It may have taken the likeable Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 36 attempts to do it, but on Australia Day 2014, he finally fulfilled his vast potential to win his first Grand Slam.
Not content with that, he did it by beating both three-time defending champion Novak Djokovic and world No1 and former Australian champion, Rafael Nadal.
Yet when the draw was first made in Melbourne, the talk was of ill balance.
In the bottom half lay Djokovic who, though seeded only No2, was most pundits’ favourite for another title Down Under.
In the top half lay all five of the other Grand Slam champions in the draw, including the only other winners in Australia: Nadal and, in the other top-half quarter, No6 Roger Federer.
Nadal was scheduled to face the US Open 2009 champion, No5 Juan Martin del Potro, in his quarter-final, while Federer was lined up to meet No4 Andy Murray, not just a double Grand Slam champion but three times a finalist in Australia.
There were as many theories as champions, then, about who of these big names might reach the final. But there were very few realistic alternatives to Djokovic in the bottom half: The survivor between the next highest seeds, Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer, both had discouraging head-to-heads against the super-Serb.
Yet if push came to shove, there was one name that might just prove a challenge to the old order: Stanislas Wawrinka.
As he took up with Magnus Norman ahead of the 2013 season, Wawrinka’s tennis was becoming more aggressive and forward-moving, his physical shape sharper and more durable, and that combination had produced his best results since he first broke into the top 10 in 2008. Having all but fallen from the top 30 in 2012, he edged back to No17 for a storming run at this very tournament last year, and famously took Djokovic to 12-10 in the fifth set in one of the matches of the year. As he said after today’s final:
“Last year I had a crazy match, lost it and was crying. In one year, a lot happened.”
Indeed he went on to reach his first Masters final since 2008 in Madrid and, come the US Open, reached his first Grand Slam semi by beating Murray in a sizzling display. Again he pushed Djokovic to the limit, leading two sets to one before losing another classic match in five.
He accumulated nine wins over top-10 players and reached a career-high No8 in the rankings to qualify for his first World Tour Finals. Yet through all his successes, Wawrinka had failed to make the breakthrough against Djokovic—until he walked back onto the Rod Laver arena this year. Sure enough, it was third-time lucky for the bold and increasingly confident Swiss man—after 14 consecutive losses dating back to 2006.
Having despatched Berdych in equally aggressive style, Wawrinka reached his first Major final.
However, for all his success in beating one Goliath, he now faced a still bigger colossus. Not compatriot Federer, though Wawrinka’s 11 straight losses to his fellow Swiss suggested that would have been tough enough.
No, it would be Nadal, who had not only beaten Wawrinka in all 12 previous matches—beginning at the Australian Open in 2007—but had never conceded a single set to the Swiss.
Was there a glimmer of hope? Well in their last match, at the World Tour Finals, Wawrinka lost in two tight tie-breakers. But Nadal’s performance in beating Federer in straight sets had become the talking-point of the Australian Open.
Wawrinka’s serving performance throughout the tournament had been exceptional—62 aces up to 137mph, 81 percent of points won on his first delivery—but in his opening two games here, he got only two out of 10 first serves into play. It mattered not: He dropped just two points. And, key in these early stages, he showed clearly what his tactics would be: attack, step inside the baseline, and force his forehand and backhand deep and wide to Nadal’s backhand wing.
Not only were his tactics clear, so was his confidence: His body language exuded self-belief. He was rewarded with early break points in the fourth game and, pounding his powerful cross-court forehand to Nadal’s backhand, he took a 3-1 lead.
A serve-and-volley finish took the Swiss to 4-1, and a net attack earned him break point in the next game, too. He could not convert it, but even facing 0-40 as he served for the set, he looked supremely calm and overcame three missed first serves to take his first ever set, 6-3, against the top seed.
The Swiss quickly threw down the gauntlet again in the first game of the second set, winning a 22-stroke rally with a huge forehand winner—and he followed it with another in the second. He broke to love with a bullet of a backhand winner.
Further alarm bells rang for Nadal fans in his next service game, as began wincing, slowed down his serve, held, but immediately called on the trainer. He went off court for a several minutes, while Wawrinka became increasingly agitated by a lack of information from the umpire.
Fortunately, he channelled his anger into four big first serves, but Nadal still looked distressed. He could not serve effectively, nor stretch to his backhand, and Wawrinka broke again. At 1-4, Nadal took more treatment court-side and it was revealed to be a back problem. He won another game, as Wawrinka struggled to remain ruthless, but was soon two sets down, as the Swiss served out, 6-2.
Nadal had more treatment before the third set, and time now, perhaps, for the anti-inflammatories to kick in. He held the first game and, with Wawrinka’s concentration in shreds, Nadal broke to lead 3-0.
And so it continued—painfully for both men. Wawrinka had two break chances at 3-5 but hit two wild errors, and in total contrast to the calm competitor of the first two sets, he began to berate himself. After an extraordinary 33 minutes during which Wawrinka cranked up 19 errors—as many as in the first and second sets together—Nadal was on the board, 6-3.
Right now, I still don’t know if I’m dreaming or not, but we’ll see tomorrow
Stanislas Wawrinka
The tried and tested tactics of Nadal fended off two break chances at the start of the fourth, as well—high-bouncing serves to the Swiss single-handed backhand—but Wawrinka finally punched a couple of winners past Nadal to break in the sixth, only to make four straight errors to hand the break back.
Slowly, though, the Wawrinka focus improved, and he broke again. He hit the side of his head with his fist as if to drum more concentration into his brain, and it was working. With new balls, he fired off a service game reminiscent of the first set to seal this most dramatic of matches to love, 6-3.
It was, in the end, as much a triumph of mental fortitude as physical: It is remarkably tough to put the foot down against an ailing opponent, especially one who is also a friend. The dogged Nadal, unable in the end to regain his full powers, was still a formidable opponent, and for Wawrinka, this was a hard-won and deserved victory.
It was a restrained celebration from the Swiss, with conciliatory words at the net and his typically shy demeanour in accepting his first Grand Slam trophy. He thanked coach Norman—for what a partnership this is proving to be—but admitted: “Right now, I still don’t know if I’m dreaming or not, but we’ll see tomorrow.”
He’ll see one more thing tomorrow, as well: Stanislas Wawrinka, world No3.
And maybe he will have to add a word or three to that Beckett quote on his arm: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Become a champion.”