Congratulations to Stanislav Wawrinka for his brilliant victory in Melbourne today. In doing so he has become only the second player to have beaten beaten the numbers one and two seeds on the way to his victory and the only man to have beaten Rafa and Djoki in the same championship. More importantly he was able, after a worrying but understandable dip following Nadal's back injury, or whatever it was, to resurrect his concentration and come through against the wounded tiger that was Nadal.
We need a change at the top of world tennis and at last it has happened. Not that I would be so foolish as to write off Rafa as I did last year after he lost his favourite tournament, Monte Carlo. He went on to carry all before him in 2013 in truly spectacular style. However he now has one more player to worry about as he enters the clay court season.
Why don't I like Nadal? It's not his play, certainly. He has replaced Borg as the greatest player from the back of the court the world has ever seen, and his forehand is without equal in tennis history. Moreover, his fighting spirit is unsurpassed, as we saw today, when despite his back strain he nearly came back from the dead. So what is it? Well, I don't like his incessant bum-crack explorations, and all the other irritating delaying tactics which make his games last far longer than necessary, and which puzzlingly, frequently do not attract the kind of time penalties (as we saw today in the Australian final) that they should according to the rules of the game. I agree, once he gets going he's electric, but it takes so long!
One last, and probably unwise prediction. Now Wawrinka is in the mix at the zenith of the game, what chance Murray ever winning another Grand Slam? In this observer's view, slim to none. But I don't care. He won the Big One, and in my lifetime, so really he doesn't have to do anything else to be my hero. Prove me wrong Andy!
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