“I cried and threw up just before beating Djokovic in the US Open final” – Wawrinka

Stan Wawrinka, on a given day, can beat anyone, and he has demonstrated that multiple times. The Swiss sensation has won 3 majors and the last one was probably the most emotional for him. During a recent interview with the French magazine L’Illustre, the former world no.3 shared an interesting story revealing that he was in complete disarray before beating Novak Djokovic in the US Open final back in 2016.

Stan clashed with Novak many times in his career playing a couple of epic 5-setters at the Australian Open in 2013 when he lost 1-6 7-5 6-4 6-7⁵ 12-10 and the following year when he won 2-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 9-7. However, Wawrinka confessed he was completely overwhelmed before playing that US Open final.

“Five minutes before entering the central office, I suddenly felt really bad, extremely nervous. I started to cry. I even had to go throw up a bit. Magnus [Stan’s coach] came to speak to me and I pulled myself together just before finding Novak Djokovic in the hall for the pre-match interview,” Wawrinka commented.

It’s interesting to see how Stan managed to shake his nerves choosing to go more for prolonged rallies.

“I still was not feeling very good. In the first set, Novak Djokovic led 4-1, break point for him. I end up winning the game and there, I decide to tire myself physically to relieve my stress. I extend the duration of the exchanges, even if it means losing them.

“I start to run from right to left, and little by little I feel that fatigue prevails over the mind, which forces me to focus on physical and tennis. It was gone. I didn’t know at the time if I was going to win the match, but I knew I would fight to the end. And I won,” Wawrinka added.

That was an interesting take from Stan’s interview. At the end of the day, he won the match in 4 sets 6-7¹ 6-4 7-5 6-3.

Novak Djokovic in 2020

Now the world no.1, Novak played his last match on the 29^th of February when he overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3 6-4 in the final in Dubai to win his 79^th career title.

This season Novak has a 18-0 win-loss record. Novak conquered 2 titles in 2020 at the Australian Open and in Dubai.

Stan Wawrinka in 2020

At the moment ranked no.17, Wawrinka played his last match on the 27^th of February when he capitulated to Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-4 in the quarter in Acapulco.

Stan Wawrinka’s most significant performance of this year was reaching the semi-finals in Doha.

Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka played each other 26 times. The head to head is 20-6 for Djokovic. The last time that they competed against each other, Stan Wawrinka won 6-4 7-5 2-1 ret. in the 4^th round in New York (U.S. Open) in September 2019.