“Just look at the tournaments they’ve won, how many years they’ve been there”.
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He said: “The Big Four, I’m really far from them”. If you look, yes, I have three Grand Slams.
“At the beginning I told my coach Magnus (Norman) before the match I had a feeling”, Wawrinka said.
Wawrinka has engineered a growing reputation as a big-match performer, however. “But I have them and I’m happy to take the trophy back home”.
Consider this: Djokovic had been 51-0 in U.S. Open matches, and 53-2 in all finals, when taking the first set. “You were the more courageous player in the decisive moment and he deserves his title”.
Wawrinka had out-powered Djokovic in the French Open final previous year and he pulled off a similar display of destruction at Flushing Meadows to win 6-7 (1/7) 6-4 7-5 6-3.
The top seed has spent a total of just 8 hours, 58 minutes on court, while Wawrinka has logged 17 hours, 54 minutes of court time.
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.
Wawrinka was up a break and 3-1 when umpire Ali Nili allowed Djokovic to take the six-minute break, even though rules state time-outs can only be taken at that point if there is an “acute medical condition”.
With the exception of Federer, the other three are younger than Wawrinka. They have been there (for) 10 years.
“This is wonderful”, he added.
“They have not only been winning but been in semi-finals or the final every time”.
“Honestly after the match I was completely empty”. Again, was so much emotion with the crowd, with the atmosphere, with that stadium. His voice croaking a little from a solid night’s celebrating in NY, one of his favourite cities, he explained why in a spectacular setting at the top of the Rockerfeller Center in Manhattan on Monday morning. “That’s it. If your opponent is struggling, if he has blood coming out, you have to stop”.
“He was the better player. We both felt the demanding match that we played today, physically”. “He was tougher mentally”, said Djokovic, offering two of the highest compliments a tennis player can receive from the talented and sturdy Serb ranked No. 1.
“I played quite a lot of tennis these 2 weeks”. “I sincerely doubt that this is going to prevent me from playing there”, Djokovic said.
Wawrinka, who won his first major at the 2014 Australian Open, may be the ultimate big-game player in men’s tennis. The Swiss has won three of their seven grand slam encounters. With his powerful presence and strong mind, he has proved unbeatable in any final since June 2013.
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Novak Djokovic, left, shares a joke with US Open victor Stan Wawrinka.
