Master mimic Novak Djokovic has been a U.S. Open champion and entertaining presence in New York. The world No. 1 will prepare for his seventh straight U.S. Open semifinal joining his own audience.
Bending his body into positions realized only by escape artists, Djokovic extricated himself from a 6-1, 5-2 deficit to defeat Wawrinka in a five-hour and two-minute adventure at the Australian Open in January that was the fourth-longest Aussie Open match since 1968. Djokovic typically prepares for opponents by watching past matches on YouTube, but concedes that time constraints could be an issue.
"I'm not going to watch the whole match that I had with Stan because it's going to take me half a day to stay next to the computer," Djokovic joked.
The rematch could be a popcorn match, pitting two of the best backhands in the game in Djokovic's lethal two-hander and Wawrinka's versatile one-hander. Both are skilled at driving their backhands down the line, are willing to push the pace, and respect the magic they produced in Melbourne.
"I say many times that it's one of the key of the season, for sure," said Wawrinka, who has worked with coach and former French Open finalist Magnus Norman to apply his all-court skills. "That was a really tough moment, but at the end, I was really positive with that match because all Australian Open my level was quite good and was better than ever."
Turning the wide shoulder of a rugby player into his sturdy serve, Wawrinka has won nearly 80 percent of his first-serve points and dropped serve just seven times in five tournament victories. Stan neutralized one of tennis' best returners in bouncing defending champion Andy Murray out of the U.S. Open without facing a break point. Wawinka is 7-7 vs. Top 10 opponents in 2013, which is the third most Top 10 wins on the ATP behind only Rafael Nadal (15) and Djokovic (10). If Wawrinka, who has posted a career-high 41 wins this season, continues his assertive serving and applies his all-court skills—he won 31 of his 107 points against Murray at net—he has a shot at beating Djokovic for the first time in a major.
"He's a very complete player," Djokovic said of Wawrinka. "He won straight sets against defending champion on Arthur Ashe. That was quite impressive. I'm sure he's very confident and he has nothing to lose now. He's going to go for the win."
This is why Melbourne matters: Djokovic knows how dangerous Wawrinka can be and will do everything in his power to defuse the explosive Swiss from the start. I believe the game's best hard-court returner, who has broken serve a tournament-best 34 times, will vary his return position and employ his elastic reach to gain traction in Wawrinka's service games.
"If you can take the best of me, the best of Hewitt, and the best of Federer and then you stick it in one guy, that's Djokovic," Andre Agassi told me before the 2012 U.S. Open in touting Djokovic as tennis' best returner. "Because the truth is Djokovic can stay right up on the baseline and hurt you with the return if he chooses to, or he can stand back and defend if he needs to."
Look for Djokovic to hit the body serve at times on key points, because Wawrinka makes a fairly sizable grip change from his forehand to one-handed backhand and can be vulnerable to the slice serve into the hip. Wawrinka is playing his best tennis right now, but Djokovic has had the best of this rivalry on hard courts, where he's won seven of eight matches with the Swiss. Djokovic is the better defensive player, he's moving beautifully, and if conditions are as windy as they have been, he has more margin of error since he generally hits his forehand with more topspin than Wawrinka. The 2011 U.S. Open champion knows he is facing a dangerous opponent and will rise to the challenge to reach his fourth consecutive U.S. Open final.
The Pick: Djokovic in four sets