Stanislas Wawrinka, who has “Stan the Man” as his moniker is now surely the man because in winning all the Grand Slam finals he has qualified for he has had to beat the No.1 on the three occasions – Rafael Nadal for the 2014 Australian Open; Djokovic in the 2015 French Open and again Djokovic in NY.
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Djokovic, who was bothered by fitness issues coming into the tournament, looked uncomfortable during the final set before losing 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-3 to the No. 3 seed.
“This is awesome”, Wawrinka said after the match. Wawrinka also becomes one of just five players who have won at least two Slams at age of 30 or older.
“This is fantastic. I came here without the goal of winning it but just to step on the court trying to win”. While Murray has managed only 3 Grand slams, the most recent being this year’s Wimbledon, the Scot has always been the under achiever in the lot.
The final was played on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Mattek-Sands wore knee-high socks and a left wrist band with the same red-and-white-striped, star-spangled design she did while teaming with Jack Sock to win a gold medal in mixed doubles at the Rio Olympics last month. That’s why I’m not there.
“I don’t want to lose the final in a Grand Slam, that simple”. For me, there is no question about that.
“Today I was trying to stay with him”.
“But I was convinced that my game was there”.
“Saving match point, you have be a little bit lucky”, said the Swiss after adding the US Open to his 2014 Australian Open and 2015 French Open titles. After the match win, it was nearly too much, I was really exhausted. After three-set victories in the first two rounds, he had to suffer through a five-set win over Daniel Evans in the third round. I feel better than him. “And it’s the first time ever I had that feeling in a tournament and in a match”. And maybe thats also one of the reasons I played so well.. He would join Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Andre Agassi, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Don Budge and Fred Perry.
Rod Laver tends to agree, saying Monday that Wawrinka can prove hes up there with that other quartet with some better showings at the Masters. He has never gone past the quarter-finals at SW19 and despite hiring former champion Richard Krajicek this summer, he lost in the second round.
Despite his latest victory and a growing resume, Wawrinka insisted he was not in the same class as the Big Four and would not expect to join the club any time soon.
“I played quite a lot of tennis these two weeks”.
“It was not only in the tennis side but physically and mentally it was really tough, again”. I’m winning fours tournaments a year. I’m trying every year to find a solution. 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. “Hopefully it will come”.
The world number one, however, is confident his physical problems will not affect him ahead of the Asian swing.
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“I really didn’t know whether or not I’m going to come, to be honest”, he said. I’m way too far to even think about being No. 1.
