Stan Wawrinka Beats Rafael Nadal For The Australian Open Title

Stan Wawrinka Beats Rafael Nadal For The Australian Open Title

Prior to the Australian Open finals match last Sunday, Stan Wawrinka lost all of twelve meetings with Rafael Nadal. The eighth-seeded Swiss player also tweeted that he was relaxing before the match.

Once the match got underway, Wawrinka harassed Nadal in the first hour before losing focus when the World No.1 injured his back in the second set. However, the Swiss regained his focus and went on to win his first Grand Slam title at the Rod Laver Arena.

Wawrinka also won the Australian Open title in style as he beat the top two players in the world, Nadal and Novak Djokovic, in a single major.

The win will move Stan Wawrinka to No. 3 in the world, which will give him a higher rank than his good friend and fellow Swiss Roger Federer. The 28-year-old Wawrinka is the first man to cop a major title besides Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Andy Murray since the 2009 US Open.

Wawrinka had a remarkable transformation since he typically ends up shirt of reaching the top ten last year. This comes despite his explosive backhand and solid experience as a top 20 player for a number of years.

Prior to his win last Sunday, Wawrinka has only won five minor ATP Tour championships. However, his luck may have changed when Sweden’s Magnus Norman became his coach. Norman said he may have helped Stan Wawrinka in a number of small things, but he was not expecting the win of Wawrinka in the Australian Open.

Norman indicated that it was mainly giving the player self-confidence in bug matches and balancing aggression with patience. Pete Sampras was also impressed by the poise of Wawrinka while under pressure.

On the other hand, Nadal remains in the hunt to become the first man to win all four majors two times in the Open era. The Spanish player is expected to continue his hunt if he remains healthy. He said it was very emotional for him in the last two weeks and it was among the most emotional tournaments in his career.

Stan Wawrinka, who is currently 10-0 for the year, will play in a first round tie in the Davis Cup against Serbia in the coming weekend.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday January 27 2014, 2:30 AM EST. Ref: USA Today. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0