“One last thing, today has been a big battle on the court but there is a bigger thing so I just want to remember what happened 15 years ago”.
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The Swiss Wawrinka’s statement on court followed that of American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won the women’s doubles title with Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, and appeared to choke up during her victory speech, telling the crowd: “It’s a special day today here for everybody in NY”.
Third seed Stan Wawrinka rose to the occasion once again to beat top-seeded defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-7 (1) 6-4 7-5 6-3 and win the U.S. Open on Sunday for the third grand slam title of his career.
Wawrinka is the oldest victor of the men’s tournament since 35-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1970 and the first over 30 to take the title since Pete Sampras in 2002.
Djokovic started off brightly, taking the opening set on a tie-break.
The 30-year-old, who has now lost all 13 of his matches to the world number one, went down 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 against Djokovic and appeared not to try his hardest at times, prompting TV commentator McEnroe to say: “You can’t support that”. Later, Djokovic started limping and received more treatment.
“At this level, after playing seven, eight months of the season, obviously you’re not very fresh but coming into the Grand Slam final you are giving it your best”. He removed both shoes and socks so a trainer could help with bleeding toes.
In disbelief after the match, as he said: “I don’t know what’s happening right now”.
Earlier, Wawrinka made it one set apiece by winning the second set.
“To play Novak is something special as we have played so many matches at Grand Slams”.
Wawrinka emerged from the shadow of superstar compatriot Federer with his Australian Open triumph in 2014. Indeed he sometimes suffers baffling losses, yet the deeper he progresses at events, the more risky he becomes: He has won his last 11 finals.
Having advanced to the semi-final without dropping a set, Monfils did not wait long to surrender his first as he went 5-0 down in just 16 minutes.
“Match after match I was playing better”.
Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada won the U.S. Open junior title Sunday, beating Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-0.
“It’s not easy when you have to play number two, number three and (number one) Novak was waiting in the finals”.
The 16-year-old Auger-Aliassime is the second Canadian to take the Open junior title, joining 2013 champion Felip Peliwo.
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 dominated the tiebreaker 7-1 after some shaky moments earlier in the set.
After dropping the first-set tiebreak 7-1, the Swiss ratcheted up the pressure on the Serb and broke Djokovic in the fourth game on a backhand victor to claim a 3-1 lead.
A moment of silence was observed at the U.S. Open to mark the 15th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Djokovic continued to chase down as much as he could, despite a bloodied toe, but Wawrinka converted his second match point to claim his third major title in as many years.
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A huge American flag was unfurled over the court, presented by a Brooklyn-based U.S. Marine Corp battalion.
