Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland celebrates after the men’s singles final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the 2016 U.S. Open tennis tournament in NY, the United States, Sept. 11, 2016.
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The 31-year-old Swiss, who defeated Djokovic on his way to winning the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open, denied the world number one a third grand slam title this year following his wins in Australia and France. “The only plan is trying to push myself the maximum to be the best player I can”, Wawrinka said Sunday night. “When I was a kid, I was always dreaming to one day be the No. 1 player in the world, to win Grand Slams”, said the 28-year-old Kerber, who will move up one spot from No. 2 and replace Serena Williams atop the WTA rankings on Monday.
“Five minutes before the match I was talking over the last few things with Magnus and I started to cry”.
And he did it Sunday against Djokovic, whose French Open title in June completed a career Grand Slam and made him only the third man – and first in almost a half-century – to win four consecutive major tournaments.
The title is her second grand slam of the year, after winning the Australian Open in January.
“We know each other for many, many years”, Wawrinka said on the court after the match, speaking to Djokovic, per USA TODAY.
The 29-year-old came into the final after three opponents retired earlier in the tournament, but any freshness that might have given him was not enough to see off an inspired Wawrinka.
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.
After a draining, and decidedly unusual, four-set victory over Gael Monfils in the semifinals Friday, when he got both shoulders massaged by a trainer, Djokovic looked forward to a bit of rest.
Wawrinka, the 31-year-old third seed, triumphed 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 after nearly four hours of high intensity tennis.
The Pole has now won all three of his grand slam finals, and goes equal with Britain’s Andy Murray with his three titles. We both felt the demanding match we played today physically but he came out on top.
“The Big Four, I’m really far from them”.
“But the only thing I was convinced with myself was that my game was there”. I’m playing way better this year than last year.
“I lost my nerves in the important moments”. He kept his cool. I think that’s what decided the match.
“Terrible conversion of the break points”, Djokovic said.
“It started in the Australian Open when I beat Novak (in the quarters) for the first time”, Wawrinka said about the gesture during an interview with CNN’s James Blake at Arthur Ashe Stadium in NY. I had to put my s*** together. How many Masters 1000 titles has Murray won?
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He doesn’t need to be world No. 1, he said, nor does he expect himself to produce like Djokovic from here on out, at the top of his game week after week after week.
