By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, June 7, 2015
"I played my best tennis today," said Stan Wawrinka after stunning world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, in the Roland Garros final.
The silver Coupe des Mousquetaires gleamed from its front-row perch over Stan Wawrinka's shoulder while world No. 1 Novak Djokovic gritted his teeth across the net.
An inspired Wawrinka refused to be overshadowed by either entity.
Exuding calm defiance and destructive power, Wawrinka rode a wave of shotmaking brilliance stunning the top seed 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to collect his first Roland Garros championship and deny Djokovic the career Grand Slam.
Video: Wawrinka Hits Around the Net Post Winner
On his second championship point, Wawrinka leaned low and whipped a backhand winner down the line, a bolting knock-out blow, then tossed his red racquet aside and raised a fist triumphantly into the deep blue Paris sky.
The eighth-seeded Swiss not only hit the world's best player right off the red clay doubling Djokovic's winner total (60 to 30) in snapping the Serbian's 28-match winning streak, he looked like the least surprised guy in the place by the time he was done with the job.
"I played my best tennis today," Wawrinka told NBC's John McEnroe afterward. "It was an amazing match, an amazing day. It was not easy. When you play the number one, you have to go for your shots. I'm really, really happy to get that trophy."
The 30-year-old Wawrinka is the oldest man to win Roland Garros since 30-year-old left-hander Andres Gomez, another one-handed backhand practitioner, upset Andre Agassi in the 1990 final. Wawrinka is the third oldest French Open champion in the Open Era and the first 30-year-old to win a Grand Slam title since Davis Cup teammate Roger Federer captured the 2012 Wimbledon crown.
Despite the deep disappointment of dropping his third French Open final in the last four years and falling to 8-8 in Grand Slam finals, Djokovic showed sportsmanship and class engaging Wawrinka in an extended embrace at net.
Accepting the runner-up trophy, Djokovic tried to smile through the pain and gave a gracious bow to fans who serenaded him with a loud and extended standing ovation in a collective show of respect that nearly moved him to tears.
It has to be a gut-wrenching defeat for Djokovic, who dethroned nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, becoming the first man to beat Nadal at all four Grand Slams, then beat back third-seeded Andy Murray's challenge in a five-set battle waged over two days.
Djokovic didn't lose the match due to nerves, Wawrinka won it by stepping up to the line and taking his cracks with ambition and accuracy.
Wawrinka played bigger and bolder to dispatch Djokovic and deny his quest to become the eighth man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.
"I really appreciate the respect that [the crowd] gives for the effort that Stan and I put into the match today," Djokovic told NBC's John McEnroe immediately afterward. "Congratulations to Stan. He completely deserves to be the winner. He played much better tennis, he was more courageous. I tried my best. It wasn't the day. I have to keep going."
Nerves are natural at the start of a Grand Slam final. There was no subtle feeling-out phase today. Each man hit lines within the first few points — Wawrinka with an ace, Djokovic cleaning the sideline with a backhand down the line — then engaged in a crackling 39-shot rally with Wawrinka, whipping heavy drives off both wings, finally drawing an error.
Shrewdly changing the height and spins of his shots to keep the ball out of Wawrinka's strike zone, Djokovic jammed a topspin forehand into the hip earning triple break point in the seventh game. Rushing through his serve, Wawrinka double-faulted into the tape dropping serve.
Sliding this third ace down the middle, Djokovic backed up the break. By that point, he'd breezed through 12 of the prior 14 points building a 5-3 advantage. Serving for the set, Djokovic cranked a 125 mph serve winner wide to erase break point. The top seed converted his third set point dragging his opponent wide to the forehand side to draw the error.
As the wind whipped up, Djokovic's level dipped. Successive errors down the line left the Serbian throwing his hands up in exasperation facing break point. He saved it with a roundhouse forehand taming the threat for 3-3 in the second.
Wawrinka went right back to work applying pressure again in the eighth game earning a break point. Djokovic denied it then deadened successive angled drop shots to torment the Swiss, frustrating Wawrinka into smacking his Yonex racquet on top of the tape like a man trying to hammer a stubborn nail into submission.
In the 10th game, Wawrinka took out his frustrations on the ball, blasting drives to finally force an errant forehand, breaking for the first time to take the second set. Wawrinka raised a clenched fist. Djokovic wound up and splattered his Head racquet to the red clay in disgust.
An aggressive Wawrinka more than doubled Djokovic's winner output (31 to 14) through two sets and earned more break points than the world's best returner (6 to 4).
Combining the broad shoulders of a rugby player with the muscular legs of a midfielder, Wawrinka generates massive power with his sweeping swings.
Transforming the sixth game of set three into a spectacle of shot making brilliance, Wawrinka blistered a backhand winner down the line for triple break point that left Djokovic throwing his hands up in exasperation wearing a frustrated "How can I stop this guy?" expression. Slashing a forehand winner down the line breaking for 4-2, Wawrinka waved his arms rousing the crowd to erupt in roaring approval.
Drifting well off the doubles alley, Wawrinka lasered a backhand winner around the net post in an eye-popping display of audacious power and control. Stepping up to serve for the lead, Wawrinka slid his ninth ace opening an imposing love hold that left him one set from his second Grand Slam title.
Digging in, Djokovic drew a pair of backhand errors, breaking for the first time since the seventh game for a 2-0 fourth-set lead. Djokovic is at his best straddling the baseline and redirecting drives up the line, but his opponent's heavy topspin sometimes drove him back into defensive positions scrambling across the salmon-colored clay.
Adopting aggressive court positioning, Wawrinka beat Djokovic to the ball and beat him with the down the line daggers to slash his way through critical points.
"I tried to make him move," Wawrinka said. "I tried to go against him. I needed to play really, really hard sometimes straight on him. At the end, it's a small difference when I'm inside the court and he's behind it, [but it] makes a big difference in the game."
One of the most exhausting exchanges of the match saw Wawrinka hit several stretching slice backhands to extend it before Djokovic slapped a forehand into net ending a 30-shot rally as Wawrinka broke back for 2-3. He saved three break points digging out of a triple-break point hole in holding for 4-all. Wawrinka cracked a one-handed backhand winner down the line to break for 5-4.
Serving for the championship, Wawrinka whipped another backhand winner down the line to save a break point. On his first championship point, Wawrinka narrowly missed buzzing an ace off the line sending his support box, including his parents and sister, jumping out of their seats in a premature celebration.
Fittingly, Stan's final strike was his signature shot, the buzzing backhand down the line. The one-hander sealed his second Grand Slam title, vaulting Wawrinka to No. 4 when the new ATP rankings are released tomorrow.
Three-time Roland Garros champion Guga Kuerten, who defeated Wawrinka's coach, Magnus Norman, to win the 2000 trophy presented Stan with the Coupe des Mousquetaires and he raised it up and down joyously like a college student waving his diploma to family on graduation day.
Wawrinka, who beat Brian Baker to win the Roland Garros junior title 12 years ago, is the first man to sweep both French Open junior and senior titles since Mats Wilander in 1988.
On this day, Stan truly was the man.