Then he won the 2014 Australian Open as a No. 8 seed, becoming the first player to beat Djokovic (quarterfinal) and Rafael Nadal (final) in the same Grand Slam, then won the 2015 French from that same seeding, topping Djokovic in four sets in a final widely perceived as Wawrinka’s finest match.
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Wawrinka cashed in on six of 10 break point opportunities, and frustrated Djokovic by saving 14 of 17 break points against him to become the oldest U.S. Open victor since Australian Ken Rosewall (35) in 1970.
Djokovic, who spent just eight hours, 58 minutes on court compared with Wawrinka’s 17 hours, 54 minutes, coming in to the final, had won 19 of their 23 meetings, including four of six at Slams. “The only plan is trying to push myself the maximum to be the best player I can”, Wawrinka said Sunday night.
Stan Wawrinka has won as many Grand Slam titles as Andy Murray, but even after capturing the US Open the 31-year-old insists his record does not bear comparison with tennis” “Big Four’.
“You [Wawrinka] were the more courageous player in the decisive moments, he is a great champion and he just deserves to win this title, ” he said. The No. 3 seeded Stan Wawrinka stunned the world by becoming the oldest man to claim the title in last 46 years.
” I played a lot of tennis and was empty.Emotion with the crowd, atmosphere, and the stadium was awesome.This is an fantastic night”.
His 2016 season can not be anything but unbelievable anyway and he mentioned as much.
Instead it was left to Wawrinka to serve out at 5-3.
“We played nearly four hours and I think I can speak for Stan as well, we both felt it”, he said.
“My goal is to give everything I have to be the best I can”, said Wawrinka.
Sep 11, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns a shot to Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in the championship match on day fourteen of the 2016 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Before this matchup, Djokovic praised Wawrinka as “a big-match player”, and, boy, is he ever.
The Swiss went on to win his first title at Flushing Meadows by sealing a four-set triumph in NY.
Wawrinka quickly broke Djokovic in the second game of the fourth set en route to a 3-0 lead. That court time included an epic four-hour, third-round match in which he had to battle back in five sets against Britain’s Daniel Evans. I had plenty of them.
Consider this: Djokovic had been 51-0 in U.S. Open matches, and 53-2 in all finals, when taking the first set.
But Djokovic was the first to admit that the credit here goes to Wawrinka, his friend, practice partner and foe. “This is something that I never had before”.
He took time to get going as Djokovic broke first and raced 5-2 clear but the Serb spurned two set points and then the momentum shifted.
Djokovic who won the first set tiebreak 7-1 by running off the last five points, saluted Wawrinka as a “big match” player.
The gist: After adding this trophy to those from the Australian Open in 2014, and the French Open in 2015, is it time to focus on completing a career Grand Slam by winning Wimbledon in 2017?
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Wawrinka said his late career success is not the product of any grand design, but just the culmination of years of dedication.
