Can Wawrinka rise from Federer's shadow?

Stan Wawrinka has always lived in the shadow of his compatriot, Roger Federer; but after his incredible performance in knocking Andy Murray out of the US Open, a question has arisen – is Stan the new Swiss man?

After always being number two in the eyes of the Swiss public to the former world number one, he is finally starting to emerge from the shadow of Federer. With the destruction of Murray came the talk of Wawrinka going all the way and taking the US Open crown himself. Many will find it hard to see this happening as he would have to beat the two best players in the world – both who are in the form of their lives.

However, there is no denying that Stan is starting to prove that he is more than a number two by putting together a string of solid performances. During the game against Murray, there was no denying that the Swiss deserved the win as his forehand was firing on all cylinders, smashing winners left, right and centre past Murray.

Murray’s performance also raised a few eyebrows, with the sheer number of unforced errors off his racket. During the three set match, he committed 30 errors whilst only hitting 15 winners to Stan’s 45 showing where the match was lost. Another place where the match was lost was on the Murray serve, usually such a dominant weapon. However, Murray was having some real trouble in holding on to it; coupled with him creating no break points shows he was never really able to keep up with ‘Stan the man’s’ brilliance.

Next up for Wawrinka is the World no.1 Novak Djokovic. These two were part of one of the matches of the year in Melbourne earlier this year. That 12-10 triumph in the fifth set by Djokovic was both championship saving but also confidence building for Wawrinka. He played at such a high level that day that he proved to the tennis world that he could compete regularly with the top 10 guys. His win over a flat Andy Murray was proof that Wawrinka had matured into a world class player with maybe the best backhand in the game.

The problem for Wawrinka is that Djokovic is no pushover himself. Novak’s only dropped one set this tournament and seems to always play great tennis in New York. The fresher and more experienced Djokovic is favourite to prevail.

After this performance, Stan will be hoping to push on in the next few tournaments in the hope that he can make year ending tournament at the O2 arena. He is currently in 10th with the top 8 qualifying for it, therefore he needs to continue with his strong run of form to reach the tournament where he has never appeared.

When Wawrinka comes up against Djokovic, we will find out if Stan can be the man and push on from his impressive win.