Stanislas Wawrinka lost his first 12 career matches against Rafael Nadal. It wasn’t even a close matchup most of the time. In their first 12 matches, Wawrinka won exactly 0 sets off of Nadal. That’s right, zero. Zilch. Nada. The Spaniard was 26-0 in sets when meeting the Swiss #2.
That all changed on a balmy night in Melbourne last January. Sure, people point out that Nadal had back issues in the 2014 Australian Open final. What people don’t point out, though, is that Nadal actually did better during those times where his movement was hampered than otherwise. Wawrinka just hit Nadal off the court when Nadal was playing his basic game.
The pair had not met since, until the Rome quarterfinals on Friday. The stakes were not quite as high this time. It was not a Grand Slam, not even a final, and the most the match probably meant would be some effect on the seeding at Roland Garros. Still, all matches carry weight in what they teach us. This was a match that neither wanted to lose and both played all-out to try and win it. Sure, the match itself might only be worth 180 ranking points. But the effect it can have on the rest of the season is sometimes unmeasurable.
The match started out strong for Nadal. He has been constantly improving as this clay season goes on and he finally looked close to his dominant clay form. Wawrinka, who has struggled on big occasions since that Australian Open final (excepting last year’s Monte Carlo Masters), was hitting the ball huge and seemed confident. It was a clash of styles that produced entertaining and unpredictable tennis.
Nadal came out of the gate strong, looking for revenge in their first meeting since last year’s upset. He broke Wawrinka twice in the first set, only to be immediately broken back each time. He raced out to a 6-2 lead in the first-set tiebreak and looked in total control of the match. That is when Wawrinka took over.
The Stanimal, as Wawrinka is often affectionately called for his power hitting and fierce on-court demeanor, decided that he would not lose the first set. So, on both of the set points that Nadal had on his own serve, Wawrinka unleashed massive shot after massive shot. Nadal’s defense was impeccable. He played those two points as well as he ever plays and brought his classic clay-court game. Wawrinka was just too big. Massive forehand after massive forehand leveled the tiebreaker at 6-6. Four points later, two huge Wawrinka forehands in a row clipped the baseline and the first set was his.
Nadal looked like he was ready to fight back though, “Vamos!”ing his way to a love game to open the second set. Nothing he could do from there was effective though. He played great clay court tennis and won a lot of tough points, but over the long slog Wawrinka’s power was just too much. He rattled off five games in a row before a Nadal hold made the final scoreline look more respectable. In the end, though, it was an impressive 76(9) 62 win for Wawrinka.
The loss is not all bad for Nadal. He still showed some great tennis in it and looks more or less ready for Roland Garros. Of course, the lack of a title here in Rome means that Nadal will be the #7 seed in Paris and that he could meet Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. But the road to the crown probably goes through Djokovic anyway, so it may not really matter when they meet.
Wawrinka, on the other hand, is finally take strides back to his early 2014 form. He showed he can beat anyone in the world, taking out Nadal in Melbourne and Roger Federer in the Monte Carlo final. Federer, who owns a 15-2 career head-to-head over Wawrinka, is up next in a semifinal battle between the top two Swiss players.
Last year’s Roland Garros result was an abject disappointment for Wawrinka, who lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 46 75 26 06 in the first round. His performance was so poor that Andy Roddick called him out for giving up, saying that’s not how a Grand Slam champion should act. Well, now Wawrinka looks to be rounding back into form at just the right time. He certainly won’t have such an early exit as this year’s Roland Garrod. The only question is how deep he can go. And if he plays like he did in Rome, who can stop him?
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