Stan Wawrinka defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s U.S. Open men’s final, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.
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Stanislaus Wawrinka was unable to contain his excitement after capturing his maiden US Open title and first grand slam trophy of the year. Since the 2005 French Open, that group has been responsible for 42 of the 47 Grand Slam tournament titles.
Now he has the same number of Majors as Andy Murray and has pushed the discussion of the Big Four being extended into the Fab Five. At least, Djokovic thinks so.
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. The win marks Wawrinka’s third grand slam.
Federer is considered the best player in tennis history and Djokovic was judged as the most player likely to challenge him. “He definitely deserves to be mentioned in the mix of top players”.
Although exchanging breaks in the second set and with the contest apparently set to go into another tiebreaker, Wawrinka finally managed to prevail as Djokovic committed several errors. I want to win.
The tournament was also be available via Eurosport Player, which will provided comprehensive coverage of the US Open with LIVE feeds from all the match courts, allowing viewers to select their own matches – all available on multiple devices for a monthly subscription fee.
Serbia’s Djokovic made a strong start but struggled physically as the final entered a fourth hour in NY. The Serbian pro won four straight Grand Slams previously but failed the last two, in 2016 Wimbledon and 2016 US Open.
“In the decisive moments he was the better player, he was tougher mentally, he knew what to do”.
Never was that more apparent than when Djokovic was returning serve.
“Just the toenails were off and bleeding”, the world number one said. “You have to shake hands and accept the loss from a better player and move on”, the 12-time Grand Slam victor added.
It was the third major of his career after winning the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open.
‘This is wonderful, ‘ Wawrinka exclaimed after the match. This year I had someone in my team to help me to understand a little bit better the game, but I didn’t play my best tennis yet there. Wawrinka raised both arms in celebvration and then made a bee-line to his coaches, family and friends sat at the corner of the court. He’s got a good slice and fantastic one-handed backhand, all corners. You know, unfortunately it wasn’t … the serve wasn’t there when it was needed it wasn’t there, and in big matches like this, you need the serve. A major tournament, three years running.
The 31-year-old Swiss became the oldest champion in NY since 35-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1970 and the first 30-plus player to hold the trophy since Pete Sampras in 2002.
After the win, Wawrinka seemed unsure where to turn, who to hug, how to respond.
“The Big Four, I’m really far from them”, Wawrinka said.
“And right now I am really exhausted, I am completely empty”.
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The Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd roared, and Kerber celebrated by raising her right hand and wagging her index finger in the air, as if to remind opponent Karolina Pliskova – and everyone else – “I’m No. 1!”
