What a match… another wonderful one!
When Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka play each other at a slam you can always expect a great match. Early this year they had an incredible match in Melbourne when Nole won an epic 5 setter (12-10 in the decider) against a “Supermanlike” Wawrinka.
At the US Open we had a similar script with Stan playing a wonderful match and Nole having a continuous catch up game. The Serb had to recover a 1-2 set deficit to win at the decider. The key moment of the match was the third game of the 5th set when Wawrinka served on a 1-1 scoreline. That game lasted 21 minutes (!!!) and it was the Swiss to winning it. Many were thinking that after winning that game Stan was heading to win the match. But it wasn’t the case. Usually a long game is physically taxing more on the guy who serve than the receiver. In fct after that Nole won 3 consecutive games to finally win the 5th set 6-4.
Finally Nole won the match scoring less poits than Wawrinka (117 vs. 121) and that makes it clear how close this match was. Match stats
Nole: I just tried to hang on and fight
Nole acknowledges that Wawrinka as possibly played a better tennis for the biggest part of the match “In the end of the day, I managed to stay tough and play well when I needed to. That’s something that definitely encourages me before the final.
“I just tried to hang on and fight and be mentally tough and believe all the way through I can actually win.
And I sincerely believed that as the match progresses and longer it goes, I felt I have maybe that physical edge over him, and that I also, being in particularly these kind of matches and situations, playing on a big stage in semi-finals, maybe that experience could give me a little bit more of confidence on the court mentally.”
The final vs. Nadal
Nole will play Rafael Nadal in the final.These two are have played already 36 times at professional. Head to head is 21-15 for Rafa, but Nole leads 9-4 on hard courts… One thing is sure… it will be a wonderful final!
