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By Chris Oddo/ Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Novak Djokovic went for the perfect volley on match point
against Stan Wawrinka in their quarterfinal, and missed.
Photo Source: Corleve
Mats Wilander, commentating for
Eurosport, called Novak Djokovic’s
last two shots possibly the worst two shots he hit all
night.
Recap: Wawrinka Ends Djokovic’s
Hope for Fourth Consecutive Australian Open Title
But for Stan Wawrinka, they might have been
the best two he’s ever seen, as the the man they are calling
“The Stanimal” came up victorious for the first time since 2006
against Djokovic, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 in four hours on
Tuesday night in Melbourne.
Djokovic, who has had much success in
similar situations in his career (who will ever forget his rifled
forehand that stunned Roger Federer and a
capacity crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2011, or the four match
points Djokovic saved at Roland Garros against
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2012?), was disappointed
at the finish, but such is the fate of the match point
gunslinger–win some, lose some. Or, in Djokovic’s case–win
most, lost a very small few.
But on this night Djokovic did lose,
running out of magic Wawrinka, a player who deserved the win
and played brilliant offensive tennis all night against
Djokovic’s world-class defensive wiles to earn the
opportunity.
Djokovic explained his decision to serve
and volley without any regret while talking to the media after
the match: “Well, he’s been blocking my serve,” he said. “He’s
been chipping the return for the whole match basically. And it
was actually a good decision. I had a good serve and volley and
good volley, but didn’t put it away.”
In reality, it wasn’t the decision that
was wrong. Djokovic had the point won. It was his decision to
make too perfect of a volley that really ended up doing him in.
Same on the previous point, where Djokovic attempts to kiss the
line with his cross court dropper (see video).
But when you have come up with the goods
on so many other match points in the past, who could blame
Djokovic for having the courage to envisage the perfect shot
and go for it?
Wawrinka, who later revealed that he was
cramping in the fifth set, was just happy to get the win, his
first in fifteen tries against Djokovic. “I started to cramp a
little bit middle of fifth set, so I had to deal with that,” he
said. “I had to relax a little bit more… Didn’t want to let
him win that one. Got a little bit lucky in the last one. He
missed easy shots. But in general in the fifth set I think I
went for it.”
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