Men’s Final: [1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. [3] Stan Wawrinka (SUI)
Djokovic was expected to win this for two reasons: he is the number one player and he has barely played much tennis this tournament; thus, he was the fresher of the two. Wawrinka has had a tiebreak in every round he has played. He has been pushed to four sets three times and five sets once. He was exhausted. He got broken early in the first set and frankly I did not expect him to break back and force a tiebreak. However, Djokovic is most dangerous when he feels cornered and he played brilliantly in the tiebreak, only allowing Wawrinka one point.
The second and third sets were mysteries. Wawrinka got the breaks early in both sets only for Djokovic to fight back; however, Djokovic was not able to hold his serve late in both sets and lost the sets. Early in the fourth set, Djokovic looked like he was cramping; yet, he received treatment on his toes. Wawrinka clearly disgusted by that inappropriate medical timeout, almost lost his serve. Was this really physical or mental? The strain of living up to the expectation of the public and perhaps his own self-imposed expectations seemed to have created a chink in Djokovic’s armor. Despite everything it was a well fought match from both players and Wawrinka fully deserved the title 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. This gives him his third Major title, well done.
PICTURE SOURCE: Creative Commons
