The world No.3, Stan Wawrinka, put on a show of endurance and doggedness on Sunday to win the 2016 US Open by beating World No.1, Novak Djokovic, in four sets 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.
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Wawrinka raced out to a 3-0 lead in the third set, breaking Djokovic in the second game and ripping a backhand right past Djokovic to win the third game.
Wawrinka said: “Before the final I was really nervous, like never before”. All three of his grand slam wins have come against the No1 of the time, while he is unbeaten in 11 finals.
The 31-year-old Swiss is now a flawless 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, having beaten Djokovic en route to all three.
Wawrinka also revealed why he has won all three Grand Slam finals he has qualified for.
“When we start talking five minutes before the match, last few things with [his coach] Magnus Norman, I started to cry”.
“You are a great champion and great person and it is because of you that I am who I am today”.
“Today I knew it would be a really tough battle again playing the number one player, Novak Djokovic, who always pushes you to play your best tennis if you want to beat him”.
The opening three sets were fairly even affairs decided by the finest of margins but Djokovic began to struggle physically in the fourth. But no matter the circumstances, Wawrinka was still too good for Djokovic. It wasn’t an upset for the ages – the world No. 3 over the world No. 1 – but Wawrinka’s win was significant: He has replicated his success at the pinnacle of his sport not just once, but twice since his breakthrough win in Melbourne at the 2014 Australian Open.
Djokovic needed treatment during the fourth set, revealing his “toe nails were off and bleeding”.
Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, reacts after a point to Stan Wawrinka, of Switzerland, during the men’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
Wawrinka backed up that breakthrough with a victory over Djokovic in last year’s French Open final – denying the Serb in his first bid to join the select club of men to complete a career Grand Slam. It’s hard to imagine Andy Murray, for example, staying calm if he’d been the one serving when Djokovic took an unorthodox break. “We know each other (for) many, many years, and I had the chance to practice many times with him and to play him on a big stage”.
“He deserves to be in the mix, no doubt about it”, Djokovic, who was generous in praise of his opponent, said.
Now boasting as many Grand Slam titles as world No. 2 Murray, Wawrinka is not planning to slow down, and he seemed a bit affronted that anyone might think he should.
Djokovic entered the tournament with a left wrist injury suffered before the Rio Olympics, but also benefited from three walkovers or retirements during his run to the final.
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‘It was a fantastic couple of weeks for me, ‘ said the Serbian.
