Gang of four has been bust open by Wawrinka's ‘freakish’ Australian Open win

 
27 January 2014

And suddenly there were five. Or is it six? Or perhaps seven? Actually, let’s call it eight. For so long, the Grand Slam club in men’s tennis has admitted no more players than would fit in a bobsleigh. Now, though, thanks to Stanislas Wawrinka, everything feels different.

For years now every Slam in the calendar has begun in the certainty that it would be won by one of three men: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic. Andy Murray has recently added his name to the list. Juan Martin del Potro has the 2009 US Open title beside his name but has never really threatened to repeat the feat since.

So for what feels like forever tennis fans have been treated to a supremacy of the gang of four.

But the way that Wawrinka played in Melbourne this month suggests that all that must now be reconsidered.

In a fortnight’s hot, bludgeoning tennis, Wawrinka has done something almost freakish. By beating both Djokovic and Nadal on the way to the title, he became only the sixth man to win a Slam title since Marat Safin won the Aussie Open in 2005.

That’s 36 tournaments — nearly a decade of sporting hegemony for a closed-shop of elite players. And now, perhaps, it has been bust open. The Swiss’s four-set victory over Rafael Nadal in the final of the Australian Open yesterday was not a classic but it was unforgettable all the less. The way the ball spat from Wawrinka’s racket, particularly out of his backhand, during the first set and a half was extraordinary. The psychological drama that followed Nadal’s back injury was no less absorbing.

If the end was subdued, then it was because this was an imperfect way for Wawrinka to win his first major singles title of any description. Judging by his performance in the first hour of the match, he had more than enough power and skill to stand and trade with a fully fit Nadal. In years to come he may have to put up with people telling him that his first great victory was not fully and unequivocally earned.

Be that as it may. What is certain is that everything is now uncertain. Well, quite a lot of things, anyway. Assuming that Nadal is 75 per cent fit or better, let’s pencil him in for his ninth win and 14th Slam title on the clay at Roland Garros in the spring. But beyond that, who do we pick for the big tournaments?

Djokovic, we can be sure, is not going away — but both Murray and Wawrinka have worked him out in recent years, and others will be encouraged by their example. Murray looked exceptionally strong in Melbourne considering how little tennis he has played since his back surgery but he still turns up with the black cloud above his head often enough to be beatable.

Federer will be increasingly hampered by slowing limbs and his slide down the world rankings — he is eighth as of today — even if there are many people who fancy that he has one last Wimbledon title in him. Nadal’s body, as we saw yesterday, still occasionally refuses to cash the cheques written by his outrageous competitive desire.

On top of all that, the world rankings have been given such a vigorous shake — Federer eighth, Murray sixth, Wawrinka third — that draws will start to produce bigger match-ups in the earlier rounds of Slam events.

So there is every reason to think that Wawrinka, like Murray, can now kick on, and win more. Perhaps Del Potro can, too, albeit belatedly. Certainly Tomas Berdych ought to be thinking that if Stan can do it, then why not he? If Nadal doesn’t turn up in Paris, then David Ferrer may see his day arrive on clay. And what if Grigor Dimitrov decides to wake up to his great talent?

This golden time in modern tennis has not been boring — but it has been predictable. A little uncertainty will be no bad thing. Let’s hope for more days like yesterday.

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