and his groundstrokes began to flow as he took control of the final in the second set. Just bad from my side.
Djokovic, however, admitted that he was outplayed by Wawrinka in the summit clash. He doesn’t look this threatening against any other player.
It made a difference on Sunday against Djokovic.
As Wawrinka placed one stinging shot after another right on a line, Djokovic looked up at coach Boris Becker and the rest of his entourage while gesticulating with his hands and muttering. It would be foolish to predict anything against Wawrinka.
Advertisement
That exclusive club of Novak Djokovic, Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have won 42 of the last 47 Grand Slams. Fans and Wawrinka became frustrated at certain points with the delays in an already grueling match.
