Is Stanislas Wawrinka’s Australian Open victory a blip, or a sign of changing times?

Stanislas Wawrinka posing with the Australian Open trophy

The 2014 Australian Open will remain etched in our memories for a long time to come. Stanislas Wawrinka winning the tournament was probably the last thing running on an average tennis fan’s mind when the tournament began. So this brings us to the obvious question: is his win a sign of things to come in the future? Is this the beginning of a new era?

Journey to the title

Not many know that Wawrinka’s title march actually began in the Chennai Open which was held just a few days before the Australian Open. Wawrinka won the title there and that would have been a tremendous confidence booster for him even though the level of competition he faced there was much lower than that in Melbourne. Playing in Chennai’s humid conditions would have helped him a lot in preparing for the Australian Open since he had to battle the heat in Australia as well.

2013 was a breakthrough year for the Swiss as he reached the semifinal of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. One has to remember that he stretched Djokovic in last year’s Australian Open as well. That match lasted for five hours and in the end Djokovic prevailed. Defeating the same opponent this year with the final set reading 9-7 would have been incredibly pleasing considering the fact that he lost to Djokovic in an another five set thriller during the US Open.

Nadal had crushed the fans’ hopes of seeing an all-Swiss final despite battling an injury. It did hamper him in the final but you’ve got to give credit to the way Wawrinka played throughout the tournament; he richly deserved the title as he beat Nadal in four sets.

So many firsts

During the course of the win, Wawrinka had achieved many things for the first time in his career. He had never won against Nadal before this. It was his first win against the world No. 1 in 13 attempts. In fact, he had never even won a set against Nadal before the first set of the Australian Open final.

Apart from making the finals of a Grand Slam singles competition for the first time and eventually winning it, he also broke into the Top 5 world rankings for the first time in his career. Right now he is ranked 3rd in the world. He had a 14-match losing streak against Djokovic and finally broke that.

This was also only the second time since 2005 that a player other than the Top 4 (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray) had won a Grand Slam singles title and the first time since Juan Martin del Potro’s shock 2009 US Open victory.

Wawrinka is the second Swiss man after you know who, to win a Grand Slam singles title. And guess what, nobody had ever beaten both Djokovic and Nadal in the same Grand Slam tournament before. Of all the above mentioned achievements, the last one has to be the sweetest for him personally.

Challenges ahead

Wawrinka admits that he thought that apart from the ‘Big Four’, the likes of Tsonga, Ferrer, del Potro and Berdych were the likely ones to win a Grand Slam ahead of him. He now genuinely believes that his win will inspire the players in the Top 15 to grow in confidence when it comes to making the next big step.

Wawrinka will now surely be considered a huge threat, but his performances over the next 12 months will tell if this win was a blip or not. It will be really interesting to see how he fares in his next few games against Djokovic and Nadal since it took him a long time to end his losing streak against them. And there is a certain Andy Murray in the fray whom he didn’t face in the tournament.

Wawrinka might have his sights set on the No. 1 ranking, but more than that his focus should be on sustaining this level of consistency. He helped Switzerland reach their first Davis Cup quarterfinal since 2004 and he is expected to carry his country beyond that this year.

Time not on his side

If Wawrinka does manage to enter that elite group, he has to displace one among the four and the likely one will be his countryman. Federer has slipped in the rankings and no longer possesses the same threat that he used to, but his rejuvenated performance in the Australian Open until the semifinal against his nemesis Nadal showed that the fire is still burning. But the question is, for how long?

Wawrinka himself doesn’t have too much time on his side as he is just a month away from turning 29 years old. He probably has two or at the maximum three years of his best tennis left in him and he has to make this period count, especially considering the fact that Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are all younger than him.

People want Wawrinka to make that big leap and constantly challenge the top players. But is this the beginning of a new era? No, certainly not. Or should I say not yet? A new era will officially commence only if Federer gets isolated completely and if Wawrinka starts being consistent. The ideal scenario would be to have one or two more players from the Top 10 making that big leap and challenging the pre-tournament favourites.

One thing is for certain though. The next 12 to 15 months are going to be a really exciting period in the world of tennis. Will Wawrinka go the del Potro way? Or will he make that giant leap? Time will tell.