“I Needed To Win It” – Stan Wawrinka On Beating Novak Djokovic At The Australian Open
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2014 was just another year for most of us but not for Stan Wawrinka. 2014 was the year he won his first grand slam at the Australian Open and became a major figure on the ATP tour. He recently talked about his victory there with Chris Evert. Check out what he said.
Stan Wawrinka On His First Grand Slam Win
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To win the 2014 Australian Open, Stan Wawrinka had to beat the 2 legends, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. He was on a 14-match losing streak against Novak and a 12-match losing streak against Rafa. This is what prompted Chris Evert to ask if winning the 2014 Australian Open was a mental breakthrough. He said,
“Yeah, It was a mental breakthrough for me especially the match against Novak. I played him the previous year where the fifth set went to 12-10. So this time I told myself that if it goes that far, I need to win it.”
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Clearly, Stan followed his own advice. His and Novak’s match went to a fifth set where he was a break down and managed to come back and win 9-7. But that was not enough, he had to face Rafael Nadal in the final. He said,
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“So, Rafa’s match was different. I was very relaxed. I told myself that I came here to win and I had to play the best tennis I could.”
And win he did. Stan Wawrinka beat Rafael Nadal in 4 sets to lift his first grand slam. He became the first man to beat Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win a slam. However, he did not stop there. He eventually went on to win 2 more grand slams – one in 2015 and one in 2016.
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Due to injuries, Stan had a drop in form and fell down in the rankings. Since then, he has been making a comeback, and hopefully, we can see him win some more grand slams in the future.
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