In the third round of this year’s US Open, Stanislas Wawrinka faced match point against Britain’s Dan Evans in the fourth set tie-break.
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He has somehow transformed from a chest-thumping man whose reputation for fighting, scratching and clawing his way to wins no matter how long it takes to a man who endured Wawrinka’s 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 march to the title Sunday rather quietly.
Earlier, Wawrinka made it one set apiece by winning the second set.
Wawrinka would serve out the match in the ninth game of the fourth set, first going down love-30 but then hitting a forehand victor down the line and drawing an error off of Djokovic before pummeling a backhand down the line to pull Djokovic off the court, tapping a short overhead for the victor. At 31 years, five months, he become the oldest Grand Slam singles champion since Andre Agassi at the 2003 Australian Open.
“I came on court to win it, but I knew it will be OK to lose it”, Wawrinka said.
“Honestly, after the match, I was completely empty”, the third-seeded Wawrinka said. “I played quite a lot of tennis these two weeks”.
“Today, I was trying to stay with him”, Wawrinka admitted of playing Djokovic. “It’s been an wonderful night”. “It has been an fantastic night again”.
Since beginning his current, three-year-long run as the number-one player in the world, Novak Djokovic hasn’t had a rival.
But in the tiebreaker, a backhand passing shot by Djokovic put him up 3-1, and he won the next four points to close out the set.
After the match, Djokovic said: “Congratulations, Stan, to your team as well”. “This has been absolutely deserved”.
That’s why he was more courageous, because he stepped in and played aggressive where I was more waiting for things to happen. You’re a great champion, a great person, because of you I’m where I am today.
With that Djokovic, threw his left arm around Wawrinka’s shoulders, knowing which of the two was more up to the task on this day. But when it comes to toppling Novak Djokovic lately at grand slams – the leading member, on current form, of the illustrious quartet that also includes Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray – Wawrinka has no equal. Djokovic had won 19 of those matches, including their most recent meeting.
Against Djokovic, he faced an opponent who had benefited from one of the easiest passages ever to a grand slam final, with two of the Serb’s matches ending in early retirements and another in a walkover. The crowd leapt up for a standing ovation. He wasted two set points against Wawrinka’s serve while leading 5-2, then got broken when he tried to serve out the set in the next game, double-faulting on break point.
Told that the rules stipulate that such timeouts should be reserved for acute medical conditions, Djokovic said that his condition was acute. The Serb held for 5-3 and went 0-30 up when Wawrinka served for the match, but the Swiss held firm. This time, though, the thick-chested Wawrinka eventually began bullying Djokovic from the baseline, not only with his best-in-the-game one-handed backhand, but off both wings. After the match, Djokovic rued his “terrible” success rate on those critical break points. He removed both shoes and socks so a trainer could help him out with what appeared to be blisters on toes. Wawrinka argued that he could only call for medical treatment during a change over, but officials allowed the break, Djokovic having a toe on his right foot taped in a six-minute delay.
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Wawrinka nearly dropped serve from 40-0 in the ninth game – taken to deuce – and had to escape from 15-30 at 5-5.
