Stan won Aus Open, Rafa won hearts

Stanislas Wawrinka played great tennis in the last two weeks to win the Australian Open title. He is in great form; he also won the Chennai Open at the beginning of the year but that tournament is far less competitive than a grand slam like Australian Open. In the finals, he dominated and defeated Rafael Nadal. Rafa's game was affected by a back strain that he suffered in the second set but before that as well, Stan was dominating the court.

There are no two ways about the fact that Stan deserved to win. He played better and aggressive tennis. Rafa played short initially and was extremely slow later on, due to his injury. Stan produced some amazing forehand as well as backhand winners through out the match. 

However, the match left a bad taste in the mouth. Rafa took a medical break of 5 minutes that the players are entitled to but clearly, Stan as well as the crowd did not like it for some reason. Stan had an animated argument with the chair umpire and the officials. Later, the crowd booed Rafa when he returned to the court after the 5 minute break!!! That clearly had an affect on Rafa. He was already crumbling physically but the crowd behavior seemed to have affected him mentally as well. He was almost in tears after his return and physical pain did not seem like the only reason.

That crowd behavior was uncalled for. Indeed they had paid good money for the tickets and they wanted a full game but Rafa had more to lose than anyone else. Honestly, it did not seem like he would be able to continue and complete the match but he did. He did not play for the crowd, he did not play to complete the match and give a decent and deserving victory to Stan but he played as he had come over there to fight and to win. 

He pulled up his game in the third set and won it. That was completely unexpected. Probably the painkillers had started to take affect. He clearly was not at the top of his game but he was fighting. And that was so heartening to see. He played and fought like a champion. 

Eventually, Stan went past Rafa in the fourth set to win his first grand slam but that does not matter. There would be other days and more battles. What matters is that Rafa had the will to fight till the end. Most of his die-hard fans gave up after the second set and did not expect him to complete the match. But Rafa proved them (including me) wrong and demonstrated what fighters and champions are made of.