Rolland Garros/ The French Open
Photo courtesy of ThoamsB's Flickr Page - Stanislas Wawrinka Match against Marsel Ilhan 24/05/15: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131775393@N04/17475863523
Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/
Photo courtesy of Tatiana's Flickr Page - Novak Djokovic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kulitat/14483844343
Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Everyone seemed to be gearing up for Novak Djokovic's ascencion into tennis immortality. A victory at the French Open Men's Final in his third appearance there in four years would have cemented his legacy and secured his spot among the true greats of the sport pretty much forever.
Indeed, through the first set, which Djokovic won, and right to the end of the second set, it looked like the French Open Men's Final was following this script, even if Wawrinka was clearly creating problems for Djokovic, to the point that the world's top seeded player was visibly uncomfortable and struggling.
Still, until the last game of the second set, Djokovic was holding serve, not allowing Wawrinka to break through, and Wawrinka was showing signs of serious frustration on his own.
In the last game of the second set, Djokovic took a 30-Love lead, and it looked like he was going to get an easy game to push it to 5-5 in the second set. If he could keep serve and either break Wawrinka, or win the tie-break, Djokovic very likely would win, being up two sets to none.
That was when it all fell apart for Djokovic, and when Wawrinka's plan finally began to see fruition.
The commentators on NBC mentioned at some point in the match that Wawrinka was hitting incredibly hard, and like a boxer, he was hitting into the body of Djokovic, looking to wear him down, presumably, into the later sets, assuming there were going to be later sets.
Sure enough, that very physical game of Wawrinka's started to become obvious after a while, and as designed, it began to take a toll on Djokovic.
Once Djokovic got frustrated the match belonged to Wawrinka.
Now, here's the thing: Wawrinka was hitting some incredible shots, taking gambles on hitting it big, and looking for tight angles and line-hugging shots that Djokovic would not be able to return. He kept hitting those early on, and you kind of thought to yourself that there was no way that he could keep that up throughout the entire match.
But he did. Those shots kept falling for Wawrinka, and Djokovic began to look increasingly flustered and frustrated, particularly starting with that last game in the second set, when he lost the 30-Love lead to lose the game that cost him the set. From that point onward, a Wawrinka victory began to feel inevitable.
Wawrinka won the second set surprisingly quickly and easily, and by the time that he won the third set, it looked like it would take a miracle for Djokovic to even get back into the match, let alone win.
And for once, Djokovic was out of miracles.
Now, here's the thing that bothered me about this match, where Djokovic was denied the chance to win the one title that would have secured his tennis legacy forever: it really felt unfair.
No, I am not saying that Djokovic was somehow cheated during the match against Wawrinka, because Wawrinka was clearly the best player and deserved the victory.
However, Djokovic had played a tough, grueling match that he won against Nadal, knocking out the King of Clay on Wednesday. He then played another tough match against Andy Murray on Friday. He raced out to a two sets to none lead, when Murray came alive and toughened up. For the first time all tournament, Djokovic showed signs of frustration and vulnerability, and he lost the third set. The match was delayed during the fourth due to the weather.
And so it went into Saturday, where Djokovic ultimately lost the fourth set, before surviving in the fifth to secure a berth into the Men's Final the next day.
When the match started yesterday, Djokovic had played tough, exhausting tennis in three of the prior four days, and that was after two weeks of matches to get him there. He won the first set, and looked very capable of outlasting, if not exactly outplaying, Wawrinka in the second set. If he had not been feeling the physical effects of so much play in such a short period of time before this particular match, maybe he would have been just that much sharper, mentally and physically, and executed slightly better. Maybe he does not lose that game that cost him the second set. Maybe it continues, and he has a chance to win that set. If that happens, he probably goes on to win the match.
Like every sport, tennis is a game of inches. Through the early part of the match, Djokovic looks like the better player, and seems en route to his expected destiny of winning the match to complete the career Grand Slam.
Instead, he loses that game, loses the set, and surprisingly quickly thereafter, loses the match, looking dispirited.
Yes, he probably could have hit one or two more shots against Murray there in the third to win that match and get the rest that he obviously needed.
Still, it seems unfair that he had to play that many matches in such short order. The men's final was the fourth time in five days that Djokovic played a significant amount of tennis against some of the world's very best tennis players, and I think this simple fact contributed enormously to his failure to win the French Open in the end.
As strong as Wawrinka was from the outset, Djokovic seemed to be holding him at bay in the first set and through most of that second set, until the collapse at the end of that final game.
It seems to me that the French Open should probably do something about this, because it seems unfair that Wawrinka, who played the early match on Friday (admittedly in grueling circumstances himself, since it was unusually hot) got the rest of Friday and all of Saturday to rest up, while Djokovic was forced to play the late game, which stretched on until Saturday, giving Djokovic no real chance to rest before what probably was, to this point, the biggest match of his life.
Such a physical tournament that takes a huge toll on the players involved should allow a more fair way of dispensing rest, frankly. Personally, I would have liked to see both men as relatively well rested and ready for this match as possible, because I think they both would have been at their best. It did not look to me that that was the case yesterday, and that is the problem that I had with it. Not that Wawrinka won, but that Djokovic was forced to play such a tough and grueling match when he was clearly not at his best. He did not look sharp, physically and mentally, from some point in the second set onward, and it seemed that this was not a minor contribution towards his eventual loss.
Ultimately, that will not be remembered much, although it was a factor, and I suspect a huge factor, for Djokovic's loss yesterday, which cost him a chance at history. And it does seem unfair, although he was gracious in defeat, much like Wawrinka was a good winner.
For his part, Wawrinka was very friendly, hugging the ball boys and girls, and generally showing a friendly spirit. He also suggested, as Nadal had done before him in similar situations at the French Open, that Djokovic's day would come, that he would indeed hoist the Coupe des Mousquetaires eventually.
And Djokovic reasserted his determination to solve the clay court and win this elusive tournament. It took years of prior failures, but we watched Agassi do it in 1999. It took years of prior failures, but we watched Federer do it in 2009.
The chances that Djokovic will eventually win it are still quite solid. However, he does have work to do, and I think he needs to work on his mental preparation as much, if not more than, anything that he can do physically to improve his game. If he had shown the killer's instinct against Murray in that third set, he surely would have been a lot more fresh for yesterday's match, and that might have made the difference - especially if he had shown a killer's instinct in that second set against Wawrinka.
But this is Wawrinka's day to shine, and to enjoy his hard-earned victory.
Djokovic vows to solve riddle of French Open clay AFP By Dave James, June 8, 2015:
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