Australian Open 2014 - Stan Wawrinka beats Rafa in the final

[adi B]

Stan played a great first set. Sorry for him' date=' it's a terrible way to win a slam. He was clearly the better player till the point Nadal got injured. Would have won it anyway.[/quote'] great point,stan deserves the credit.he was mauling nadal even though nadal got injured,no player can beat stan in his current form..he is hitting winners for fun,be backhand or forehand,reminds me of how fed played in 2006-07 AO

[ganeshran]

Giant killer Wawrinka, first Djoker and now Nadal

[Desi Cartman]

not to mention that Nadal is crying now as well (just like Fed did)

Fed was bawling, rafa was more or less under control. He had some good words to say about Stan.

[Yoda-esque]

great point' date='stan deserves the credit.he was mauling nadal even though nadal got injured,no player can beat stan in his current form..he is hitting winners for fun,be backhand or forehand,reminds me of how fed played in 2006-07 AO[/quote'] DTL BH was the most important shot that Fed had in 06-07.He needs that shot to win slams. Congrats to Stan,Tough luck for Nadal.

[zep1706]

great point' date='stan deserves the credit.he was mauling nadal even though nadal got injured,no player can beat stan in his current form..he is hitting winners for fun,be backhand or forehand,reminds me of how fed played in 2006-07 AO[/quote'] Well we can't say what would have happened. Nadal almost always makes a comeback. But yes Stan deserves it, he outplayed Nadal before the injury. If Nadal was leading before the injury then I wouldn't have said that.

[Yoda-esque]

wow,Nadal got booed?!

[zep1706]

Fed was bawling' date=' rafa was more or less under control. He had some good words to say about Stan.[/quote'] Surprisingly they showed on espn Laver was crying towards the end of Nadal's speech, I think Nadal handled it quite well. He could have easily pulled out in the second set, one should appreciate his efforts to play on and finish the match. I think the crowd realized that too.

[zep1706]

wow' date='Nadal got booed?![/quote'] Yeah the injury was not apparent. Stan was under control at that point, it was usual reaction from the crowd. They made it up for it later. If anything he gained more respect tonight.

[Sidhoni]

:hatsoff: Stan the man

[adi B]

nadal was tanking at the end,had to preserve his body b4 the all important clay clay tours from march

[Sachin=GOD]

first time since the 1993 French Open that a player has beaten both the no 1 and no 2 seeds to win a Grand Slam. Also, if I'm not wrong, Stan is now the highest ranked Swiss Player :sniffle:

[bulbul]

^ yes Stan - 3 Fed - 8

[Raghav_12]

wow' date='Nadal got booed?![/quote'] Nadal ended winning more hearts.. that boo-ing was momentarily.

[Yoda-esque]

Saw the first set highlights,Stan truly deserved to win this one,he was hitting some crazy shots out there

[Raghav_12]

not to mention that Nadal is crying now as well (just like Fed did)

Federer was crying buckets like a baby and for no apparent reason but to getting whooped by Nadal. Nadal was just welled-up and was in control. His reason for getting emotional was not defeat but he couldn't play to full potential.

[zep1706]

nadal was tanking at the end' date='had to preserve his body b4 the all important clay clay tours from march[/quote'] Nadal was tanking a grand slam final? The clay season is still months away. Don't be a mindless hater like that bone-headed guy dude. :cantstop:

[zep1706]

Federer was crying buckets like a baby and for no apparent reason but to getting whooped by Nadal. Nadal was just welled-up and was in control. His reason for getting emotional was not defeat but he couldn't play to full potential.

He didn't cry at all. He handled himself really well with a lot of composure unlike Federer who cried because he lost. There is no comparison.

[Raghav_12]

Well we can't say what would have happened. Nadal almost always makes a comeback. But yes Stan deserves it' date=' he outplayed Nadal before the injury. If Nadal was leading before the injury then I wouldn't have said that.[/quote'] You can't speculate what would have happened. There is no way Stan was going to keep those astronomical standards which he displayed in first set. This match was following typical pattern of Federer-Nadal match. Federer would always come all guns blazing like Stan did today but eventually Nadal would bear him down. Same was more likely to happen today as well. But in any case, the person who beats Djoko at Australia Open is a deserving winner. So congrats to Wawrink.

[Gollum]

Nadal may have lost the match but once again proved what a humble and graceful champ he is. He is much more gracious in defeat than Federer and an ideal role model: this coming from a rabid Fedex fan.

[Dil Dil India]

There is no asterix against this title win, it is as good a win as any. He beat the defending champion and the world number one, that is as good as it gets. He dominated Nadal even before Nadal's back problem so to bring that up to discredit this GS win is a little desperate. It comes with the territory, the brand of tennis that Nadal plays is always prone to such risks. You have to take the good with the bad. Congrats to Waw on his first GS win and kudos to Nadal for fighting like the champion he is. Now the Federer vs Nadal debate will heat up again I guess. It is rather unfortunate that both sets of fans try to pull the other guy down in order to prop up 'their' player. Here is my 2 cents on the matter as of this moment: As of now, Federer it is. If Nadal wins at the RG (which is as likely as the sun rising tomorrow) then he'll be the same age as Federer - give or take a few months - was when he won his 14th slam. Fed only went on to win 3 slams over the next 4-5 years though, how will Nadal's inevitable decline (whenever it comes) play out? Only time will tell. I think fairly or otherwise, the person who retires with more GS out of Nadal/Fed will be seen as greater. If Federer doesn't add to his 17, Nadal will basically have to win 5 GS more...I'd say he'll definitely win at least 2 more French Opens, maybe 3...can he also pull off a US Open or a Wimbledon somewhere? Not unlikely, can be done; but with a rejuvenated Murray, Djokovic playing as well as ever and now Stan in the mix, it won't be as easy. Even Federer might nick a slam as long as he doesn't have to face Nadal. Moving on from the GS...looking at it from a different perspective, you can bring the other aspects into the picture..HTH for Nadal, sheer consistency for Fed (no of consecutive GS semis and finals and also number of weeks at number 1), end of the year championships in favour of Fed, and also Nadal's gold medal vs Fed's silver, Federer's more even distribution of slams (Fed for example has as many US Opens as Nadal does Wimbledon+US+Aus!) etc and they'll all be valid points. It really depends on how you rate players. For me, Federer is ahead at this point but Nadal is close. This matter will be put to rest one way or the other IF : In favour of Nadal - if Nadal surpasses Federer's slams, that's all he needs to do as far as I am concerned, preferably by winning another 2 slams outside of the French at least. It won't be as easy as it seems...4 slams are a LOT! For me, the most important factor will be how much longer he can keep up his dominance at RG...all good things come to an end...a Djokovic at his best maybe has a shot..maybe Murray too? I don't know. If he keeps up that dominance for another 2 or 3 years, then the record is all but his. This is obviously assuming Federer doesn't win any other slam. It does look unlikely but he did play as well as he ever did in the last 2-3 years at this Aus Open until he ran into Nadal. If he can keep out of Nadal's way and if he can keep up the standard of tennis he showed this time around, he may have a shot at winning one more GS.