Stanislas Wawrinka wins his first slam in Melbourne against an absolutely heroic Nadal.
After winning the first set in incredible fashion, 6-3, Stan found himself coping with a very strange situation. In fact, he was leading 2-1 and a break up in the second set while Nadal called the physio. The world no.1 looked injured (badly injured) to his back.
The final became rather strange as Rafa was practically unable to move to play at his 10%, but Wawrinka was really struggling from a mental point of view and his tennis went also south. Eventually Stan won the second set 6-2.
While everybody was waiting for Rafa to shake hands with Stan (he really couldn’t move) the Spaniard managed to incredibly win the 3rd set with Wawrinka that couldn’t literally put a ball in.
Finally in the 4th set the Swiss managed to regroup and win the match.
Wawrinka: I was think I was not good enough to win a slam
Stan commented “For me it is the best Grand Slam ever. Last year I had a crazy match, lost it and was crying a lot after the match. In one year a lot happened. Right now I still don’t know if I’m dreaming or not, but we’ll see tomorrow morning.
“It’s quite crazy what’s happening right now. I never expected to win a Grand Slam. I never dreamed about that because for me, I was not good enough to beat those guy.”
Nadal: Stan deserved to win
Rafa is a great champion and he definitely knows how to behave even when he sufferer from tough losses “I’m very happy for Stan, we have a great relationship. It was bad luck what happened to me today, but he really deserved it.
“It’s been an emotional two weeks. I’ve very sorry it finished this way. I tried very hard. Last year it was a very tough moment when I didn’t have the chance to play here. This year was one of the most emotional tournaments of my career.”
Rafa may have won this match, but his overall attitude was really the one of a great great champion. It’s difficult to think of a player that even if he is injured he tries to win a grand slam match when he is 2 sets down… and he was going for it!
After this Australian Open, Stan will leapfrog many players to be ranked world no.3.
