Grand Slam hits a soft spot
Australian Open Men's Final 2014
Words by Claudia Sorace
The
Australian Men’s Open Final is not only iconic, but it stops an entire nation. Making
them sit down; either as one of the lucky Rod Laver attendees or pulling up a
pew at home. Social media is flooded with patriotic backing: if your
grandparents are French for instance; you may be more inclined to want
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga to win. What about if you’re Serbian? Well, your white knight
Novak Djokovic needs your support and vise versa. Or as a matter of bias, like
my mother; she simply has her favorite for reasons beyond nationality, but
rather picking her beloved Rafael Nadal in appreciation of his
obsessive-compulsive traits and clay court power-madness.
So,
you can imagine the hype our house was pumping when Rafael Nadal defeated Roger
Federer in the semi finals. But, shockingly we didn’t see wild card Stanislas Wawrinka deafeating
Novak Djokovic. A ripple wave of shock occurred when the Swiss player fought
his way to a place in the final.
Lets set the scene. It’s Australia
Day, the 26th of January and although Australia is a young country
with very little tradition, traditionally the Australia Day celebrations were
spent watching the tennis with friends and family. Then, you have the players.
Rafael Nadal, a man who everyone loves to watch due to his cool, yet
exuberantly fit state. Stanislas Wawrinka in the top ten; he’s a volatile
player, passionate, yet a ‘Grand Slam’
had seemed unachievable. However; he
crossed the line between ‘can do’ to ‘did do’ when he sent Djokovic packing.
To beat the number one in the world
though, was it achievable? Consequently the crowd grew excited at the
commencement of the match. However, soon watching Nadal, was like watching a
train wreck; he couldn’t fight back, in fact; he couldn’t fight at all. The
crowd misunderstood what was happening. Nadal left the court; he took more than
the proposed amount of time a player is allowed off court, for private
treatment. A crowd, oblivious to what was happening, then booed Nadal when he
returned courtside. Wawrinka was complaining; they had not informed him why
Nadal had left the court. An argument between the umpire and Wawrinka began.
The Swiss player seemed annoyed and exasperated.
Nadal returned to the court and the
train wreck continued. Nadal was unable to move, to defend the threatening
shots that Wawrinka was hitting from deep within the base line. Wawrinka
however, seemed to soften, not quite sure how to react to his injured friend,
he then realized that to beat even an injured ‘Rafa’ he would have to be aggressive. In this lapse of uncertainty
Nadal was able to win the third set. But, Wawrinka knew that a Grand Slam
trophy doesn’t come from being nice. It’s won by putting your opponent in
situations, which they cannot recover the ball from.
Wawrinka commenced the final set of slaughter;
he began to make Nadal run. Nadals injury somewhat unknown became a little
clearer. From appearance and the courtside treatment, a back injury was
proposed by compare Jim Courier. It proceeded to get worse; we watch the
television as ‘Rafa’ cried courtside,
in agony and realization that this Grand Slam was not to be his.
To
then add insult to injury (literally) Nadal told his coach, up in the players’
section, ‘Uncle Tony’ in French that it was “over”. ‘Uncle Tony’ however would
not let ‘Rafa’ retire; he advised his nephew to complete the match. Nadal did
so and thankfully it was all over fairly soon. Wawrinka was playing top form
tennis against a bull that had been wounded. Nadal understood how important it
was to finish that match, and why? It was paramount that he did. ‘Uncle Tony’
knows the rules of a champion’s code of conduct. Finish the match. If you are
able to stand up straight, loose ungracefully, even if you are injured, it is a
final, not practice where you can fling her hands in the air and exclaim, “Enough
is enough”.
Wawrinka
definitely deserved to make it to the final; he played world-class tennis
against the world’s no.2. Do we know if
he deserved to win the Australian Open 2014? It’s a question we don’t know
how to answer. Wawrinka was devastatingly upset about the injury that made the
winning the final a walk in the park. Can you feel like a winner if you win by
default? I’d say in this case, yes. Wawrinka was playing spectacularly; he was
ruthless and hard headed. Nadal’s luck was not on his side the day of the
final.
However;
‘Rafa’ is now through to the 3rd round of the Rio Open after pulling
out of Buenos Aires to recover from his back injury after the Australian Open
and recovering from a stomach bug.
The
final may not have been a clash of brilliance. But, if anything is taken away
from it, it was a clash of resilience. We saw the world no.1 prove that even
through injury; you must not give up until it is game, set and match. As for
Wawrinka? Watch that guy, I don’t quite think he’s done just yet.
Below are a compliation of photos by Photographer © Andy
Cheung
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| Wawrinka points out his mental strength as well as physical ability |
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| Nadal's focus on shots waned after his injury became present |
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| Warwinka sliced the ball like a knife |
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| An Awkward movement cost Nadal his first 2014 Grand Slam |
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| Nadal cries into his arms, as his trainer works on his back injury courtside |
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| Just too painful, Nadal's injury getting the best of him |
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| An emotional Nadal humbly congratulates Wawrinka on his first Grand Slam |
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| Nothing could take the feeling away of joy, even under the circumstances |
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