Stanislas 'Wow'-rinka, the 2014 Australian Open champion

Stanislas Wawrinka

“I never expected to win a Grand Slam. I never thought about that because for me, I was not good enough to beat those guys.” This was the candid confession of new Australian open champion Stanislas Wawrinka after his upset win over Rafael Nadal in the final of Australian Open.

Practically, it was the most unexpected final win for more than half a decade. If we have to find a similar act in men’s tennis finals of Grand Slams in recent years, then we have to go all the way to the 2009 final of the US Open when Juan Martin del Potro defeated Roger Federer in the final.

This was Wawrinka’s 36th appearance in a Grand Slam.

It is tough to believe that this was the first final in the Open Era when the top seed and 8th seed were facing each other. Wawrinka’s victory in the final carries more significance due to the fact that he became first man to defeat both the top seeds at a Grand Slam since Sergi Bruguera at Ronald Garros in 1993.

Wawrinka has always been considered to be a good top 20 player. His fortunes changed, however, when he appointed Magnus Norman as his coach around six months ago. He gained the required amount of confidence with time and it paid results in January this year handsomely.

Nadal came on court with a injury in his back. He lagged behind at the beginning of the first set when his service was broken.

A period of 15 minutes towards the end of the first set and the beginning of the second decided the fate of the entire match. In the first set (last game) Wawrinka was serving for the set. Nadal earned 3 break points as he tried to stage a comeback. But at 0-40, he allowed Wawrinka 5 straight points. Immediately after that in the opening game of the second, Nadal was broken to love and never came back in the second stanza. He took a long medical timeout but it’s didn’t work.

Nadal mustered courage in the third set of the match and won it. But the power in his shots was ebbing, his shots were going wide and the speed of his serve was low. All of that made the job easier for the opponent.

Nadal couldn’t hold back the tears in the press conference after the defeat. On the other hand Wawrinka also seemed overcome with emotion after receiving the trophy from Pete Sampras. Sampras could have handed the trophy to Nadal for equalling his 14 Grand Slam wins but destiny had something else to offer.

Nadal has always had a tough time in the Australian Open. The title has eluded him since 2009 for reasons other than his game. He has matured himself as a genuine hard court player in the past four months. This Australian Open was the perfect setting for his second title in 5 years. After the defeat he admitted that he was in severe pain during the match but retirement was the last thing in his mind. He showed his unending fighting spirit up to the last shot despite his injury.

With the win, Wawrinka has overtaken Federer as the new Swiss number one. This was an inconceivable thought 12 months ago. Wawrinka has truly entered the winners’ circle of top 5 with the win. May WOWrinka go on.