Djoko-Stan, the Day After
For me, four things came to mind when I thought back on the match this morning.
First, Djokovic didn’t face a match point, so we didn’t get a chance to see him fire off one of his customarily audacious winners to save it. But we were close. Djokovic was down two break points at 4-4 in the fifth set. On one of them, Wawrinka, with no help from the chair umpire, made his now-infamous non-challenge. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that on the other break point, Djokovic came up with the goods, a perfect drop volley off of a low, difficult pass.
Second, as far as Wawrinka goes, it would be a boon to the sport to have his steely backhand, if nothing else, in the mix at the top of the game. And as Novak said last night, Stan deserved to win this one. Now let’s see something along those lines in Indian Wells and Key Biscayne.
Third, with all Australian players now out of the draw, the face-painted Aussie Fanatics were also absent from Rod Laver Arena last night. I didn’t notice it at first, but when I did, I thought it was a good thing. The audience was a tennis audience pure and simple, and they really responded to the action, right from Wawrinka’s first bomb backhand down the line early in the first set.
Fourth, as dramatic as the last set, and in particular the last game, was, I still believe a tiebreaker at 6-6 in the fifth set is the way to go at all events. Yes, Stan's and Novak’s final game was a beauty, but so was the end of their fourth-set breaker, and it didn’t take an extra half an hour to get there. Extra-inning epics turn into wars of attrition, as last night's did late in the fifth. After peaking at 5-4, 5-5, 6-5, and 6-6, when we know that everything could come to an end, a match typically won't get more dramatic as it continues. Six-all is the perfect, high-tension moment to end it, with an every-point-is-huge tiebreaker.
