The final match of the 2014 Australian Open saw Stanislas Wawrinka win his first Grand Slam title beating Rafael Nadal, 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the final.  It was a tournament that had its moments right up to the very last match.   Here is what I will take away from the 2014 men’s Australian Open.

TFF Final Standings: Congratulations to lfc who won the Moo’s Tennis Blog League.  2nd Place was AO-EK and I came in 3rd place 🙂

The Final: Wawrinka d. Nadal, 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3

Without doubt, this was the weirdest and wackiest men’s Grand Slam final I have ever watched.  Wawrinka was magnificent through the first set and a half, playing some wonderfully aggressive tennis.  He served well, even serve and volleyed too and was consistent off both wings.  There was a twist to the plot though when Nadal hurt his break and required a medical time-out, which saw him return to a chorus of boos.

The remainder of the match was not a pretty watch.  I think many people underestimate how difficult it is to play an injured opponent, but particularly an injured Rafa.  I have seen a few people suggest that Wawrinka would have wrapped it up sooner playing against a fit Rafa and I wouldn’t disagree with that.  The painkillers kicked in for Nadal in the third set and he was moving much better although the serve still remained hindered.  Wawrinka completely lost his focus and started to make more and more mistakes.  I was relieved to see Wawrinka come through in four sets because the prospect of him losing this match was terrifying.

I thought both players showed a great amount of respect to each other, but particularly Wawrinka who was incredibly classy when he won in not overdoing the celebrations.  Stan will move up to world number three and remains unbeaten in 2014 having won in Chennai.  The ATP rankings have really been shaken up after the conclusion of this tournament and I am intrigued to see where Stanley goes from here.  Beating the top two players in the world, Wawrinka fully deserved this title and I won’t listen to anyone who tries to put an asterisk next to this victory.  Wawrinka won this Slam fair and square.  Well done Stanley!

Roger Federer had a great tournament:

Despite a disappointing semi-final performance against Rafael Nadal, in which he lost in straight sets to the Spaniard 7-6(4) 6-3 6-3, it is easy to forget that he produced some superb tennis this tournament.  Federer beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 4th round and Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.  He will fall in the rankings to number eight; however his start to the season has been promising and if he stays free from injuries, I think he will remain a threat at the Slams, particularly Wimbledon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NHKq5Kwh3Q

Highlights from TennisHighlightsDVD

Grigor Dimitrov breaks through:

The big breakthrough on the men’s side came from Grigor Dimitrov, who reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.  Dimitrov had never made it past the 3rd round of a Grand Slam before as he ventured into unchartered territory, beating the overrated, Milos Raonic (who has yet to make a Grand Slam quarter-final) in the third round.  The Bulgarian player, who had his chances against Nadal in the quarters with set points in the third set for two sets to one lead, was unable to convert his opportunity.  This was an encouraging set of performances from Dimitrov though and the ATP needs some more of the new faces to start performing on the big stage.

A DelPo shocker:

It feels a while ago since Juan Martin del Potro was knocked out in the second round by Robert Bautista-Agut.  On a dramatic day that had seen the extreme heat policy come into effect, there were multiple men’s matches going the distance.  Del Potro led by two sets to one, but was taken down by a superb performance by Bautista-Agut.  It was a disappointing tournament for del Potro, who will actually rise to a new world ranking of number four.  Australia was a setback, but I still think there are great things to come from the Argentine for the remainder of 2014.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1iIVMwUWYA

Highlights from iFrenck23

Berdych beats Anderson for the 297th time:

In one of the most one-sided match-ups out there, Tomas Berdych beat Kevin Anderson in a straight sets fourth round win.  This was Berdych’s tenth consecutive win over Anderson in a two year period stretching back to the 2012 Australian Open.  Kevin might as well not bother showing up the next time he sees his name beside Berdych on the drawsheet.

Best Matches of the Tournament:

Like the women’s, I am not the most qualified for this one since I missed a lot of the matches, but here you go anyway!

• Wawrinka d. Djokovic, 2-6 6-4 6-2 3-6 9-7 (QF)

The most dramatic and entertaining match from the whole tournament saw another epic between Djokovic and Wawrinka with a surprisingly different result.  Wawrinka had suffered some heartbreaking losses at the hands of Djokovic, but rallied from a set down and held firm in an extra time finish to record a huge, huge win that would set him on his way to the title.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBdcIbbeq9c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koNyGihCyw0

Highlights by iFrenck23

• Nadal d. Nishikori, 7-6(3) 7-5 7-6(3)(R4)

I really enjoyed this 4th round match between Nadal and Nishikori, which was highly competitive throughout thanks to a really committed effort from Nishikori.  This performance certainly implied that things are going well so far with the Chang-Nishikori partnership.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnIgaSxa7ts

Highlights by NadalPower

Also worth a mention:

• Nadal d. Dimitrov, 3-6 7-6(3) 7-6(7) 6-2 (QF)
• Anderson d. Roger-Vasselin, 3-6 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) 7-5 (R3)
• Wawrinka d. Robredo, 6-3 7-6(3) 7-6(5) (R4)

Funniest moments of the tournament:

He’s a nutcase, but Jerzy Janowicz is a fun player to have around.  Only he would react in this manner to beating Pablo Andujar in a second round match at a Grand Slam.

The Australian Open post-match interviews are the best on tour.

Moo’s Original Predictions:

Both draws were pretty terrible for me!  I went for Djokovic to win and had Tsonga as my wild pick, which was incredibly wayward.  I did correctly predict 6 out of the 8 quarter-finalists and overall, had 66% correct picks.

Overall Thoughts:

I was left a little underwhelmed by the men’s tournament.  There were some good quarter-finals and on a personal note, I loved seeing Stanley make the big breakthrough at a Grand Slam.  Like the women’s, it was missing a really engaging semi-final and / or final.  The final had bucket loads of drama, but after the first set, the quality of the tennis was lacking for obvious reasons.  In addition, many of the anticipated match-ups just failed to deliver… Nadal v Tomic, Nadal v Monfils, Federer v Tsonga and Federer v Nadal.  Compared to the last couple of years, which has produced some tremendous tennis on the men’s side, I felt that this tournament on the whole, was a little disappointing.

What are your thoughts on this year’s men’s Australian Open event? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section!