Stanislas Wawrinka's Australian Open win a popular one

Last updated on .From the section Tennis
In the 35 Grand Slams that preceded this Australian Open, Juan Martin Del Potro was the only man able to prevent the name of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic being inscribed on the trophy.
So Stanislas Wawrinka finds himself in excellent company.
We will never know whether the new Swiss number one would have been able to reproduce his blistering first-set performance for up to five sets against a fully fit Rafael Nadal, but then again we don't know that he wouldn't.
The 28-year-old from the village of St Barthelemy, just outside Lausanne, had some breaks in Melbourne. He was also fortunate that Vasek Pospisil withdrew from a third-round match scheduled for the 40-degree heat of the first Friday, but nothing should detract from his triumph.
Wawrinka recovered from a break down in the fifth set of the quarter-final to end Novak Djokovic's 25-match unbeaten run at Melbourne Park, and his own personal torment of losing 14 matches in a row to the Serb.
He then showed a steadier nerve in two of the three tie-breaks that decided his semi-final with Tomas Berdych, and by the time he had moved into a two-sets-to-love lead over Nadal, had held serve 38 times in a row.
He offers explosive power from the baseline, and a fearsome forehand that doesn't get the praise it deserves because of the majesty of his single-handed backhand.
He says he never expected to win a Grand Slam, but coach Magnus Norman has helped instil great self-belief in the Swiss in the nine months they have been working together.
Norman peaked at number two in the world rankings, and coached fellow Swede Robin Soderling to the French Open final in both 2009 and 2010.
His advice to a man who had lost all 12 of his previous meetings with Nadal without winning a set was to forget about the result, and instead think about the way you want to play each point.
Wawrinka's triumph will be a very popular one, and not just in Switzerland, where the population voted him their personality of the year on the eve of his first-round match.
He finished ahead of the comedian Divertimento and the singer Bastian Baker, and will have his name engraved on a rock in his honour.
He will be a popular winner among the players. He is close to Federer, even if that doesn't extend to spending much time in each other's company away from the tour. He considers Nadal a "really good friend" and is a regular practice partner of Andy Murray's.
He likes to let his hair down from time to time, and is a genial member of the world's elite who could never be accused of taking himself too seriously. In the run-up to the final he was retweeting from the Twitter parody accounts of Nadal and Federer.
To quote @PseudoRafa: "Against Stan I'm gonna #trymybest. Or maybe not. I never lost a set with him anyway."
He greets new experiences with almost boyish, but endearing, enthusiasm.
Last year when he finally qualified for the World Tour Finals for the first time, he sent his followers a picture of himself making the journey to London on the Eurostar, and he also took great delight in being able to tweet a picture he had never witnessed before: an empty players' restaurant on the weekend of a Grand Slam final.
Wawrinka is the new world number three - a position he thoroughly deserves for his excellence over the past 12 months.
Staying there will be tough, but his new ranking will protect him from meeting the likes of Nadal and Djokovic until at least the semi-finals, and he should start to win some of the bigger ATP titles that have so far eluded him.
Adding a second Grand Slam title will be even tougher, as I don't expect the oligopoly in men's tennis to be broken up any time soon.
Nadal played fabulously for the most part in Melbourne for a man who had little time to prepare; Djokovic has reached the semi-finals at 15 of the previous 16 Grand Slams; Murray should be fighting fit come the summer; and Federer has shown that on quicker surfaces he can't be ruled out of the equation.
But Wawrinka's presence will be very keenly felt in the latter stages of a Grand Slam. Last year he became the player whom no-one dared underestimate.
This year, in the space of just two weeks on the banks of the River Yarra, he has become a champion: a man capable of overcoming both Djokovic and Nadal, along with the weight of history against him, and winning his first Grand Slam at the 36th attempt.
Comments
Join the conversation
2014 is shaping up as a great year. No idea who will win what!
We wouldn't ever have needed to know - Wawrinka was clearly going to finish him in 3 until the time-out.
Fair play to Nadal though, I was with the crowd initially as it looked tactical, but it was clear Nadal was injured and he did his best.
Credit to Nadal once again for his humility.
Andy Murray a fine player, coached out of the UK as a teenager, lives out of the UK, nothing to do with LTA. LTA have spent millions, and produced nothing, you can't even find an indoor court to play on in this country. A joke.
Stan was the best player at this Australian open and was quite rightly the winner because he was stronger both mentally AND physically.
"I'd like to see Berdych, Ferrer and Del potro join the likes of Federer, Stan, Nadal and Djokovic."
Not been following tennis long? Del Potro won the US Open in 2009. Don't worry, it's easy to make mistakes when you're new to something.
Great to see him win, moaning comments over Rafa's back aside. Let's not forget who he beat to get there after all, and what a great year he had last year
And well, it's just great for the sport.
I seem to recall you were slagging tennis off last week for not being a sport and now you spout like you love it and you're an expert.
What's that all about?
They haven't forgot Azarenka last year. And were somewhat influence by Wawrinka going off on one, which was probably a combination of tension and words in his ear from Federer. Those booing misjudged and very quickly knew it, hence the vociferous support Nadal got from then on.
Or do you just exclude players you like from your list? You have absolutely no evidence for your ridiculous assertions.
JDandfries
would you care to name any other players you feel are juiced up, maybe you could name the player and the substance? If I took roids and my right arm was like nadal's I'd want my money back. Anyway is there any substance you think makes you serve better, hit more accurate shots.
Not being a follower of tennis you wouldn't know that grass has more inconsistant bounce than clay
Stan did this in style, beating the World Numbers One and Two (and 19 times Grand Slam winners).
All credit to Rafa for making it a great final. He is dignified in defeat as always (unlike the press who constantly cry "injury").